There are lots of variables. How fast you

type, do you use an expander, do you have good dictators or lots of ESLs and crappy dictators, is the platform user friendly, are you doing acute care of clinic, do you have lots of normal/templates, do you get paid/counted for spaces, gross line versus 65 character line.

You really can't compare yourself to anyone else.  A lot of people (not all) care about producing lines and don't care about quality of the product.  They refuse to proof reports, say that is what QA is for.  Some people just seem to have a talent for MT, have lots and lots of expansions/templates, have an extensive knowledge base so they don't have to look up much.  If you do clinic you tend to have one speciality and only a handful of dictators so you can make lots of normals so you can produce more lines.

I can do 2000 lines/day on occasion, but can't do it every day.  I've done 3000 lines before, but that is rare. 

• Production - Laurie
  • here is what I do - me2
  • I had 439 for an hour yesterday, 1800+ if I don't take breaks in 7 to 9 hours.nm - TT2theMAX
  • I had 2256 lines yesterday in about 7 hours... - Ohio-KS-MTMom
  • I type no less than 1500 lines in 7 hours - MTMT
  • dang I suck! - ServerQuestion
    • This is a FABULOUS attitude for a newbie:) - mt
      • Thanks! - ServerQuestion
      • that's right! you are doing good - - me2
  • I average 1800 lines per 8 hour day, but have - LA
  • production... - sm
  • I average about - mt24
  • There are lots of variables. How fast you - me
    • "A day" can consist of 10, 12 or more hours. I'm more - curious about consistent lines per hour. nm
    • I get 2000 lines a day... - anon
  • How long have you been transcribing? I average - jr

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It took me approximately two weeks to really get the specifics down on the account I am currently working on.  That is just the account specs.  The DO's and DONT'S.  It is about 75 pages long.  I still am not used to all of the doctors yet because I have not had the opportunity to transcribe for all of them enough to be able to get used to them.  I work for a national, but my account is for a large hospital, so there are doctors there that I have not even come across yet.  I have been on this particular account now for 3 months.  I have the specifics down cold, and like I said, that only took a couple of weeks to get.

I have had other accounts that only took a few days to get used to because they were smaller and didn't have that many specifics.

The bottom line is that it depends on the account itself.  The client is going to be the one that will determine how long it will take you to get used to an account based on how many instructions, etc. they dish out for their accounts.  Each and every account will be different.  You may notice a pattern at some point, but you can't really count on a set amount of time or categorize it into a specific time frame.

Just my opinion.

There are a lot of variables to what you are asking.  It also depends on what your definition of good money is.  I have a FT job and a PT job, both of which pay 8.75 cpl.  I average about 200 to 220 lph, so it's a good living for me.  I don't have any credit cards, my car is paid off and my mortgage is fairly low.  I also don't have a family - just lots of cats.  I should qualify that the FT job doesn't start until January.  I had a FT job in-house at an Oncology practice up to about a week ago making $14 an hour.

I work for Landmark part time (and I've been VERY pleased with my association with them so far) and the new FT job is with Probity.  I've read mixed reviews of them so far on this board, but my dealings with them so far have been very good and extremely professional.

Farther on down there are some comments/replies to this question.  It depends on whether or not you are doing digital, picking up tapes and delivering back hard copies, etc.  Also your experience.  As much as everyone thinks that we MTSO's rake in the big bucks by subcontracting our work -- we are lucky to make 10% after the cost of gas, if we deliver and pick-up, the non-billable hours of invoicing, QA the account, the marketing, the customer service to the account, etc.  Also be prepared that you will be the one to cover when that IC decides not to work -- as an IC they have that choice, call in sick, or whatever and if that happens with 2 out of 4 you are up all night typing.  That is why I have cut back to have enough for mainly myself and one I/C that works a very small account and if something happens I can cover easily.   Also think about who will cover for you and the administrative part of the job when you go on vacation or get sick.   But all that aside, start small with one account for yourself and charge what you feel you need to make a decent hourly rate, .11 to .13 cpl either gross or character count seems to be a good starting point if that is what the going price is in your area.  Pay your IC's .08 to .09 cpl so that they can make a "decent living" that they want.  I am not trying to tell you not to just pointing out some of the pittfalls and to start off smaller with just one account for yourself, get used to the "business" aspect of it as well as the medical and then in a while if all goes well grow.  Also remember that just as easily you get that new account, you can lose one and then you will have to lay off your IC's as you yourself will need the work.   Also remember that when those docs are on vacation, around holidays or the summer the workload goes down and that is usually when the IC is clammering for more work and wondering where is the work.   Remember to keep enough money is reserve to pay your IC's on time so that when the clinic runs 30 to 45 days late in payment, you can pay them and not yourself or your bills.    Even though they are a business also, they want their money whether or not the account pays.   Have enough work on hand to keep the accounts happy with 24 TAT and those "emergencies" of being one person short but not too many so that your help runs out of work and especially when the account decides not to dictate for 3 days and then you get it all at once.    There are accounts out there but you have to probably send out 100 to 200 flyers/contacts made to land one and if you are willing to put in the time -- go for it. It is not as easy as everything thinks but for those with the determination and drive it is there for you.    Good luck.   Patti

With all due respect, there are many more variables from the side of the MT than you have mentioned.  I admire you for giving the information in your ad that you say you give, and I am sure you have had more than your fair share of MTs with little to no work ethic or those desperate for a job who will say they can do it just to get their foot in the door and be given an opportunity to try hoping it will work out--and for some of them, it doesn't.  I can appreciate the bind this places you in. 

