Home     Contact Us    
Main Board Job Seeker's Board Job Wanted Board Resume Bank Company Board Word Help Medquist New MTs Classifieds Offshore Concerns VR/Speech Recognition Tech Help Coding/Medical Billing
Gab Board Politics Comedy Stop Health Issues
ADVERTISEMENT




Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

What about the sometimes-variable pay period length??

Posted By: CrankyBeach on 2009-05-07
In Reply to: Line Requirements - Loves To Type

Twice a month, it's usually 11 working days, but can be a day shorter or longer from time to time....

We have a very generous 125 LPH requirement, which in an 8-hour day would come to 1000. Multiply that by the number of days in the pay period.

We have to average at least 1200 lines per day to make the first incentive bonus level, and it stays at 1200 lines per day regardless of pay period length. I.e. if it were a 10-day pay period, the incentive level would be 12,000 lines. For the usual 11-day pay period, it's 13,200.

My sister works for a hospital in Oregon; they have a 1400 lines per 8-hour day requirement, which comes to 175 lph.


Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu


Other related messages found in our database

Late period, test negative, 1 week later my period arrived.
To be honest, when I did become pregnant, I knew it right away. Sounds weird, but I just knew and it showed up on HCG test at 4 weeks.

Sometimes, you just know! Good luck whatever results you have.
Actually, chosing "cap after period" will not force a period in the instances I mentioned. --
Even with it checked, it WILL NOT cap after a number with a period in it. Like "white count 14.1. hemoglobin 10.9.

If you know of a way that it WILL, let us all know. I have never had a version of Word that will work that way. Always puts in the lower case, even though there is a period there.
Actually, the ratios are variable...

If it takes 20 minutes to transcribe 10 minutes of dictation, that is very fast at 2:1.  It is possible for an experienced MT on an account with which they are very familiar, if normals and lots of expansions are used and if no time is spent looking up or verifying any terms.  Demographics would throw this out the window as well.


Unfortunately, or rather realistically, the ratio is usually much higher than 2:1.  We figure about 6 or even 8:1 on a new account, and as high as 10:1 or more for new MTs or for especially difficult accounts.


Our "average" MT does from 60-100 minutes in an 8-hour shift.


 


Variable Income

You are so right.  Maybe we need to stick together and ask for hourly wage that is fair to us and to the hospital/clinic/private office, benefits that mean something, and all work our shifts.  If some of us don't keep up then we will get fired!  However, the rest of us will all benefit immensely and be fairly treated.  It seems in the world of transcriptiion that we, the transcriptionists, always get ripped off.  Consider that my husband has a "regular job" and has had yearly cost of living increases, bonuses, etc. forever.  By my estimation, my pay translated into hourly has gone down considerably.  Twenty years ago the hourly offered for our services has never changed one iota and now that we are home not only did it go down (unless we skip lunch and work over) but we have lost all our benefits unless we work for cheap line counts for big nationals.  I am tired of them taking all of my money, are you?  It is just like the health insurance racket.  They have all kinds of "middle men" who get their piece of the action from the people who really do the work.  My husband's share we pay for our benefits has gone up, his company's share has gone up and the offerings have gone down.  Why?  There is no real need for middle men.  All they do is drive the cost of things and the real workers get it in the neck or other body parts I won't mention because I am a lady. Face it, doctor's don't even know we exist any more.  There is no personal factor.  I don't need constant affirmation, but it was nice when the doctors I transcribed for vaguely or not so vaguely knew who I was and respected me and my integrity and realized I made some contribution to their practice by my careful attention to detail.  They also remembered that I too worked there when everyone else got a raise.  I guess I am done now, but this gripes me so much and we all continue to sit here and type and nothing changes.  Somehow others have insinuated themselves into our transcription business and are pocketing all the profits and calling all the shots.  Some days I feel like a rat in a wheel. 


My rewind is at 900 and 100 with the variable
s
Will be variable depending on the normals and shortcuts you have and how
s
Too many variable. Suggest google and make
x
"period, period, period..."
Yes I've transcribed for an MD who said this constantly while he was trying to think of what he would dicate next. I also had one who would say "ahhhhhhhhhh....." for what seemed like an eternity!! So annoying isn't it!
MedQuist? Ctrl+shift+F, period, space, tab, period, space, space, change all. nm
.
length of time
I usually figure 1-2 times the length of the dictation if the doctor doesn't mumble, pause, or have an accent. If there is an accent of lots of vocab I have to check, it can take anywhere from 3-4 times or longer. And as above, this is using expanders. A meeting format would probably be more difficult unless they are taping it professionally. Otherwise, people's voices may fade in and out, you might have background noise, etc. In this case, I would figure around 8 hours, maybe a bit more.
Well if the file is 60 min in length

How long does it take you to transcribe 60 min of dictation?   If it doesn't take that long, then swell, but if it takes you all day, then that's not much hourly...


Paid by the dictated minute is horrible especially when you've got a speed demon dictator that turns out it's actually 120 min worth of dictation because they talk so darned fast...


