When you say you cannot get your lines
Posted By: KM on 2006-01-05
In Reply to: Maybe if they shows some respect - Okay, what about management
strictly because of poor management, what exactly do you mean? If you were hired with the understanding that you would be working on a certain account and was later switched, you should take the matter up with a higher up.
Would you like to know why MTSOs (some) are sending work overseas? By no means do I support offshoring but I also have sense enough to know that business is business. Again, if US MTs continue to be unreliable, i.e. you work at home, yet you call in sick on a regular basis...you produce substandard work and then want a raise. MTSOs have to meet the TAT and other requirements of the account or risk losing the account. They MUST have quality minded, RELIABLE MTs in order to meet these specs.
Americans take so much for granted. We don't appreciate...TRULY appreciate how fortunate we are. People in other countries only dream about the benefits that even the poorest American has. When they are given the opportunity to work, you better believe that only under catastrophic conditions would they call in. I have worked for a company who offshores and that NEVER happened. ALL of the MTs were logged in during their shift working.
You guys say a lot of stuff just to be complaining without giving what you are saying any thought. If there is no work coming in from a hospital, what can the MTSO do? If there is no work, there is no work. I have a full time employee position and two IC positions. Be proactive and do something about your situation. Instead of quitting a company because of a dry spell, keep that job and take on a part time IC job. All of these comapnies have dry spells at one point or another.
If a company is rude or disrespectful and unappreciative, then by all means, LEAVE. If you are quitting a company just because there is no work right now...to me...this is foolish , because eventually, that new job you get is going to have the same problem. I think all MTs should have a backup MT gig for the slow times. Slow times are inevitable.
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Aaahhhh, now I get it. Gross lines vs. Character lines. I guess I've just been conditioned to
think in terms of character lines. One of the perils of working as an IC for somebody who defines what a line is versus owning your own company and defining it yourself. After working for someone else for 15 years, maybe it's time to bust out on my own.
That is a lot of work/lines for 2 people. I do 3000 lines per day sm
if you times that by 30 days that only comes to 90K lines a month, that is working 7 days a week including weekends. I don't think 2 people can handle that.
900 lines is below 1100 lines, where the bonus starts.
x
Gross lines include all lines containing
printable characters, so a full line and a line with one word on it are charged equally. Straight lines are basically the same as gross lines, but with this method of counting the blank lines are counted as well (again, equally). I have only had one company pay this way, and they are a middle man. I would think the charge would be about the same as for gross lines, and that not too many offices will want their lines counted this way (the one I worked on was probably inherited from someone who had counted the lines that way, so just continued).
The norm is 1 minute = 10 lines; 10 min = 100 lines - sm
granted this varies per dictator. More lines if a fast talker, less if a slow talker.
I went from 2400 lines to 1800 lines
a day when I switched from clinic (through an MTSO) to hospital work. Not only was the clinic work easier with more macros (and less providers to learn, 12 vs 300+), but I was typing in straight Word (as opposed to Softmed/Chart Script). So you see, it really varies depending upon the type of work as well as the platform used. That said, I am so much happier typing the 1800 lines per day (I make over $15 per hour plus an incentive for any lines in excess of 1200 per day) plus a great health package/benefits, AND approximately 5 weeks of paid time off per year. In my opinion, hospitals really are the best employers WHEN they appreciate the work we do.
My advice for you is not to judge a job by any one criterion but rather the entire picture. The 'extra's can really add up.
Good luck in your job!
Which is the one where they are sc*&ing us the standard lines or the qualified lines? SM
Mine show up as STD when I pull up my transcription log. But I see now there is STD/QT.... So which is the one where they are ripping us off, standard or qualified? Need to know. I am about to switch companies and I will not do if they are actually taking lines from me. Thanks guys.
Question versus gross lines versus 65-character lines....
I have always charged or been paid by 65 or 60 character lines or per letter or space typed, but have never been paid or charged per gross line.
What is the advantage of this? If I were to charge 11 cents per 65-character line including spaces, what does this figure out to for an average line rate and how do you do this calculation?
I'm wondering if it is financially beneficial for me to bill by gross line or to keep it the way I have it. I do know some accounts will only pay per 65-character line, as this was the deal my first own account I recently acquired. They were adamant on a 65-character line, but didn't specify with or without spaces and I personally would never not charge for spaces.
Thanks for explaining this. I appreciate it and hope everyone has a speedy day.
Word count: 824 lines. DocuCount count: 897 lines.
I just counted the same file in Word and then in DocuCount, and DocuCount was higher than Word.
Just as an aside.
lines
I always say a good average is around 250-300 lines an hour.
Lines
I have been flamed many times about my production, rate and how much I make. I think it is great for you. But there are those 10 hour days sometimes but I like the fact that I have my own business, and get paid for the hard work. One account that I have is surgeons and with their consults have hit close to 600 lines per hour but with my IM's, and their chart notes can only get up to 350 to 400 or so. It is hard when I switch to my clinic account where I sometimes go in and get paid hourly as I feel like I am not working fast enough on their electronic charts. Again, I have said it many times, it may take a while but if you want to work hard the money is there to be made in this field.
