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

Call me crazy but.... - macmt

Posted: Jan 11, 2013

What if there were legislation requiring MT's be paid a base HOURLY wage much like waitstaff? Below the Fed Minimum but still compensation for the time we spend researching and doing other things directly related to our jobs that take time away from actual typing.

We would make less than we do now - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Right now, our "base" hourly pay is minimum wage or a little higher in some cases.

If you don't produce enough to make minimum wage, your employer must make up the difference.

hourly pay - Nana

[ In Reply To ..]
I didn't go to school to learn this job to be paid less than minimum wage. I didn't go to school to make minimum wage either. We have done this to ourselves and now we need to figure out how to fix it ourselves but as long as we take positions that pays less and less they are going to continue to offer less and less. I would rather not work or work at McDonald's where I am not required to have 99.9% quality checks and make ignorant doctors look smart. Actually my daughter just got a job at Home Depot starting out at $10.00 an hour with absolutely no experience. I have been doing this line of work for 20 years and I will be darn if I am going to make less than that to stay in this business. I want to be paid for my experience and my knowledge. I know a whole lot more than I did when I started in this business and fresh out of school 20 years ago I was making $11.50 per hour plus incentive. I am not willing to go backwards. That would be like another slap in the face.

What you said. - Yes yes yes

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x

hourly pay?!!! - Gettinreadytobail

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I am right behind you Nana. I like my job, I like what I do, but I cannot live on what I am being paid now. This is the ONLY job I have ever had in my life where I am getting paid less to do more and know more. When I make the move, it will be completely out of the transcription field all together. This company had made me feel completely devalued!!

hourly pay - cindy

[ In Reply To ..]
I agree with you. I have been in the business 28 years and this business is so terrible. Your right I made more per line and more per hour in 1988 when my son was born and I started working at home. Then the transcription services came into existence big time. Without them the wages for us would still be high and there would be more demand. I have already gone to school for something else and when I first started doing this job I was amazed that I could actually get paid for just being at the job, even when I was not doing anything but waiting for something. Now I am going back to school for a second time to get even better paying job, and I really feel sorry for transcriptionist. But I believe one day there will be a time when the wages go back up when the transcription companies cannot find anyone because everyone gets so disgusted with this field and gets out. There are many jobs out there that start at 10.00 an hour and they are much easier than typing 8 hours straight. They are really ripping us all off.

Good post and thanks, Home Depot and even Walmart are looking better.... - anon4

[ In Reply To ..]
...well maybe not Walmart but sure not ruling them out just yet. I've applied to both since they're so close by, to Fedex, to county and city jobs, etc. I really prefer second shift hours and God knows I'm used to weekends, so maybe that $10/hr would be possible, gotta be realistic. Might be a nice change from transcription, actually. I don't have so many more years to work. Just want to get the mortgage paid off and can tighten up a bit. I've been googling different forums (found some on Indeed) and read them the same way I read this forum. Helps you get a feel for the "culture" in the various work places and a clue here and there for some possibilities.

I worked for a company that did that - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I did VA reports and the VA mandates minumum 15 bucks an hr..How the company did it was figured out how many lines you had to have to reach 15 an hour. When I started there they paid 10 cents a line..so we had to get 150 lines a day, until you got used to the system the company made the difference..150 lines an hour straight typing on VA accounts was work and their system was terrible..Then the economy flopped and we got a 15% paycut, so had to get whatever the line count worked out to..It was a very stressful place for me, others loved it..I quit it after the paycut..

you could make more then 15 an hr at your - current line rate..nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

You must - Viper

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not have my accounts. They are horrible VR and that is even if you can get work.

ok, you are crazy - well

[ In Reply To ..]
Your line rate includes those things, or that's what any employer will claim and be able to shut down all the rest with.

I don't understand why you people think legislating MT is going to fix your woes. It won't. It will just be more legislation. And another expense that gets factored in that lowers the line rate.

Offshore is not going to go away. Neither is VR/SR or point and click or any of the other cost-cutting programs that have yet to come to the market.

Better to figure out how YOU will make a living than wishing, starting petitions, complaining to your Senator, or whatever other "I WANT MY LIFE BACK" solution you've thought of.

TO: call me crazy but.. - Anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Great idea..however, this is why you MUST be certain that you truly are an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR!!! if you are performing these duties while only making line count and are being classified as an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR, you truly ARE NOT one but are considered an EMPLOYEE, thereby quailifying for MINIMUM WAGE for no work, if you are given a set schedule of hours to work, searching thru patient paperwork for information not dictated, etc. I recently fought and WON a case against someone I was working for who had me jump thru hoops to get the work done (looking up patient info, special instructions on how to do the work for each hospital location, look up referring physician addresses, etc. yet was classified as an IC and was expected to SIT BY MY COMPUTER FOR FREE when work ran out!! These companies are getting away with murder and we are ALLOWING them to do that to us!!! Read up on the IRS.gov website and read thru the IC vs Employee guidelines and see if you are being misclassified (only an advantage to the COMPANY, Not YOU)GAIN KNOWLEDGE and you GAIN POWER!! and you are right, we have nobody as our Advocate!! that's also part of the problem. These companies can treat us anyway they wish (or so they think) and have been doing so for years!!

Thanks Anon - macmt

[ In Reply To ..]
I just may have to do that. I am NOT an IC and never have been, to my knowlege. I have seen my overall pay decrease by approximately 10k over the last 2 years, grossing just under 20k in 2012. Not because I was not willing to work or was not at my computer when I was supposed to be but because the work was simply not there. I have not had a raise in 5 years, since I was outsourced by my hospital.

I have recently "officially" reduced my status with my company of the last 5 years to PT and taken a 2nd PT job that I am giving SERIOUS consideration to making FT simply because the work seems to be there the majority of the time. Sure there are some down times but I have been utilizing that time in the mornings to review my reports and generally brush up. The line rate I have with the new company is lower than what I have with the other it really does not matter what my line rate is if there are no lines to type.

Very interesting - ...

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm a brand new MT and my situation sounds very much like what you've described. I had no idea I'd be spending so much time looking up doctors, hospitals, etc. Not to mention there are long gaps of no work coming in. Thanks for this insight - definitely going to start paying attention now.

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