A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Transitioning to Medical Editor - Fee?? - Herbpeddler

Posted: Jan 09, 2011

I have had three large accounts for over 20 years. One has gone completely automated with voice recognition (except for two providers who will never be able to use voice recognition - yay!), one is in the process of going EMR, and one hasn't even addressed it yet.

The first one has hired me to access their system directly (Centricity/Logician) and proofead every voice recognition-created record their providers create and make corrections as needed. They have offered to pay me $.07 a line to do so (I was transcribing for $.14 a line - 65 character line with spaces). Seems reasonable to me, but I haven't been able to find what the going rate is for this service. The second office is now asking me what I would charge to perform such a service, and before I get too locked into a rate, I thought I'd ask around and see what you guys thought.

Thank you in advance for any input you may have!

Depends on platform. Might be basically retype whole report - or maybe just occasional correction. nm

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x

And would you want to retype for 1/2 what you get now? - And dont let them tell you, SM

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but the sales rep told us it was very easy to train. The sales rep probably has no idea what it takes to produce a medical document. Doubt ANY voice recognition is easy to train or works as wished for.

logical reply - mt

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7 cpl is more than any service is paying, but given you ARE the middle-man, I'd probably quote them a price of 9 and see if they balk. You do not edit twice as fast as you type in most instances, so cutting your pay in half won't necessarily mean your work is cut in half.

Fee - MT

[ In Reply To ..]
My doc asked me what I would charge if he used the VR on the system that they have. I said it would be exactly the same. He mentioned that it would be easier though since I wouldn't have to type, and I replied, that I still have to use the same skill set I do now, much like doctors used to put their head to the patient's chest to hear heart sounds once, now they use a stethoscope to "make it easier," but they don't charge less for the visit. Not the best analogy, but the best I could come up with on the fly, and he still pays me .14 cpl. It really bugs me that the pay on VR is so much less, when what the client is truly paying for in the end is the skill of MT not the fact that my fingers can hit a button. I hope that makes sense, it's early here for me.

MT the most important single service you provided - as a transcriptionist

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was the mechanical job of typing--getting the words on paper. Your medical language knowledge was an additional, critically important skill that allowed you to type them properly. Editors don't spend all that time and effort just getting the words on paper. Since I don't agree with your reasoning, well...hopefully over time your client will want to keep you happy more than to pay what colleagues say they do.

OP, editing varies in difficulty the same as transcription. Good luck figuring out rates that'll keep you all happy and stable for a long time.

Very Thought-Provoking Answers - Kim

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you, everyone, for your input. I see your reasoning, but I would feel bad taking the same rate for editing. It does take much less effort and can be done in about half the time. Dragon really doesn't do a bad job, and I am finding myself only fixing a few grammatical errors and some doozy word errors that are pretty comical (but not if they were in the official medical record)! I've been keeping some time logs to see how it converts hourly. It is a lot less strain on my hands, but I also find it is pretty intense to stare at the screen so intently, and I find myself having to take more breaks than if I were just typing the records.

most important-reply - MT

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I agree to a point with what you say. However, I cannot type properly if I don't know that rectocele is NOT rectal seal, and that is what they are paying me for, not to just read it. I don't see how cutting my pay when my overhead still is the same is helpful to me as a business. My costs, in other words, are not going down so if I take less pay as an MTSO then I am losing money and I can't do that, unless I turn into a MTSO that pays its IC MTs crappy line wages to make up for the loss, which I don't do. They get .12 cpl across the board, VR or straight. My clients, and maybe I'm just lucky, do read the reports, do want them correct, and so they pay for that. On the other hand, I am always there, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, nonstop. I do see what you're saying though. I will stick to my prices and if they ever decide that it's too much money they are free to jump ship and there will be no hard feelings at all. By the time taxes, etc., are all taken out of that .14 cpl it's still not that much in any case and any less, I might as well go work somewhere in retail or the like and have a normal work shift with holidays off and vacations. :)

Think about it - cm

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I am in the same position. I have two large clients and they are switching to VR. I have worked with these docs for 20+ years and they depend on me to clean up their dictation. I had been considering cutting my line rate from .14 to .07 but then how am I to pay my subcontractors? I simply cannot tell them they need to take a pay cut for doing the same or more work, although in a shorter time span?

More importantly, what if the editing turns out to be a mix of transcription and editing and is valued at more than .07 cpl, and what if that account grows, how are you going to pay subcontractors if there is no money in the budget to do that?

I would'nt settle for anything less than .10 cpl myself, just to give yourself wiggle room.

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