WAGE
Posted By: nana on 2007-10-24
In Reply to: Opinions: Do You Think $12.00 An Hour Is A Lousy Hourly Wage For An Experienced Medical Transcripti - David
Of course it is lousy. Illegal aliens in my city make more than that flipping burgers. What an insult to us that someone would offer that amount.
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Low wage
that seems awfully low. For instance if you were making even 9 cpl you would be working for 11.25/hr. Who can exist on this? My current supervisor tells me it takes about 30 or more charts to equal 1000 lines. That would take an entire 8 hours and then some maybe. This is very discouraging. I don't like this platform so far.
Wage vs Need/Wants
At first glance, yes, $12.00 seems low. However, I live in the northeast and I know I cannot survive on that rate of pay. Maybe in other parts of the country $12.00/hr is very survivable. It all depends on your needs/wants.
At $12/hr you are grossing $480/week, $960 bimonthly. Around here, health insurance coverage for one ROUGHLY averages $50/week. Now you are netting $430/week before taxes. Dental plan? Deduct another $10 or so per week. Down to $420/week before taxes. Figure out your monthly expenses and don't forget that ever present anvil-over-your-head factor for unexpected bills. Also, don't forget you need to save some $$ too - after you buy food and pay the monthly bills! Hmmmm...I am getting this image of a rat on a treadmill.
The question you ask is not simple. You have to figure out if $12/hour is good for YOU. It is just not a survivable wage in this part of the country, especially if you have dependents that eat like horses, go to colleges far away, and you live in a state that taxes you up the wazoopie and only has two seasons: winter and 4th of July.
wage
Oh yeah and the wages being offered are even insulting for a newbie. Can I say how disgraceful this is for "trained professionals" to be offered this. The newbie wages run around 8 cpl...but why at 5, 10 or 15+ years is it fair to still be offered that?? Employers please show us some respect and pay us what we are worth. Remember everything in life is "you get what you pay for." These companies wonder why they have such a HIGH turnover rate, HELLO pay us decent wages!!!! Just think if you broke a typist wage, proofreader wage, English major wage, and everything else we are considered and added it all up it is WAY MORE than we get!
min. wage
Oh yeah it is possible to make minimum wage on some accounts especially when you are a newbie. Start out as a newbie and have one of those hard learning hospitals with a lot of ESLs who you hardly ever type the same one twice and add in many residents. Also add in more than just the basic 4 work types on that account such as psych. discharge summ., echo labs, holter monitor reports, treadmills, etc. that you only do every once in a while and aren't familiar with. With all those factors which I have on one of my accounts it is possible to make min. wage. But I have gotten better it seems. I know some people will say why do an account that is so difficult for you? If I can conquer this I can say I have done something I think. It is just a job and as a newbie I can't pick and choose without much exp. so I put on my big girl pants and do it. Just explaining how you could make min. wage with the right factors.
minimum wage is Fed
I know some cities/counties and I guess states have their minimum wage requirement to allow a business to operate. I know some cities in NJ (where I live now) won't allow a business to operate unless they pay minimum around $9/hour. But minimum wage is a Federal standard and is set at $6.XX an hour - that is for all 52 states.
And it is illegal for anyone to pay less. Actually, I found out that if you are working for someone on a production basis and it comes out to less than Fed. min. wage, you can actually file a complaint and recoup wages.
Minimum wage in NY now $6.75 hr - sm
Working at Burger King is looking better all the time!
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/nyregion/01minimum.html
We do get hourly wage
during down-time and the only approved down-time is meetings and computer malfunction. Lack of work was not approved so if there is lots of work available we have no worries, if not then we will be scrounging around for work. I don't have time for that. 
I will have to ask my supe if that is how it is because that is how I understand it. If so, I maybe putting in my 2 weeks notice.
At least minimum wage
I worked inhouse for a company. We did not have to be there at any certain time, but we did clock in and out to show how many hours we were there. This was, as the other poster said, to make sure we made at least minimum wage. Also, they figured this by the pay period, not by the day.
