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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

add to that ASR, getting paid 1/2 for basically re-typing reports! nm

Posted By: farmgal on 2008-09-11
In Reply to: To those disillusioned about being an MT - just me

xx


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Hi, Trying. You're basically right about the straight typing, I think. SM
But as eScription learns to handle the practitioners' dictation, the product you are presented with is more and more an already-typed document and your job is to edit that. Speedy fingers are still helpful, but production also depends on ability to read quickly, recognize and correct technical errors quickly (potassium 45 to 4.5) and decide on necessary grammar/punctuation changes quickly. I have the dictation speed pumped up as high as I can manage to drop in periods and caps and so on and still keep up with.

It will take a while for the practitioners and computer to get in the groove, though, and for some months the documents will come through in various degrees of mess, some good and some awful that you're just slogging through. During this period you guys are working to train the computer through your corrections feedback. The company I work for dealt with this by paying us full transcription rates for editing during the worst of this. Since editing production is a lot higher than transcription, though, the pay per line drops to reflect this. In our case, to half, but I still make more now because I can edit more than twice what I can type.

For that and for the work itself, I really like editing and would hate to go back to transcribing full time (a small percentage is still transcribing physicians who aren't willing to make the few adjustments needed to accommodate the computer's needs). And you're really fortunate in your hospital's choice because eScription/EditScript (the part you work with) is a wonderful program, easy to learn and work with. Best wishes. And have fun!
Acute care work is operative reports, consultations, H&Ps, emergency room, DS basically the type of
dictation found in a hospital setting as opposed to a clinic setting in which you just type office notes and minor procedures.
Love typing ER reports (sm)
x most have macros, and the funny thing is that in the summer if one fall of the monkey bars you get a bunch more, or trampoline accidents, get one get half a dozen, love it, never boring!! Hope this helps!!
Basically, harder dictators and harder reports with a lot of formatting with tables, etc. SM

give you extra lines because of the time involved in doing those particular reports.  Not so much you get paid more per line, you just get extra line credit.  For example:


You have a 100 line report, but it is weighted because of a table that you have to input.  Then you would maybe get credit for 130 lines for that report.


I LOVE typing reports for podiatrists!

My first account was for a practice of 3 podiatrists and I so wish I could find another account like that.  I miss it. 


Typing Family/Friend/Own Reports
How do you handle having to type a report for a close friend, family member or for yourself?  If you have independent contractors, do you allow them to type a report on a family member or themselves?
Poll- who reads/proofs reports after typing?

do you quickly glance at the report, read it word-for-word, or just cross your fingers and hope you didn't miss anything?


I'm just curious. 


you do know you are probably typing your reports into an electronic system youself. sm
Hospitals went paperless years and years ago.
But do you get paid for typing it? nm
//
LOL, yea I realized that but not getting paid for typing here and
didn't want to burn dinner. Maybe it's psychological. LOL, anyway I agree it was funny, even though I'm blushing!
Getting paid only for STRAIGHT TYPING

My company set me up to work from home - - - I am new at this and confused and am need of imput from others in the field. Currently I get pain 8 cents per line.  I have a quota of 7,000+ lines a week - -however the computer I have been set up with does not enable me to add programs (if I wanted to add a word expansion program) and, interestingly, the ability to set up macros in MS Word has been disabled.


With that said - - - For example, I will type a new consult on a patient that ends up being 4 pages in length.  I want to "work smarter and not harder" (who doesn't) so I incorporate word Expanders that I have in MS Word Auto Text as well as an Auto Text "intial office visit" outline which includes the doctor's "normal" exam.  All I have to do are make any necessary changes with each individual patient.  We use a nationally known dictation program/softwear which enables me to go to a "statistics" screen to see the line count for each document I have typed.  I have been finding, however, that on these 4 page consults, I am only being credited for 60 lines or so - - - aren't there 65 lines PER PAGE - - -why is it not 4 times that amount??  Looks like I am only getting paid for STRAIGHT TYPING, not for the total line count of the end product.


I would say that if you are typing headers and footers for free, i.e. not getting paid for them,
:[
Oh it is a lot of extra typing that takes time which I don't get paid for! nm
nm
We get paid $1.10 for radiology reports and my supervisor transcribes also sm
she pick all the easy doctors. How I know this is because if she doesn't finish them all she says "I have work that I couldn't finish I need someone to finish up." They are all the same doc no more than 3 lines or normals.
VR reports get paid VR rate whether I straight type or not.
I have just gotten to the point where on certain docs I know their VR sucks, so I straight type because it ends up being faster. It sucks, but that is the way the business is now a days, so I don't have much of a choice. I need a job, and I like where I am at, so don't like to speak up too much because the are really pushing the VR.
in 1994 I typed IME reports and was paid $5.00 per page, wish I had that now!
nm
I do not get extra money for typing and supervising.. I get paid salary which means

I get to type the stuff everyone else has rejected!


