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

LINE RATE DILEMMA - Disgusted

Posted: Sep 13, 2012

My last couple of companies have been devoured by the squid so i'm again exploring other options. Better to take an offer of 9 cents per line for ESL/difficult dictators or 6 cents per line for easy work? Both call themselves IC, though really they aren't (want a schedule).

Too many variables. How are you with ESL, quick to pick up - ways of speaking? Templates possible? SM

[ In Reply To ..]
Past reports available? If the ESl says same thing over and over and you can make templates, that is one thing, versus a slurry, tired, hungry speed talking US dictator.

You sure it is easy work? - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I had the same situation a while back and I figured that if I took a lower paying cpl and the work was "easy" or just a couple of doctors that really it would end up paying more than the higher jobs with huge work pools of dictators and loads of ESL. This didn't really work for me. The job that stated how easy their work was, hence the low line rate, ended up being tedious still with the platform and such and I ended up making just what they said I would make per line and couldn't possibly get by on that. My checks were smaller than I could even imagine! You didn't say the company, so maybe yours is different, but with me, I found what you get is what you get, I couldn't pull more out of it than it was.

Disgusted - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
To my view, to take an IC position for 6 cpl is financial suicide.

disgusted too - another old pro

[ In Reply To ..]
I also got two offers as ICs for that rate (6 cents) in spite of demonstrating that I am currently earning 35% more than that as an employee. I even asked if it was a typing mistake, and was told "we pay what we pay and you girls are lining up." I am eight years from social security, I guess I will just wait it out where I am and hope they don't disappear before then.

"we pay what we pay and you girls are lining up" - MT

[ In Reply To ..]
UGH. What has this industry come to. :(

Exploitation of the most vunerable is what it is. :-( - Hayseed

[ In Reply To ..]
Sad and angering at the same time.

"Girl"? For an adult over 50 years of age? - Divided and conquered

[ In Reply To ..]
"we pay what we pay and you girls are lining up."

The fact that you, an adult person 8 years from Social Security, is referred to as a "girl" speaks volumes.

Somewhere I read thst getting males into women-dominated fields boosts the field's wages. Does anybody else come to the conclusion that BECAUSE it is women doing this work, it is okay to denigrate transcriptionists, to not recognize the skill, intelligence, and hard work entailed in doing this job right?

They do have us by the proverbial short and curly ones, if ya know what I mean. Women workers of the world : Unite!

how about both? - MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Could you take both part time? Then you could see how they play out. Maybe decide to drop one & go full time with the other. Or, you might like the variety and keep both.

I actually took a low line rate job recently but I get my own doctors and they have lots of templates, so I'm actually making more now than I have in quite a while.

I would try both if they will accept part time. Good luck and let us know what happens.

Similar Messages:

Mar 18, 2013

Can anyone tell me if line rate pay is comparable to getting paid by the audio minute? Is 0.50 or 1.00 normal? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks! ...

Apr 19, 2012

Would someone please tell me what the "piece rate" is on the check stub - and where does it show line rate? Thank you. ...

Jul 19, 2011

When a company states a line rate for a "65 printable character line" does that mean they do not pay for spaces? I saw an ad saying they pay the highest in the business, which was about 8.5 cents for 65 printable character line. That to me says without spaces, as it is not a printable character, so that would be a horrible rate surely not one of the best in the business. Wonder why there is no respect for our thumbs !!!! ...

Oct 13, 2009

Is it typical to be paid a higher per line rate with a clinic account or a hospital account? ...

Nov 25, 2009

I know a lot of us wonder what the reason is for PT status MTs to lose 1/2 cpl. We have been told that it is because at some point we could possibly switch to FT. If our bank, where we have our checking and savings accounts would send us a letter telling us that starting next month we would have to start paying $200 per month for our house payment, even though we do not own a house, but this was just in case some day we might, I think we would all tell that bank they were nuts ...

Nov 03, 2010

Hi. I used to work for MQ when they started VR. The original pay cut was 20% of CPL. I know it is much lower now. What are they currently paying for VR. Not interested in coming back but just curious. I left when they took away our primary accounts and started to send us reports from God Knows Where...Each report from a different account. Do they still do that also? Thanks in advance. ...

Nov 09, 2010

does anyone know what the going rate for line count (not character) is? someone is wanting to hire me for $.03 per line and i thought that was robbery ...

Feb 04, 2012

I was told that if they have to keep supplementing your paychecks to get you to mini wage then they will have to take action. What is the logic here? On the accounts that I work on I have yet to break 160 lines an hour and mostly stay around 150. I swear it just can't be done. All I get is ASR.... so here is the math... 150X.04 (I think) = $6.40 The requirement to keep my job is only 120, so really I am doing 40 more lines than I should. Here is what I need to ...