Not around here you can't. Minimum wage. sm
I live in the midwest in a rural community. Wages are lower.
IC and minimum wage
I have read on the forum where an IC should make minimum wage. Is this no matter what her line count pay equals? I am new to being an IC and have just accepted a position with a service. Is this true with every service? Do they have to pay you minimum wage? Also, if the service is not in the state where you live does this make a difference? I just figured you were paid for what you produced.
minimum wage
7.00 an hour would only require you to type about 90 lines an hour. Let's say minimum wage is $10 an hour, that would only be 130 lines an hour - I do that in 15 minutes even with my ESL doctors... I say if you are only making minimum wage, this is probably not the field for you to be in.
Less than minimum wage
AND a bad platform, and you are staying? There are jobs out there for way better pay, but you have to start looking! With your four years experience, definitely do not settle for 7 cpl!
I have months when I clear $1500 and I have months when I clear $2000....the difference is ME. Over the past 8 years I have learned to work smarter, more efficiently, and that it is a necessity to have the tools to work with. What good is it if I become an expert swimmer but I'm stuck in a bathtub? If my company's platform would not let me do better, then I'd be testing for other jobs. You are the only one who can do a thing about your income situation.
minimum wage
Walmart pays minimum wage with infinitesimal increases over time. Work schedules are constantly changed to keep the employees off balance. The work is extremely exhausting and at least in our local area, they have a very hard time attracting employees, so there are some real tough scary characters working there. Across the street at Target, it's a different story. Employees are well-groomed, happy, and eager to help the customers. The stores are always immaculate, and you never have to negotiate around towering stacks of boxed unshelved merchandise like at Walmart, which has turned into a filthy mess most of the time. Considering that Target's pay scale is not much more than minimum wage, we can assume that there are cultural differences in that company that provide a better quality of life for their employees. If you have a choice in your local area, go for Target.
lucky you have not been at min wage
Yes MT, you have been lucky, and I would say you probably are not working for Medquist. Lately, those of us who have been working there for many, many years have found our line rates being cut several times while we are being routed only the worst ESR jobs out there as well as always with a different account where we have to study the client profile (CP) before we can even begin to transcribe. Next job, yet another client, yet another profile with different rules to study. I regularly made $30 an hour before, but with the changes, I have now been relegated to min wage. I'm looking for something else, believe me, but after more than 12 years, it is hard to make a change, especially when you have been so demeaned by your company that has put you in this position in the first place.
How much is it? answer is less than minimum wage.
You don't wanna go there. Why would you take minimum wage to
work with the public all day at minimum wage or maybe a little more than minimum wage, leave your family for hours and hours at a time, and use basically none of the skills that you obviously have as an MT.
I find it a bit offensive that you would compare working at Burger King as being a better career than being an MT. I, for one, have worked long and hard on becoming an MT and am learning something new every single day.
Sounds like you need to work for a company who appreciates you and will pay you well. They are out there. You just need to look.
Min wage in WA is 7.63 but they are proposing a $1 increase. nm
$$
Minimum wage for down time? sm
Was wondering if anyone has any information about being compensated for downtime - specifically how the department of labor views the complete lack of compensation from these companies? How do they get away with expecting you to work a set schedule, logging in, and then just sitting there? I don't know of any other job - employee status - where this would be tolerated. And, this "flex" thing...how many of us can continually log in throughout the day, on a whim? Many of us work 2 jobs, have kids, other obligations, etc. Wondering what my fellow MTs have to say about fair compensation and what they have found out? I think running out of work weekly, if not daily, and then having to work crazy hours just to get some minimum lines in is not only nuts, it could be in violation of some laws here. I think we are at least owed minimum wage if there is no work. Any opinions? I am going to research this.
That's a great hourly wage!!
s
Not every state's minimum wage is the same.
Ohio's is $7.00 now and some states higher than that. I don't understand why a job that requires reasonable skills would need to be paying no better than "state minimum wage".
making minimum wage
I may just be crazy here, but I do not see how anybody could possibly just make minimum wage on this job. At 8 cents a line, that would be only typing less than 75 lines an hour, and even at 5 cents a line it would be less than 130 lines an hour.