Wwwowoooweeeiiieee.. lucky me and my 3 dollars an hour!! 


could be short reports and getting paid for headers/footers in a 10-hour day.
nm
LOVE teaching hospitals and long-winded reports. Less ADT time which I'm not paid for.
Hate filling in ADT screens w/ searches just to do a one minute report.
If you submit your reports on time and correctly, you get paid correctly. Pay has been on sm
time for 2 years now. 1st and 15th for employees, 2nd and 16th for ICs. If it falls on a weekend or holiday, it posts the next business day.

By the way, there is no Sophie on radiology at Keystrokes. Must be a troll.
For QA consulting I'm paid per hour; QA instructing (college) paid salary, QA editing paid per li
I am an IC and work for two different MTSOs as well as instruct at a business college.
The MR reports were being filed. Referring physicians/medical care providers reports were not.
This is a hospital radiology department with in-house MTs and a clerk who is in charge of the report distribution.
The two sentence normal reports will balance out the 3 page reports.
I am Wendy too
Typing. This is NOT typing, it is transcribing. There is a BIG difference. sm
Transcription includes typing, but so much more.
So basically she herself is QA?
x
I do basically the same as you, but I will
as I type in Word, and this helps with not having to go back and read the entire document.  I find that if I notice it right away, correct it, then I can move on, and it also helps if I need to re-listen to the term or phrase.  I have also noticed where my auto correct did not expand correctly, and even though my final spell check would most likely pick this up, I tend to be a little more careful with that as well.  I am so afraid to go with an Expander because I'm sort of afraid I'll lose that "specialist" touch you speak of. 
They are basically just saying
we will make your transcription look good like she looks good.

I don't see what the big deal is. Sex/beauty sells everything lately. It's just the world we live in, unfortunately. Every commercial on TV almost has some type of sexual undertones to it and some very obvious.
Basically, yes and no.
That doesn't help much, does it?

They all pretty much perform the same functions, but some have different types of connectors that hook to the computer and/or equipment.

I've got 2...a USB that hooks to my computer, and one that hooks directly into a Dictaphone. I know some other pedals connect to game ports. Sometimes the software allows you to set up a variety of pedals with different connectors.
It is basically just something you have to
make yourself do. I learned this way as when I started as an MT we were on typewriters, so you had no choice.
if mt paid 9, editor paid 4 or 5...how can company charge 14 and make it..sm

I know the going rate in our area is 14 cents per line.  As MTs most companies here pay us 8 or 9 cents a line.  Now add in the Editor rate at 4 or 5 per line..you are paying OUT more than you can charge a line.  How would companies stay in biz?


Unless all work is sent by the company overseas at pennies per line, this would not pay for a company.


just curious how this works out


I feel basically the same way sm
why waste their time, as well as mine, just to say, "Hey, I'm your new sup"! Come on, if you need a message to figure that out...well, I don't know what to say about that!  Anyways, you're right.  I don't need anybody holding my hand...that's why I work at home!
You are so right - it's basically worthless
nm
But you could basically try 50 lines per sm
report, and go with that.  That is a reasonable ratio with the differing times you sated.  Would add up to about 1250 lines, give or take different dictators, and the ways lines are counted.   Some dictators take FOREVER to dictate 7 mins, others breeze through 3 mins, with lot of lines.
Basically, it boils down to this....
Back in the day, we were seduced!

Now we're being raped.
I agree. I mean as an IC you basically pay
so many write-offs.  Hire a tax professional your first year to see what things you need to write off.  From then on out, a lot of ICs actually do their own.  Employee status simply means the employer withholds tax money, but they also have a lot more control over you as far as set hours and pay for that matter. 
I basically tell them I know nothing about that route (sm)
Like you I was an MT for 7 years or so before I ever had kids. And even then I did not have the chance to work at home, nor would I have wanted to, actually. IMO with our work, the choice, if you have high-need babies like mine, is either (a) ignore the kid and work or (b) work when they're sleeping. Which means I don't get to sleep like, at all, because I had babies who did not sleep much.