How many lines??
Everyone just wondering how many lines did you do a day when you first started MT? And, how many hours a day?
SS lines, pay,
They are a total rip off. E-mails are plain rude. Cherrypickers like one could not believe. Management does not exist. QA a total joke. Roaming payday. Anyone else who states other is not an MT with the company.
lines...whatever it was.
Well you see, you stated right in your post that you can't possibly cherry pick...so what do you know about what is going on with the rest of us out here who DO have to deal with cherry pickers.
Ma'am, I have 25 years in this business, 15 of it in a nest of the worst cherrypickers you have ever seen, at the largest hospital in my state. I was the supervisor for 5 years and I would have fired somebody on the spot if they'd done that, but they all knew it. Had no problems.
Don't know what you make per line but getting about 666 lines per hour is quite astounding. I'm sure you must be quite happy where you are and with no cherry pickers!
I work for 3 hospitals, doing operative notes. They are assigned to me by someone 6 states away. I go down the list. There's no way to get anything other than what I get. And yes, I am completely happy where I am.
Good for you. I've been an acute care MT for over 30 years and am rated as one of the best as far as QA and quantity and have NEVER, EVER in my life been able to come close to your line count. Maybe you are from another planet and have powers beyond us or maybe you have some special secret you could share. Or maybe, we should just ignore your statement of getting that kind of line count, especially when you are not dealing with cherry pickers. 
I don't deal with cherrypickers because I won't work where there are any. I get that kind of line count every single day, because that is what is assigned to me and I have to do it and turn it in on a deadline.
It is all in where you work and what you are able to put up with. I happen to have the freedom to work where I please and working there pleases me.
It's unfortunate that you have 30 years' experience and you are stuck where you are.
lines
Well it took me a little longer 5 typing and 1.0 delivering but I did 2295 at 0.12 cents a line. So guess I will quit until later this evening. Two surgeons and two IM' and 1 plastic surgeon. Lots of consults, auto corrects but pays off. 13 consults at 3 to 4 pages each.
LINES
I have gotten 500 lines but I should not count as I do clinical notes for two surgeons that do the same consults for most breast CA, hernias, cysts, etc. I just whipped out between the two almost 700 lines in about 75 minutes but I have been doing them for so long and have so much saved that I type perhaps on a general inguinal hernia consult and letter, 30% of the actual consult. Sometimes more. On regular chart notes, I average around 300 to 350 but again have had the same docs for 5 and 7 years. And when you read closely, you will see that is how we do it. But if you are with a national and new docs all the time, I would be luck to get 200 lines an hour. So it is sometimes like comparing oranges to apples as they say.
lines
Working 2-1/2 hours, all ops, mainly ESL, 308 lines which comes out to about $10 an hour. Am I crazy or what?
lines/pay
I've been transcribing 25 years, only 4 months being production paid with a large national, no incentives, no bonuses, no extras for working holidays. I find it terribly depressing when the check comes and you see your gross lines, divide the number of hours you worked--it has been improving each pay, but still not near what I was making previously. I now have been offered a position (not transcription) at a local hospital (where I lost my transcribing job to outsourcing) at $16/hr. An easy job that I'm seriously considering. No holidays, no logging on all hours to find work, great benefits. But I've been working at home 5 years now..... I never realized how the big companies are underpaying good transcriptionists. Thank heavens I have extra accounts that I've been doing on the side for years or I couldn't survive on what I'm bringing in now. Thanks for listening!
lines/pay
If that is true, many not making $10/hr., then yes, I guess I should consider myself lucky. I had no idea others were being paid such a minimal amount - and I never considered that I was "in the dark" about things!
lines
My max after 4 months with the national came out to $13.42/hr. I have extra accounts that I've been doing for years and make $25-$30 an hour on those - letters by specialists which I breeze though, 15-20 extra hours a week, so when I went to the national, pay by the line, what a shocker. Never been paid by the line, even though I was told not to worry with my experience, etc., I would have no trouble with getting good line counts, doesn't seem to be happening. At least it doesn't seem good to me and at this point the in-house hospital job (not transcription) seems more inviting at $16/hr Mon-Fri, no weekends, no holidays, great bennies...Even though my love is transcription my feeling is I'll still have my fingers in it with the extra accounts I have but will feel more stable. Single parent, need the bennies.
lines
Glad to know it is not just me. New to this at home thing - only 4 months with 25 years experience. I struggle to get 1200 lines a day unless I get lucky and get an ER account - which doesn't happen very often.
$13/hr plus .04 over 150 lines/hr
Just went back to the local hospital I used to work for. I usually can easily type 300 lines per hour, so the hourly rate plus incentive is fairly decent.