Apr 05, 2012

The company is moving over the VR. Currently I am paid 9.5 cents a line for straight typing. Can anyone tell me what would be an equivalent line rate in VR? I appreciate any input. Thank you. ...

Feb 25, 2013

Can someone please tell me the variables for VR line rate?? Highest amount per line anyone is making? I have been offered .045, is this average or low? ...

Mar 20, 2014

I just got laid off after 9 years of getting paid by the hour. At the end I was making $12.50 per hour that was with a large pay cut I got last year. I have no clue of what is a good line rate and how much that approximately equals per hour. I have read posts saying people are making mininum wage. What rate should I look for and how much per hour would that be for part time work? ...

Dec 17, 2014

I am Ambulatory. My time card says my QA and QC are 0% and my line rate is 0.07. What??? Like someone else who posted on here, I only have 1 score in FIESA from back in the beginning of December, and that score was 100%. Does anyone have any insight into why my line rate is 0.07 and why my QA and QC are 0%?? Anybody else in Ambulatory seeing the same on their time cards?? ...

Jan 01, 2015

Does anyone know what the going pay rate is for QA lines? Is it normal to get hired into a company as QA, or could it possibly be an MT position and they just want to pay me slave wages? I do have 15 years' experience, but wanted to make sure this is possible. ...

Feb 08, 2015

I'm down to 2 companies left and SS is one of them. Tried all the rest I care to. I've always hesitated to fill out their application because I thought it was ridiculous for just an application. I'm surprised they don't ask when you were weaned or potty trained! Anyway, I'd appreciate an honest answer. Thanks. ...

Feb 18, 2015

The last I heard TTS was paying .0342 CPL for editing. Is this still the case? I tried to calculate extra for headers that I understand TTS pays for, but that would only amount to about $1.65 per day, not even enough for a box of Top Ramen! I'm curious if anyone has insisted on more. Also interested in what you think of the platform used for oncology. Thanks for any info! ...

Jan 04, 2010

I am starting up my own MT Business and want to make sure I am not over/under charging. I was thinking 12 cents a line. Is this too much/too little? I am currently working for a MT business and I am making 8 cents a line but that company is located in Virginia so I cannot really use them as comparison of what to charge the doctor's offices. Please advise! ...

Mar 05, 2010

Hi, Just wanting to get some opinions on a way to go about asking for a pay raise from a doctor that I transcribe for. I definitely want to send a formal letter of some type and I'm not sure if I should ask for an increase or just state something like, Effective April 1, 2010 my rate from (whatever it is), will go to (and then the new rate). I really appreciate any input that anyone has. Thanks! ...

Mar 10, 2010

Just a question.....Tried to see where it was on the Q sites, but I just don't have the time to look. Anyone know if Easter Sunday is one of those days where we get paid 'extra' to work? ...

Apr 01, 2010

Last I heard it was 3.5 cpl. Do they offer shift incentives? Thx. ...

Apr 26, 2010

Why is it that we receive a reduced line rate when the blanks cannot be filled in by QA either? I've checked my feedback and most of the QA markers I left were also left blank by the QA person. So those reports should not count against us. How am I supposed to know what QA can hear or what they know? ...

Sep 25, 2010

It is just me or is 3.5 cents per line for quality assurance editing sound like a very low rate of pay, or is that the norm now a days? ...

Jan 07, 2011

I have been offered a position for 0.08 VBC line/65 characters. I can obviously figure this is going to be less than with spaces. Is there anyone here who DOES get paid this way and if so, how much of a difference overall is it? I have not accepted the position and am not sure how offended I should be, or if I should be offended at all since "this is the new industry standard." I have been in this buisness a long time and have apparently never dealt with this "new" way of ...

Jul 19, 2011

Is 8 cents a line (paid for spaces) a good rate for an IC? Is it typical? ...

Jul 20, 2011

Has anyone been requested to call to find out your 'new' line rate. ...

Jun 16, 2012

I went into Ultipro but still cannot find it. On the base rate page or whatever it's called, which I thought was where the line rate was, it's not there and all numbers are different and I'm probably not even reading the forms right. Thanks. ...

Sep 03, 2012

Does anyone know? ...

Nov 15, 2012

I have never heard of this before. Can someone explain this? Is this different than just a plain 65-character line? Thanks. ...

Jan 17, 2013

Is it still the same? ...

Jan 17, 2013

I am to the point I'll take anything. ...

Feb 17, 2013

Can someone give me what the fair line rate is for straight typing? I was paid an hourly rate in my previous position, eliminated due to Dragon, and now looking for work. I have been offered 9 cents per line, straight typing, no ESL. I did some searching and it looked like 9 to 18 cents per line, but that's an Internet search, so not credible. Thanks! Going to take the position, because I think I can do okay. Not the big checks, I'm used to, but see ...