I would, and have, done what you did the drugstore clerk. You can't tell some people anything.

I personally have told people who asked me, "I wouldn't. You won't make enough money for the aggravation." I've also told them, "If that was your plan, you should have started 5 years ago so you had all that under your belt before you had kids." Depends on the circumstance and how hateful I'm feeling that day. (blush)
In theory, it's basically the same as the other
MSWord version; it just has all the bells and whistles.
It was basically an example of a post on there.

Everything should be checked out first, but just like you confirmed, there are local practices for each state that will post for MTs.  I found one myself but I guess I was too late because they never contacted me. 


Just trying to help... 


Absolutely, but basically because
It seems ANYONE thinks they can do it. Even those with atrocious spoken English who apparently slept through basic high school English classes and those who have no gift for spelling at all seem to think that if they can play hunt-and-peck on a computer keyboard, they can be an MT.

I reached the point long ago and when I they propose that godawful question, "How do I become a medical transcriptionist?," I give them the most blunt answer I can without being downright rude...

"Take some night classes in basic English and spelling, then you'll have to take a couple of classes in anatomy and medical terminology. That's just to start."

They lose interest quite quickly when they realize they'll have to exert some effort.
basically I agree
I think definitely industry was better before the BOS, when good MTs simply used good English skills and common sense. Some uniformity in the business was an okay concept, but too much of the "rules" make no sense, and changes at the association's whim. Like another said, it **severely** reduces productivity, which works against the patient, the hospital and the MT. I flat refused to pay any attention to it for years, after a hospital supvr told me some of the "rules" in it, and only when I had to for employment, finally got one and now use it.
MDI and Transcend both use basically the BOS rules
unless client requests something else.  Sounds more like one of Futurenet's nightmare accounts.  
I found basically the same thing - sm
Obstetrics/Gynecology (OB/GYN)
Dayton, OH Doug Moore
York, PA Roseann Freundel --- was on the Residency list in 04-2004. So she has probably completed her residency and has moved to another state/country by now. Also the hospital would have the records I would think, especially since a resident did the delivery. Good luck.

I basically was offered a position..
She said I did excellent on the test. She asked to let them know how many minutes I would want, FT or PT, which I did, and haven't heard a thing since.
Ditto. That's basically what I have told my DH too. - sm
As for those protesting they would not want the money, that is not practical. I would have nothing then other than his 401K (which is quite healthy) and any money from the house if I sold it and moved up to where my family is and where housing costs 2-3 x as much. So that is how my husbands life insurance would be used, which is only $350K, so after I would settle everything I would not have much left as it is. But w/o the insurance I'd be in a very BIG hole. That is why you get it, no its not pleasant to discuss but it is necessary especially when kids are involved. I hope he is around for a long time to come but the odds are against my husband most likely as he has lung and bladder cancer in his family, and some other things as well which will probably preclude him living a long life. I hope that is not the case of course, but it does not hurt to have your financial house in order in case one of you die and leave the other with kids. Even without kids, money is always helpful.
Follow all the same rules basically - sm
Don't let others use your computer, don't discuss any work in specifics (i.e. names, etc.) with anybody), keep work secure whether on your computer, printed out, etc., use secure or encrypted email/FTP if you email your work product, do not let others look over your shoulder while you work and read the report, etc. Just basic common sense stuff in order to keep the information private. Where I used to work had these conference call meetings and we would all log in via the internet and phone and have our HIPAA training every 6-12 months, was a pain in the butt, especially when they decided to stop paying us for the time we spent "attending" the mandatory meetings. HIPAA is not a big deal, as I said, it is mainly common sense.
Linking in radiology is basically when the
dictator dictates two separate exams under one requisition number and just linking the other exam with that number.

It's actually two reports dictated under one exam but you get paid for both exams by linking the second exam with the first. There are various ways to link a report depending on the software so I won't go into that.
Isn't editing basically proofreading!?!
Or do you just hit upload and that's how you get 650 an hour? Oh boy!
per diem is basically *as needed*, nm
nm
I too believe it is a trend, basically to cut costs. As far as MQ, SM
I don't work for them, but honestly, from reading posts, seems like they were just bought out by a mad scientist who thinks up ways to drive people crazy. Sort of a game of how far can we drive people before they crack.
It's basically a type of Dictaphone
where you you dial into the hospital's dictating unit to pick up your dictation. It has to be programmed for your individual accounts.
You are correct, same as Bush basically. nm
xxx