 


The font has nothing to do with the length
of a line, that is set by the margins. A 65-character count line is a line, whether the line itself has 55 characters or 85 characters. It takes 65 to make a line.
Depends on length of page
If you get $2.50 a page, that's including short pages? I find that my average page is 25 lines. They are not all full.
As I recall, ONLY after you've been there for a set length of time.
x
Medium to long length acrylics.
I type a little better without them, but not enough to make me want to get rid of them!
Does anyone know how to set Page Length in Windows 97? See inside
New account, they need the page to stop at 8.9 or 9.1, and so I have to put in a hard page break.

BUT, does anyone know how to set the page length to be shorter automatically? Something I can create a template or whatever, and when I type on that account, the page length will automatically break at 8.9 and then I will know to put the hard page break in when the machine does?

Thanks.
I keep it on 24/7 but turn off monitor when I'm away any length of time.

I actually do turn if off every week or 2 but very seldom.  I've been told it's much better for computer longevity to leave it on.  Hope that is correct!


The typing itself will take 3 to 4 X the length of dictation if it's easy but...sm..

I don't know what kind of meeting you're talking aboutl.  Board meetings is usually formated as an outline, which will take quite a bit of extra time even if you already have a template for it.  It's just a pain.  I hope you have a meeting outline template.  If not, keep one after the first one you type for any after that.  You could ask them for one.  Tell them you want to see how they like it formatted.  Hopefully, they'll give it to you on disc or something so you don't have to re-type the outline. 


It also depends on how many people are speaking in the meeting and if they're speaking into the recorder.


 


I think it means any line no matter what length.
but that's a guess
Also, at times I'll skip a job due to length, not
If I know I've only got 30 more minutes to work and have to leave, I'll skip over a 25-minute long file, regardless of the ease/difficulty factor, so I like that we have the option. I can finish a few more shorter reports for the client that way whereas I might have otherwise logged off altogether. BUT, I also do my fair share of the hard ESLs and long files at the beginning of shift. I used to be 100% against skipping any files, but OTOH, if someone knows they can't do that ESL's work, maybe it's best for someone who CAN to take them on so the reports are more accurate. I would at least hope that the MTs have given it a good effort first though. I agree this might not be abused as much if MTSOs would pay for difficulty factor, though.
This is one place the font and line length absolutely
make a difference. If you have to use a small font and long line length, you will make the same or less than a 65 character count. Always check out the number of characters that can be put on the line with their defined margins. For example, 1 company uses 1 inch margin, but a tiny font, so the line length can actually be 104 characters, or almost double what the counted 65 character line is. Some have a "secret" formula for saying it will come out the same as a 65 character line, but that is a hoax, as well, as only part of the report is adjusted for that, not the entire report. The only gross line count on WP51 was the only good way for gross lines. Word has really changed that picture.
I just bought one and returned it! Headachy. I think more vertical length would be better for our pr
nm
It depends on font size, line length, margin size, etc.
There are too many variables. 
I don't know about that, but I do know that towards the end of pay period...

when we run out of work, I have to call in and have them special-assign me the ASR reports that just sit there like a lump and can't come to me automatically anymore since I don't (and won't) do ASR.  Getting sick of it, too. 


At least I do know what's going on now, after researching it via various sources. I pity the others who don't know and just assume there's totally no more work on the account at that point without checking.  Those ASR reports do "turn over" at some point and go automatically to whoever's on, but they have to just sit there for awhile first, waiting for an ASR MT to come and do them.  Isn't that just GREAT for patient care, too? 


I was 26 before I got my first car, period!
b
Period, period, period, uh, uh

Didn't someone around here (in a dictator gripe thread) talk about how one of thier dictators would "fill the space/silence" by repeating "period, period, period, period"???  This has GOT to be the same guy that I've got right now!  How very annoying!  He can sure make 5.5 minutes feel like an ETERNITY!! 


I think I would prefer the ones that "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" or hummmmm or something to this "period, period, period, uh, uh, uh, period, period" crapola! Yikes! Somebody save me!


12,000 a pay period is FT.
x
At MQ we are to space once after a period.
That just changed in the last 6 months.
End of pay period every other week.
I hope they do away with IC status with new pay plan. SE's have to turn in a schedule, so I think the IC should also turn in schedule and adhere to that schedule, rather than pouncing on the work at the end of each pay period the last 3 or 4 days of the pay period and getting their lines then -- leaving employee status MQ MT's to be without work. I dread this each and every end of PP, as they do all the easy work, then leave the "junk" to us to scramble for. But the IC's disappear on the 1st and 16th of each and every month until the last days of the PP once again, and they show their faces  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is what they say in Britain for period. sm
They call a Z a zed, and quotation marks are called inverted commas. These docs must have been educated in British-influenced schools.
Exactly! One board is all we need - PERIOD
No wonder this board is deserted.
One space or two after a period.

Which is the correct way, one space or two spaces after a period in medical transcription?


Thanks for any help in advance.