Do people really and truly sit down and type for an hour and only make 5.85 an hour?
Only actual employees get min wage.
I am making more than minimum wage.
NJ is $7.15. I average between $13 and $15 an hour, sometimes more, but each hour I work yields a different line amount depending on the type of account I am on. I switch between 4 different accounts. As long as I can produce the same amount of lines everyday I am happy. Sounds like you are to, so not sure why you are concerned if people are making minimum wage in this field or not. Why do you care?
That's the only way to make a decent wage --
Can't enforce minimum wage for ICs.
based on my skillset, not the skillset of other MTs. That could actually lower my rate. I have never accepted any low rates and never will. I'll find another line of work before I'll accept 7 cpl rates. If that's what a place offers, they get no more of my time, period. Yes, I'm a very patient person and went through many bum interviews before finding the right fit, but it's worth it not to compromise.
Besides that issue, I agree with you 100% about AHDI being a crock. I don't care what other health care professionals they choose to represent as long as they take MTs off their list entirely.
making minimum wage..
Most of the time the company's minimum requirements for your shift would equal at least minimum wage, so if you don't meet your line count and therefore are making less than minimum wage and they have to pay you the difference, they probably are not going to keep you as an employee -- at least I would not think so.
I don't work for them but I think they can get away with paying less than min wage
becuase you are an IC and not an employee.
If you're an employee then, yes, I'd say you'd have a leg to stand on but if they have min line/production requirements then more than likely those min requirements would equal out to at least min wage so it would still fall back on you. These MTSOs are usually pretty savvy about getting around legal issues.
seriously, do not compare an hourly wage job with
nm
At this point, not much! An hourly wage and
Radiology Editor wage for midwest
Although I am not a Radiology Editor, I am a Radiology Transcription Supervisor in the midwest (teaching hospital). I think QA/Editor positions should pay more, or at least the same as MT positions. I think $20-$22/hour is more in line with the job requirements.
Oh, and $10 an hour is considered a "good" wage here.
Not...
If a state has a minimum wage, how can a company (not MT) pay
that companies have to at least pay minimum wage?
Ahem, it was God who told David to wage war on
God has always waged war on enemies and done so through human beings.
Everything the military does is in service of the USA. You don't have to like or agree with the reasons as to why the military deployment but every action is in service of this country.
By all means, sit on your tush and do nothing to protect the country from any threat whatsoever. LOL
Then you can be the first to serve under the tyranny that will be rolling down OUR streets in their tanks and blowing up OUR people with their suicide bombers.
LOL
What would you consider a fair cpl wage for an experienced MT? I'm not interested in what the
going rate currently is, but more interested in what everyone thinks it should be. I know that it is 7 cpl to 9 cpl, depending on experience, but personally I feel that an experienced and quality MT should make more than 9 cpl especially when the seasoned MTs get stuck with all ESLs and difficult dictators.
And shouldn't editors be making more than MTs? It stands to reason that if you are an editor, someone qualified to check and make corrections to other people's work, then you should and probably would have more experience and education than the people you are grading. Therefore, you should be paid more than the person you are grading, true?
And why do we put up with all this garbage?!?!? I am so sick of working for peanuts, working 10 hour days or more just to make ends meet. I started looking for in-office MT jobs and they are not out there anymore because the hospitals outsource to the services and the services are outsourcing to India or offering me next to nothing to type the hardest stuff out there.
I guess I just needed a little rant today. 
Wanted to add that I am working as an IC for this wage, so no benefits. nm
nm
oops, meant yes, it is a lousy wage
.
I turned her be..ind in when I found out because threatened with wage cut
because SHE made so much and the other Transcriptionist and I were going to have our wages cut because of 1 being dishonest? I don’t think so. This person was taking off half days while the other person and I finished full days. We looked at her log she had written the names down and saw what her counts were and we knew no way Jose. I so liked the part when I was able to tell the manager no sour grapes, what was happening was. I think the manager was green herself and did not have any experience in transcription and did not want to believe me.
what is a typical QA hourly wage for experienced QA
wondering what a median QA hourly wage for an experienced QA
Minimum wage requirements when there's no work, perhaps?