Lines
I checked this when I first went on DQS. Do a select all on a completed document in DQS, paste it into MS Word, then go to tools, choose word count, look at the characters with spaces total and divide that number by 65. You will find that it matches with DQS. 
lines
It takes me about 8 hours to do 2000 lines
lines
one day
lines
How? I could only dream of doing that. I started workign as an MT in July, I currently am getting only about 500-700 lines a day. I made $20 my first day. I also have a 2 year old that constantly needs my attention. How did you get so good? Any tips would really be appreciated.
500 to 700 lines isn't bad at all
if you just started in July.
I do right around 1500 a day (more or less) and I've been at it nearly 20 years.
Take the time to add in expansion settings, templates, etc. I did 650 lines today for one doctor I do and he does almost the same exact progress report for each patient. The template runs right around 10 lines and I did 30 patients so there were 300 "free" lines (that I didn't have to actually type) right there. Add the expansion settings of only having to type "pmh" for "past medical history is significant for multiple medical issues, including," etc, etc., I can do 600 lines for him in 2 hours.
However, if I get a new guy, I'm luck if I can do 300 lines in 2 hours.
So it sounds as if you're not doing to badly if you can get 500 to 700 lines done especially with a 2-year-old! If I have my 18 month old twin granddaughters here I get ZERO lines in a day! 
lines/hr
Thank you for responding. I really appreciate it.
Lines/hr
routinely between 7.5 - 8 hours per day with a couple breaks per day.
lines/hr
Ooops! I thought you said PER DAY. Sorry.
lines
Like I said, easy to check just look at an old report in Microsoft word and see character count with and without spaces. That will tell you the difference.
Lines
My lines depend on what doctors I get, how they speak, if they are foreign where you have to listen over and over until you learn what they are saying. Some days I do not have to go to a book and other days I have to look up a lot of things, especially if it is the first time I heard it, just to make sure I am spelling it right and I have been doing this a long time. Hang in there.
lines
I easily do 2000 lines a day on a word count (about 7 hours) but then again I have been at this for 25 years! Good luck!
I can do that many lines and still have 98%+
QA. I can't do it on a daily basis, but I do it a couple of times a month. It does wear me out and after a day like that, the next day I'm lucky to get 1200 lines, so it balances out. I'd like to have a paycheck for daily lines like that, but I want a life too and I don't want to get a DVT, CTS, etc.
lines
this is apart from the topic of your interest, but if I may ask how does any MT do a line count above 2000? So far I have done in the vicinity of 1300 for the day? Any suggestions or does it depend on the type of accounts you have to attain that number?
Hope everything works out for you.
lines
I e-mailed you last night.
Thank you.
30 min = 300-450 lines
In my experience, and as others have said, it takes me about an hour to do 15-20 minutes of dictation. Sometimes, with a particularly good doctor, I can do 30 minutes of dictation in an hour.
I did have a doc once that could squeeze about 300 lines of transcription into 7 minutes of dictation, and it would take the whole hour to do that miserable 7 minutes.
Lines
What is your average lines per day.
3,997 lines a day-6 hr
These are 65 char lines, no spaces, no macros. I do all that AND find time to haunt the MT boards. Not.
3,000 lines
I have often wondered how this is possible. how do they keep their jobs???
I can only say, I was able to get more lines using my own PC and WP5.1
a
Lines
Can anyone explain to me what 65 character B & W line is?
Thanks for the info.
Lines
I, for one, do not doubt anyone. I do admit that I admire the ability and have wondered how to get it done myself. Helping each other understand how to get there too would be a wonderful thing! It can't be just pounding away. I agree in sharing in the triumphs and being proud of anyone that can do it.
I also like your expansion post with full explanations instead of the short clip answers that do not explain anything. New people are trying to learn from you experts. It would not take away from anyone to give back some to the medical transcription profession.
Thank you for the interesting post.
I get up to 600 lines...
a day and only work four hours a day. And 3.5 cents per line is better than what I get paid. Good work!
QA LINES
Every client has different requirements, depends on what they want you to QA (blank hunt, grammar totally) etc. But for instance 2400-5000 lines in 8 hours is not uncommon and that is really going over the reports and not just blank hunting.
karl
lines
It is probably averaging the lines that you do per hour.
Wow, that's a lot of lines....
with my account I average 1200 lines a day. I don't know how you do it, that must take you a long time to get 200-4000 lines a day. I can only imagine how your fingers and wrists must feel. Thanks for sharing.
Lines
Sounds like a company I used to work for. I found a huge discrepancy. Who do you work for or what platform are you typing on. This may shed some light.
5,000 lines a day
Well, the average is said to be 400-600 lines per hour - I have never gotten 600 lines per hour but have done over 400 lph - so 600 lines x 8 hours would = whatever - but my work consists of both regular transcription and VR editing - I think this is a very high # of lines required - I would be very worried
I can do 3K lines per day, but it is with VR. sm
Been an MT for 25 years, transcribe 350 lines an hour, and still can't consistently transcribe 3000 lines a day; however, with VR it is pretty easy to achieve the 3K mark daily.
Sorry that is the only answer I can come up with.
If that is 600 lines then it is 0.083 cpl---see if you - sm
can get an example of 60 mintues from them and figure out the line count to get a better idea.
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