But if you are dealing with ICs, then maybe they are not necessarily hiding from your calls and e-mails but just working the hours they choose to work.  ICs are not employees as you know.  I am an IC and the company I work for expects "employee" status from me in many ways and they are wrong to treat me as an employee and not give me the benefits of being one.  This has me thinking more and more of going elsewhere.  Perhaps, just perhaps some MTs perceive your company as being like this and they get frustrated and quit.  Just perhaps.

Also, no MT knows what a job is going to be like until they actually do it for a while.  Listening to some voice files and seeing templates helps, but there is so much more.  Until you work the platform, until you see how many lines you can do for a particular dictator per hour, until you have done this for a few days, you cannot judge whether this particular employer is for you or not.  In my present job, I get feast or famine with the same TAT expected.  Feast can burn out an MT.  Famine can scare one off.  And when I get good speed on an account, they take me off of it and give me a new client because they say I am good and they want me to do the client's work so the client will stay.  Very flatering to me, but not necessarily financially the best thing for me.  Constant change slows production--more variables from which an MT must decide to stay or not. This may not be your situation, but this another variable we MTs must consider. 

I've done other types of secretarial work and it is much like MTing -- you don't know the job until you've been there and tried it.  All either side can do -- you and the MT -- is try to find the best fit and see if it works out to the advantage of you both.  I don't think either side wants to waste their own or the other's time. 

What you may consider is a good account may be horrible to the MT after he/she has done it for a week or so.  You may think your platform is top of the line but maybe the MT finds it cumbersome, slow, a time-waster.  He/she moves on because there are bills to pay.  Even your line rate, good as it sounds, cannot salvage a bad fit.  I'd rather work at a lesser rate and speed right along and produce tons of lines than struggle every day for a high rate.  Now I'm not suggesting you lower your rates LOL!!!  Goodness, we NEED rates like that!!  I'm just saying if the MT for whatever reason decides he/she cannot make good money with you--a good hourly rate of production, good lines--they will move on. 

They might have been totally honest with you on their resume but when confronted with all the variables of the job, they found it just did not work for them.  And you, as an MTSO, have no way of knowing whether someone is being truthful or not, or of knowing if they will be pleased once they begin to work for you, or if you have someone who is careless and misrepresenting themselves and just biding their time until something else comes along at which point they abandon your ship. 

You sound like a fair, honest person who has been burned too many times.  But MTs get burned too and I guess at this point in our profession we are suspicious of one another and the low wages overall makes the MTs quick to move on if it looks like the job won't give them what they need.  We can't afford to wait it out and see if it gets better with this or that company.  If it does not work from the beginning, we have to move on because our time is precious too. 

Some of the actions from MTs which you describe are NOT right and those MTs pull this profession down to a lower level of respect.  But this, for many, is today's work ethic unfortunately no matter what business you are in.  I've seen it in corporations and in healthcare settings.  It's like people just don't care anymore about their job.  And for that, I have no answer to give you as it leaves me amazed too.

There's a lot of variables involved - your typing speed, your Expander software, the platform you will be typing on, etc.  When I first started out as a brand new MT, I was lucky to do 100 lph.  Now that I've been doing this a little bit more, and have good Expanders and shortcuts set up, I can do 250 lph.  My goal is to get up to 350 lph - I've talked to a lot of people who say it can be done.

If you're just getting back into it, I would say figure 150 lph as a good base, and then once you get back into the swing of things, you'll increase from there.  Don't plan on that right off the bat, though.  I just started a new job on Monday and I'm working very closely with QA. I'll be lucky to make $100 by the end of the pay period, but that's the way it works at the very beginning sometimes.

on how many lines you can produce, how company counts lines and if it is hard to get lines due to their system, do you have lots of bad dictators that slow you down, how hard you are willing to work, how smart you work (macros, expanders), what shift you work and if there is a shift differential, etc.  

There are many MTs that make $20,000.00 or less and many that make $40,000.00+  based on past postings to that same question. 

I pay my IC's 8 cpl for my psych work as it has a long Turn Around Time and all they do is type, I pick up, print, QA, deliver, etc. to the psychologists.  But even at that, they can average one report of 400 to 500 lines in 60 minutes, depending on the tests, done, etc.  but I made so many templates when I was doing the account that it is very easy to do and very good money.  But then if you compare that with one of my clinics  that has a very nice doctor but talks 220 words per minute and it slows down to only 200 to 250 lines per hour.  So there is a difference there.   You can only assume the lines you would be typing in a day and times it by 8 cents and then times how many days you are working a week, etc.  Too many variables -- what if there is no work?