Looks like the Q is having to pony up minimum wage to a lot of MTs when there is NJA and this, I believe, is the highest in CA. Interestingly, CA-based employees of the Q seem to get NJA less frequently than other regions.
Question about minimal wage and independents
I am reading here people training and not making the minimum wage yet. If independent, does a company still have to pay to bring that person's wages up to minimum or are people just guessing here? TIA
Hourly wage for Med Rec Reviews in Cali
It's been many years since I've charged for med record reviews and have no clue what the going rate may be. They are for QME reports. Anyone have any idea on what would be fair to both parties? Thank yew!!!
I am so paranoid of being replaced with a lower wage employee.
dd
CorTmedical - never heard of em, but they need to hear about the minimum wage ... - nm
Good thing you kept all your wage statements. You'll have
a fight but at least you have the proof you'll need.
I want a decent job at a living wage and less stress in my life.
O
I know waiters and waitresses make less than minimum wage
but when you add their tips it should come up to at least minimum. I know they figure it that way anyway. What other jobs don't pay minimum?
oh geeze - 4-6% wage decrease, I/we should be so lucky!! My pay has dropped (sm)
30% - yes, that's right 30 PERCENT!! - in the last ten years. This is all due to the new and improved (ahem!) creative ways of now counting the lines and what's included and what's not included. You can't tell me doctors aren't making money these days. If there were no money to be made, NOBODY would want to become one!!
The result of MTs' efforts to make a living wage are (sm)
And of COURSE we don't want less - we DO want more. That goes without saying. But you see - the type of verbal attack that you and other "Debbie Downers" like you launch every time an MT says, "Wait a minute... maybe there IS something we can do is so typical of the type of thinking that holds not just MTs, but women in general back. I have already checked and made sure my doc's MTSO doesn't offshore. If that changes, my ins. (which is just your average, run-of-the-mill HMO) STILL allows me to go to other providers. If you "don't have many options", have you ever wondered WHY? Could it be that you keep SETTLING for less and less? And could it be that other MTs, when they read the gloom and doom in your post, will think THEY have to settle, too?
As for pulling other endeavors out of other nations, hey - there are quite a few that I think others would LOVE to see pulled out. Such as tech help for just about everything from your PC to your cellphone being sent to places where they can't understand what you're trying to tell them, and vice versa. I have a friend with a Masters degree in software engineering who is working menial jobs right now in order to pay the rent, while he looks for a job in his field that is a full-time, benefitted position, rather than as a part-time IC with no benefits. He says even the part-time jobs are getting hard to find because so many employers are sending EVERYTHING out, including part time.
The old, "Go ahead and try! Why don't you quit MT? Oh, boy - more work for ME!" song and dance may fly for a while, but why sit back and seemingly enjoy watching your profession go extinct, when eventually it WILL affect you, too? Do you really want to sit there all day as an "editor" and stare at work typed by other entities? How boring is that? Where is any ounce of creatitivity? At least when you transcribe, you are producing something of value, and can take pride in it. And at a lousy 3-to-6 cents a line, where is the pride in speech-rec or editing work?
minimum wage laws cover employees only - nm
x
I work on Escription VR and if you cannot make minimum wage, then
something is really wrong with either you or your system. I make a very good salary on VR. It can be done even at 4 cpl and that is what I am paid. I have occasional straight but 90%+ is all VR. I do not understand people saying minimum wage- that is only 6 or 7 dollars an hour, ridiculous to work for that in this kind of profession.
I will stay in Podunk and make a living wage if you will take it to a blog. sm
Is that concept so hard to understand? I you cannot understand that simple idea, maybe that is why the lot of you don't have the sense to do something about your situation other than just whine. Take it to a blog, where maybe between you will be able to help yourselves. Or better yet, think of it this way,,, take it to a blog and then you won't have to navigate around the other posts to whine to each other.
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