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Patient First-Meeting Line Counts - Just Curious

Posted: Apr 18, 2013

I know that Patient First has a full-time line commitment of 1400 lines per day but they also use a TON of abbreviations. I am curious if this makes it hard to hit the requirement?

Patient First - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
First of all, how did you pass their test? I was overwhelmed by the bad dictators they had, so I just gave up. I could not decipher. Oh well. Congrats on passing the test anyway.

Patient First - MTC

[ In Reply To ..]
Don't let them stick you with doing old dictations. It is their way of getting you to do chart corrections. Sometimes as many as 75-100 a day. They pay you 30 min of admin time for doing it, but that is a joke! It always took a lot longer than that. Hated it there.

Patient First - anony

[ In Reply To ..]
I worked for them years ago when they were first starting out and only had 4 centers in virginia. At that time, we worked in office. They didn't go to work at home until a few years ago. At first, it was the best job I ever had. It was small but growing and there was a family feeling about it. You had access to high management and could voice concerns or whatever. However, over the years, it changed. They got rid of people or fired people who started out out with them and put in people who had no idea about transcription or what made it work. They used their own system at that time which was clunky and rather slow. not sure what they are using now but I've talked to one and from what I can remember, they use MS word I think. Not sure. it's been a while.

Anyway, they've gotten the attitude I think of the big MTSOs. They have grown so much and have gone into other states now. I would think twice about going there. We used to joke and call it Doc in the box!

Patient First - burnt fingers

[ In Reply To ..]
I currently work at PF. Abbreviations really are not as many as you think. Dictations are rather short, so you have to do more of them. If you can make it through the QA trial, I think that is the biggest hurdle. It takes on average 5-6 hours to get the minimum 1400/day for me. Of note, I think it may be better to be on the "current" dictation side of things instead of the "back" dictation as they refer to it, even though they pay more for the "back" dictation. After you are off QA, if you work as you should, you hear nothing from nobody nowhere at no time. Not the greatest place I have worked, but it could be worse.

current employee at PF - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Well, first of all, they do not use a TON of abbreviations. They use a lot, but most of them are what you would use anyway - bid, tid, MI, COPD, etc. What is not on the abbrev list MUST be spell out. Things like ACL, PCL, AICD, VA Hospital, etc., are all spelled out. You actually come out better off, so don't worry about the abbrev. You are paid on a 50 character line with spaces to help compensate for the abbrev. they do use. It does not take me long at all to get the 1400 lines. I finished up at about 11:00 a.m. today, have the rest of the day off!

I wouldn't listen to those who worked there ages ago, back when they had 4 clinics (they have 44 and counting now). You are treated better here than at any other job I have had, including my old hospital job. Employee appreciation gifts, a generous Christmas bonus (check), fair pay, NO VR, triple time for holidays, etc. Your time is your own, no reporting in to anyone. Work early or sleep in and work late, doesn't matter.

For anyone to compare what PF offers to any type of MTSO is laughable! Laughing my way all the way to the bank, ha, ha, ha!

Pay rate - Curious

[ In Reply To ..]
At the rate I have heard they pay, though, if 1400 lines is what you type per day, isn't that only about $90 or so a day? Or maybe I misunderstand? Can you easily double or triple that production if desired? Otherwise I don't see how it can support a household. Thanks, just wondering.

pay rate - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
As far as I know, they have not changed their pay rate, which comes out to a little over 100.00 for 1400 lines. I finished up in about 4 hours and 15 minutes today, or about 25.00/hour. I do not support a household, so not sure if that pay rate would suffice for someone, but that is essentially part time work. Benefits are reasonable and PTO is pretty generous, so they don't eat into your check the way they might with a large service. You can work much more than 1400 lines if you want, that is just the minimum. I usually do more, just nice on a Fri to finish up early and stretch it into a long weekend. (work days are M-F, no weekends).

Editing at the MTSOs comes in about 16.00/hour (400 lph x 0.04 cpl). I could hit that range with decent docs on editing, but not consistently throughout the day, so that pay rate is being generous. Also, had to punch a clock at MTSO and was out of work as much as I was on, so my check was never close to what it is now.

To - Curious - ...PF MT

[ In Reply To ..]
The 1400 lines is the minimum required. I usually work 6-7 hours a day and produce between 1800-2200 lines. I have been here a few years, though. Some days are longer than others, depending on who I am transcribing. Once I learned the abbreviations, the account specs got through QA, then made better use of my expander, my production increased. A lot of the suggestions were made by other MTs on this site on how to increase production and get rid of distractions. I love it here.

No VR at PF - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
If they have no VR, they soon will have or they will have no new accounts. The MTs will be facing NJA with them just as they do anywhere else. I think there might be scheduling issues with the "work when you want" mentality. How do they meet turn around time or handle stats if people work when they feel like it? If I were an employer, I would not want my staff to meet their minimum and take the rest of the day off. If it is employee status, I'm surprised they tolerate it. This is a job like any other and your time is not your own. It doesn't take much to make you laugh. 1400 lines a day at .07 a line is $12.25 per hour for an 8-hour shift.

No VR at PF - current employee at PF

[ In Reply To ..]
PF is not a service. They do not take accounts, they are a self-staffed group of clinics. I have been there for a while and never have had a single moment with NJA. They meet their own TATs, not a client's, and there is no stat.

We are full time employees with full time benefits. We have no scheduling issues with "work when you want." We have made out just fine with this policy and will continue to do so. If you prefer a schedule and time clock, so be it. I do not, so this works for me. Once I meet the obligation of my job, my time is my own. That is why this appeals to me.

Well, if you had read my note all the way through, I had worked for 4 hours and 15 minutes, so that comes out to a little over $25.00/hr, not $12.25! Also, with holidays paying triple time, that comes out to $72.66/hr! Also got paid a $100.00 bonus on top of regular pay this year for working the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, and New Year's Eve, or $48.56/hr. So compared to editing, if you can sustain a rate of 400 lph, that is $16.00/hr. So, yes, I will take that to the bank any day!

It probably works for them because no middle man - probably cheaper, too (SM)

[ In Reply To ..]
It really is a great business model. They have their own employees, no MTSO middle man skimming off the top, so they are able to pay better, and it sounds like they make a real effort to recruit good and reliable MTs, so the work gets done. They realized that they would never get the work done with only local MTs (labor pool not big enough), so they expanded their labor pool by recruiting nationwide.

Wow, did you read the post at all? - MHCMT

[ In Reply To ..]
This is NOT a service. There is no middleman. They don't have to deal with "NJA" like the Nuances and/or M-Modals of the world. They treat their MTs with respect and reward them for it. What a concept, huh?

Patient First - MTMS

[ In Reply To ..]
So did anyone ever say if you have to travel to the site to train?

travel - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
You have to travel for the final interview, attend the HIPPA training and the benefits meeting. You train on the actual work from home.

Yes I did - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I read the post. No where was it stated that Patient First was not a service; silly me, I thought they were. I had to go to their web site to get more information.

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