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Can you make money with VRE editing? - no name

Posted: May 08, 2014

So I have been working for private doctors for the past few years. Prior to that I worked for national companies doing straight transcription. Rates back then were 8 to 10 cpl, with 8 cpl being pretty low.

Now 8 cpl seems to be where companies tap off.

I am seeing that the companies that pay 8 cpl for straight transcription also offer 4 cpl for VRE.

To be honest, VRE sounds nice to me because it will save my hands a lot of pain! After 14 years of being an MT, my hands are getting very achy!

However, my question is whether or not the 4 cpl for VRE is equal to the 8 cpl of straight transcription? Does it take half the time to edit as it does to transcribe?

I would love to hear from people who hate VRE and who love it so I can get a good perspective and see if it is worth my time to take on a position like this.

TIA!

It really depends - SM - Kim

[ In Reply To ..]
It mostly depends on the account and how accurate the VR is. I have seen some accounts on VR where it's so inaccurate that it's actually faster and easier just to retype the entire report from scratch, in which case you end up losing quite a bit of money when you keep having to do that. On the other hand, I have seen some accounts where the VR is nearly flawless and requires very little editing and you can speed right through the reports and rack up a good amount of lines fairly quickly. Personally, I still prefer straight typing as I made a lot more money when I was doing that, but straight typing jobs are getting harder and harder to come by these days. Right now, I work on an account that is about half editing and half straight typing, but I really wish it was all straight. There are some dictators that just absolutely should NOT be on VR. I personally am not a huge fan of VR, though I knew a few people who really like it. Just my 2 cents.

thanks for the info - no name

[ In Reply To ..]
Well that's an informative post. The fact that you do both and you prefer the straight typing says a lot. Makes me sad :-( but its good to know, lol.

I also have an possible contract coming up with local doctors who are switching to VR and to EMR and they will need a VRE. Still trying to figure what to charge them. I don't want to cheat myself!

I am hoping that with my own contract like this I could get more, maybe 6 cpl for VRE and maybe that will be a little more equal to straight typing.

- - signalfire

[ In Reply To ..]
If you know the doctors who are changing over to VR and they're good dictators the actual editing might be very quick and easy, especially if you feel like you could tell them 'that new guy really shouldn't be using VR' and they listen...since they would have to pay 15c to 21c a line to get their transcription done by a service, you can undercut that substantially and they'll be quite happy with you (and most won't sweat the small stuff on QA like a service does to you. It's been my experience that private docs with just a few people in the practice are the best to work with, outside of a large hospital where you're covered with a union.

VR does help with the pain in the hands - - Tired

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- but it really takes almost just as long to do VR as straight transcription because of how bad it is, especially with ESL docs.

I actually find VRE more painful - sm

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number 1 because there are sooo many corrections where I work. and 2 because you hold your hands at a different angle..I know I know, Im weird, what can I say.

I found VR more painful too - agreed

[ In Reply To ..]
So, I guess that makes me weird too. With VR, your positioning and movements are much different and I found it to be much harder on my hands and wrists than plain straight transcription. VR started giving me a lot of problems after just a few months. I went back to straight transcription and haven't had any problems since.

Me too. I reach constantly with my Rt pinkie... - and it is painful

[ In Reply To ..]
by the end of the day. Like a knife stabbing my hand in between the tendons of my Rt pinkie and ring fingers. But that's just me.

Plus VR is boooooooring! Watching the highlighted cursor over each word is like watching that old game Pong (I think it was called). zzzzzzz

I found it impossible to make a living on VR. - It takes just as long as straight typing.

[ In Reply To ..]

Same here - MAC

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My paychecks have been cut literally almost in half since my account switched to VR a few months ago. I've been trying every day to find a company who still hires for regular transcription. :(

I prefer straight typing - MT TOO

[ In Reply To ..]
I have done both, straight typing and VR. I prefer straight because my VR jobs consisted of me typing the whole report anyway because VR was not being trained by anyone (All were sloppy ESL docs on my VR). If you get that DREAM ACCOUNT that has good VR then it would work, but I have never run into that myself personally. I use Dragon speech when my fingers get tired and I trained my Dragon speech and it works great for me. I feel VR is just there to make us work twice as hard for less money (some people are paying 3.5c and I have seen 2c). When I worked for TTS (on a horrible account) I could not even get 1600 lines in a day and I think they wanted more than 2000 and the headache for minimum wage was not worth it in my opinion. I only apply for straight typing positions now because I've been with a few companies and they only seem to get worse the more I had that offered VR.

one more question - no name

[ In Reply To ..]
the lady stated that the doctors are just starting to go onto the VR system. She said that for about 3 days they will use VR and train the VR to recognize their voices, etc.