Patti

I think it's ridiculous that your team leader would post such a thing.  Every MT's situation is different--different accounts, shifts, work types, hours, etc.--and a team leader should know that.  As far as working for a national goes, I feel less "communication" is better.  Why stir things up?  These companies ought to just let us transcribe and keep their silly emails to themselves.  Don't they know the old saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt?"  Maybe your team leader needs more real work to do.  Don't let it bother you.  Just do your part and forget about it. 

One time I told a national bigwig (because my opinion was requested) that if I were asked to draw a cartoon which described this company's relationship with its MTs, I would draw the MT in a cage, sitting at her computer, with a (particular) "suit" poking the MT with a big stick, saying "They produce more when they're angry." 

Fortunately now I am a happy IC with a very nice company that treats its MTs with respect.  Ya have to kiss a lot of toads in this life, ya know? 

really can't compare things.  A lot of the people making that money have their own accounts or are working many hours.   You don't know if the person making 60,000 is an IC and has to pay their own taxes.  IC positions generally pay better than an employee position.  One acccount may not pay for spaces or headers.  You might actually be doing the same amount of lines, but they aren't being counted. 

At one time it wasn't that difficult for someone to make that amount of money if all the variables were favorable.  These days it is harder because line rates are overall lower and companies are always reconfiguring how to count lines in their favor.

If you are pleased with the amount of $$ you are making that is all that really matters and I would not feel that you are inadequate. 

I'm losing my job at the hospital in two weeks due to outsourcing and have decided to go it on my own.  I have $800.00 in my budget to spend on a digital dictation system.  Do you suggest I buy a phone-in system or an Internet software system and what brand names of each/or do you recommend?  How much does the average one cost?

Thanks very much for your help.  I have to move fast because my money is fast dwindling down and I want to make sure I make a wise and good investment so I can get moving in trying to find clinic accounts.

Anne in Clearwater, Florida

When are these ******** doctors going to figure out that by dictating 100 miles per hour they are NOT going to get an accurate accounting of their patient encounter????  I feel like I'm being set up to fail.  I don't care how much experience we transcriptionists have, if you're going to dictate a three page report if 1.5 minutes, SOMETHING is going to get missed or screwed up.  I hope that extra three minutes they saved themselves throughout their busy day is worth it when the patient's chart gets the wrong data and somewhere down the line a big mistake is made.  I've had a terrible morning, struggling with Mr. All-Important who dictates vital signs as one long rambling of numbers, never in the same order (one time it will be weight first, then pulse, blood pressure, respirations and the next time it will be blood pressure first, then weight, then respirations, then pulse) -- I've had it!!!!!  I've got so many blanks in this batch of reports that I'm embarrased to turn them in. 

Thanks for letting me vent.  I'm not a bad transcriptionist.

Brown your hamburger and maybe drain it if you don't buy extra lean. Add chopped onion and 2 cloves garlic, stir it all up till the onion is clear. Add salt, a smidge of sugar, just a little. Chopped bell pepper if you like that. Then add chili powder till it looks right, add canned tomatoes, tomato sauce (I don't like paste, but if you do, I guess you could use that). Ground cumin.

I'm no Texan, so I like beans in my chili. Pork & beans used to be $.22 per can so we got a taste for those in our chili, LOL. That's what I use.

Did I forget anything? Oh, if it looks too clear and orange, you can make a paste out of a tiny bit of flour and water and thicken it with that. Simmer. Serve.

Any chili cooks out there? Did I forget anything? I just make it without thinking!

You can also use chili seasoning in a packet but I don't like that as well, personally.

EMTEE's duh was not directed to you, it was to the subject they typed in their response (digital records instead of digital recorders)

Philips makes digital recorders that do not require a docking station.  The DPM-9360 is one of the cheaper ones.  It can use either a USB cable or memory card for transferring files.

Try looking at WinZip for securing the files.  Email is not a secure method of tranfer and if the files were intercepted, it would be a HIPAA violation.  Using a password to zip the files with WinZip will make them secure for transfer and zipping will make the files smaller allowing you to download them quicker.

My ex kept playing games,scheduled the pick-up over 11 times, each time the police had to be here and set up in advance, so they were not happy at all.  Realtor called the judge because the house showing did not do well with a 2 car garage packed with all his junk.

Judge finally "ordered" him to show up on a date SHE chose and if he did not, then his stuff (including his furniture) would be picked up by a local battered womens shelter and the Salvation Army! 

7 months post exist he showed up with some help but the cops who had previously sat around waiting for him also showed up off an on (besides the 2 there to protect me) and did some subtle irritating

Keep reaching for that star Jodi, it will all work out for you.  You've taken the most important step in gaining control of YOUR life again and freedom with security is sweet!