IC who works when she wants. Period! sm
Yes. You read that correctly. She only works when she feels like it. Why do I keep her on? When she works she does a good job. And she is family. I've hinted, joked, and got downright bitchy about it many times. Work is to be returned in 24 to 36 hours, but it is sometimes five or six days. The only time she really seems to put her best foot forward is the two days before the pay cutoff date to be sure she has a nice check. Then she'll make all types of strange excuses for why her work wasn't returned in a timely manner. No internet service. At at a restaurant and got sick. Problems at home. - I'm being taken advantage of in a big way and I know this. I wouldn't tolerate it at all if it weren't for the fact that she's family. My other ICs don't get away with it. ---So, I need advice on the best way to handle it. If your advice is that I should never hire family please save yourself the time by not posting. I know that now, but its water under the bridge and I have to deal with this ongoing problem yet preserve peace. Thanks in advance for your input.
By law...you wrote it, they are yours period

Those belong to you, end of story. The law automatically states that if you wrote it, it is yours.  Registered copyrights cover if someone distributes.  The link below provides the forms.


 


http://www.copyright.gov/forms/


No accents/ESL. PERIOD!

Okay, I have a confession... I cannot understand accents.  Period.  So, when going to see a new physician, etc., I make sure to ask right off the bat whether the doctor speaks clear English, and if the answer is no, then I tell them that I am sorry for wasting their time and I go to the next doctor.


Just the same, when I was being considered for the accounts I have now, I told the lady I work for that I cannot do heavy accents or ESL doctors.  I know - - could have kept me out of work, but you know what?  I don't need the money that bad, because I would just be spending it on psych meds because trying to do the work would make me crazy! 


I think she dropped a period.
As in: I didn't. Thank you very much.
Bayscribe, to cap after a period
Someone mentioned awhile back that they never could figure out how to automatically capitalize after a period in Bayscribe.  Well, I wasn't looking for it, but accidentally discovered it.  You go into productivity tools, and go into tab for local configuration; just check or uncheck the box. I'm still discovering little helps like this that I missed when I started the program. And if you want to momentarily de-activate, of course, just hit the escape first. Hoping this helps someone else! 
Bayscsribe, to cap after period
If you do that in your productivity tools it will cap every word after a period.  So now when I type q.i.d., b.i.d., anything after that, i.e. daily or as needed, all comes capitalized and I have to wait a few words and then go back and uncapitalize it.  It is very frustrating when doing meds.
I ALWAYS space twice after a period and I ALWAYS will!
says!  I learned to type on a typewriter and it is ingrained in my head.  Now that I'm doing VR, as I'm editing, I add the extra space after the period.  I look at it as just more money the MTSOs are trying to screw us out of!
VR compensation/2 wk period
It seems that we have to make that high productivity in voice recognition for two weeks straight. If for even ONE day in the two weeks, your productivity was not as high, it bumps your average back down to making way less money. For example, let's say you work hard to edit 350 lines (voice recog.) per hour for 6 or 7 days, but one day your productivity was only their minimum of 150 lines per hour- that reduces your two-week average. What am I missing? What are you doing to keep productivity really high for that two week average?
VR compensation/2 wk period
No, I have not been able to achieve 350 lines per hour with voice recognition, or anywhere near it. But at 150 lines per hour at 4 cents per line for editing voice recognition, that is $6.00 a hour pay, and so the minimum wage requirement kicks in, as I am an employee, and I make $6.55 per hour for 150 lines per hour. So, how do I double or triple my voice recognition editing production per 2-week period, to at LEAST 300 lines average per hour (or even more if possible) so I can make more money?
Nothing more than rumor and gossip. Period.
nm
this is so true across the board period (sm)
especially about hiring "minorities".  My DH's work exclusively hires Spanish/Mexicans to work in their warehouse, cause they will work, not like the spoiled American youth in general.  It's our own faults, people.  That's just the way it is!!!
It is crazy. I don't believe in spanking period.
There are other ways to discipline.  My kids know how to behave (99% of the time they do) and fortunately they aren't in our public school system so I don't have to worry about that.  School should be a place where children feel safe and there are lots of kids in school who you could use some discipline, but paddling is not the way to accomplish it. 
Post-pay period blues...
I simply cannot get motivated today! I always feel sluggish and lazy just after a pay period, especially on the first day of a new one. I worked so darn hard yesterday to have a decent paycheck that I'm, well, too pooped to punctuate! Anyone else have this malady?
Anybody ever taken Prometrium for PMS? Just for 2 weeks before period.
x
Last day of the pay period. No work on the system.
x
you need to support her and let her know you love her. PERIOD.
X
Training your replacement isn't your job. Period. nm
s
Some people are just ungrateful, period.
Gas grill, iPOD, Tiffany bracelet, Omaha steaks, American Express giftcards, medical dictionaries, AAMT memberships, 7 all-expense paid trips to this year's AAMT Conference, and more.

Yeah, those are nice gifts.

Does anyone know if IT offers a trial period? sm

From the comments on this post and the post I placed yesterday, I am convinced I would like to try IT.  I hate to spend $189 though and not like it but I do not see on their web site where they offer a money back trial period.  Also, do you know if you download it and have it immediately or if it comes in the mail? Thanks to all who have offered their opinions, it really helps!