Do you think that voices that are trained will produce a better report and require less editing?

nope - BeenThereMT

[ In Reply To ..]
This will not necessarily train the system to create reports that do not need tons of editing. VR/SR is crap. Period.

So true - Grumpy

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My account has been on VR for over a year now and many of the reports still require heavy editing because of the garbage it produces. I had a report this morning that had "back pain with frog penis." Yes, some things are absolutely hysterical, but that should give you a general idea of what to expect with editing. You're basically doing QA on the speech wreck and about 98% of the reports would fail an audit. VR is the biggest piece of junk to ever hit this industry.

Agree. Been on my primary 4 years and still make the same corrections - VR is horrible! n/m

[ In Reply To ..]
BOO

so why dont we refuse to do it and force the doctors to make corrections, forcing them to realize th - no name

[ In Reply To ..]
??

docs may not even know the work is on speech - anon again

[ In Reply To ..]
Many MTSOs never let the dictators or the clients know that they are now using a speech system. The final results look the same supposedly, so the client has no clue how the work was accomplished.

This is another way that the MTSOs can charge the same to the client, pay the MTs/editors less, and pocket the difference. See what a nice scam they have going on? Even if the MTSO cuts the rate to the MTSOs a little, the MTSO still pockets more money. It's all at our expense. The people who sell the speech programs are good at selling their products and the MTSOs just never question the bullshit.

If a physician chooses to use a speech program in his private practice, then he trains the speech engine. This is a whole different game plan. In this case, the program will eventually learn a physician's particular language and terminology and it will improve over time.

Even with a perfect dictator who makes few mistakes... - Rose

[ In Reply To ..]
I think VR will always need editing because it doesn't have a brain, a fact the VR developers ignored.

I've worked for 3 different MTSOs over the last few years and you don't get to choose only transcription anymore because there is so little of it left. Editing takes on the average 75% as long as it does to transcribe, unless you have variables explained in other posts. I'm with one now that takes me longer to edit than to transcribe, even with good dictators because of an inefficient platform. With other accounts half my work was unpaid labor research & enter demographics the doctors are supposed to enter, none on the account do.

Hands - Rose

[ In Reply To ..]
I have carpal tunnel and editing does give my hands a break, however, the last two platforms I have worked have required almost constant mouse/trackball work with bouncing the right hand back and forth. There is that little delay finding the home keys again, but it ads up as it is constant. It is extremely awkward and time consuming. I also think I'm getting a new repetitive stress to the right thumb from all the trackball use.

VR - Debbie Beracha

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't have years of VR experience like many of you do, I have about 7 months experience. I am trying so hard, but feel I will never be able to make any money. I have a good acct, but the dictators are allowed to tell us to enter their normals and they do tons and tons of editing to these "normals", so much editing. I think this is totally counterproductive to what VR is supposed to be. If they want to enter and edit heavily these templates, it should be typing, not SR !!! No way will I ever make money.

Any MT worth their salt is hurt by VR. The ones who benefit are MTSOs who use it to cut salaries - and the pariah untouchables

[ In Reply To ..]
who prostitute themselves and bend over for a couple of rupees.

It is a BALD-FACED LIE THAT YOUR PRODUCTION INCREASES BY 1/2 WITH VR. I'm super efficient and find most times it is easier to start with nothing.

I've seen posted that some places pay the same for straight typing and VR because the VR product is total garbage.......must be some Nuance crap.

Agreed! - BB

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When I did straight typing and was making between 9 and 10 cpl, I was easily doing well over 2000 lines a day and making awesome money. I'm now doing editing at 4.5 cpl and I'm still doing around 2000 lines a day, some days even less, and making half of what I used to. VR does NOT increase your production. That is a bold faced lie. With VR, you have to work twice as hard to make half as much as you once did.

So TRUE!!! - BeenThereMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Exactly how I feel about speech wreck and the honest truth about how you cannot increase your line rate per hour. It is just totally ridiculous to be paid half your rate to do SR/VR.

Double LPH my right foot! No Way! - clb

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I admit it, I drank the Kool-Aid and fell for that line too, seeing that I got burned by my prior MTSO, and thought hey, half the key strokes for double lines an hour, sounds like fun. Where do I sign up? Oh yeah, wait, I did! And I HATE VR!!

On my best day of absolute perfect SR, no ESL, perfect English doctors with no distractions, background noise, etc. I still only average 150 LPH. I'm usually more like 120-125. Make $30,000 a year as an MT....yeah right! I've never busted out more than $25k and that was with a higher CPL and OT. Take away OT and lower my CPL (failed audits) and it may be more like $20k for this year.

So done!

Can you make $$ with VR? NO!!!! - lindalou59

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