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

Offered VBC line rate - unsure

Posted: 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 doing things. Anyone with personal experience?

unsure - IC

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well, what is your experience, you didn't say. Unfortunately it seems to be the going rate these days. If you don't accept they will probably find someone that will.

15+ years - AC, multispecialty (nm) - unsure

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nm

years of experience - IC

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see previous post on this board titled "8 cents 20 years experience" that pretty much sums it up. Seems as though companies are getting hundreds of resumes

sorry but what is VBC - confused

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?

"virtual black character" - visible to the eye - no spaces (nm) - unsure

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nm

VBC is just another way to cheat us on pay. - If their counting software only - see/msg

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recognizes and counts actual characters, and not spaces, then a REPUTABLE company would shorten the number of characters that constitutes a line, such as from 65 char/line down to 53-55 char/line. That would be the FAIR thing to do, but of course, we all know these vermin are anything BUT fair.

Comes out to about 7 cpl - me

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Not worth it - I'dbetypingjustlikethisandseewhathappens. A space is a keystroke and should count as it keeps the verifiable black characters as words insteadofonebigmessforsomeonetofigureout. :) JMO.

just about 7 cpl is right but it is not 7 cpl - mtmt

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It comes out to approximately 18.5% less in pay. So do that math.

The THEORY behind VBC is to INCREASE the MT pay so there is no financial loss.

I'd tell them thanks but no thanks.

I would take it but . . - job searching

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keep looking and see if you get another offer

I emailed you, I may have gotten the same offer today. nm - Sap

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nm

History of VBC - ICManiac

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When MedQuist was sued (and lost millions) for fraudulent billing practices, MTIA and AHIMA (who are deeply beded partners) decided they needed to protect the industry and provide a line count that can be verified independently and decrease confusion. When they proposed billing by VBC, it was applauded more by MTIA than anyone else, but there were protestors even high in the ranks who feared this method would be used to decrease MT pay. AHIMA did not embrace the concern that the industry would use VBC as a reason for decreased pay. If you care to search, you can find threads discussing the issue. Some argued that the per line rate would certainly go up because of the new math.

You should expect higher per line rate with the VBC method, not less. Instead of 8 cpl, you should expect 11 or more. Even AHIMA representatives stated the VBC method was meant for billing clients, not for being the method used to pay MTs.

I boycott any service offering pay by VBC and encourage everyone to do the same. I would be interested to know whether or not MQ MTs were transitioned to VBC pay since the lawsuit was lost.

Another way of paying VBC, as my MTSO, pay on a 56 - character line instead of a 65 char. line. nm

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x

Oops, should say pay on the equivalent of 65 char - line. nm

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x

Oh for heaven sakes, the VBC in itself is not the bad thing - it is the rate of pay that is offered. SM

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I work for a company that does the regular 65 character line WITH spaces and then other accounts that are VBC because of the contract. So when getting paid for spaces I get paid X-amount of cents per line and for the VBC they add 18% to my standard pay to make up the difference. So let's take industry standard which is 0.08, so do the math 0.08 x 0.18 = 0.0944. That is at LEAST what you should expect with pay. Its not the counting method that is the problem, its the rate of pay. Get it?

yes, i get it and..... - unsure - OP

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I counter offered for .09 and was told they could not do that, so I've decided to pass. With my experience, I felt this was just not good enough. I'm also good at what I do and love what I do, so I think I'll hold out for something better. I'm grateful that I can hold out and it saddens me that this is what it has come to. Thanks everyone for your input!

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