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

New at being IC? Need advice on invoicing, please? - Curious??

Posted: Mar 12, 2011

First time being an IC and could use some help -

1. Advice on invoicing and billing?

2. Does MS Office word/line count work sufficient for invoice billing compared to others softwares that cost?

3. Some sort of backup system would be smart?

Which would be best to start out the right way? Don't need any more unnecessary rollercoaster rides? Ya feel me?? Lookin for some mentor advice!!! Please??

panic a bit? - ICManiac

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't understand how you don't know HOW to bill your client. You have not had a discussion about how you will be paid, much less having submitted a contract/HIPAA/HITECH statement? Do some internet searches on software to bring yourself into compliance or a search on the Tech Board is a good start.

Advice on billing invoicing. Again, go back to what you negotiated. It can be a Word count, something clearly defined by MPTools or something you make up as you go along.

A backup system would be smart. It could be a weekly write to CD, a copy onto a DVD or a second computer or external drive, your choice. Remember to maintain HIPAA/HITECH compliance with storing the backup.

Panic a bit - Allison45

[ In Reply To ..]
Panic - I agree that the OP should have planned better but your patronizing and condescending comments were way over the top. Why couldn't you just be helpful and leave it at that instead of going so far out of your way to try to make the OP feel stupid?

I SOOO agree with this post. Some people just need to - feel superior.

[ In Reply To ..]
x

thank you! - OP

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks! Some people were just born rude and condescending

No panic detected.. - me

[ In Reply To ..]
and many assumptions were made.

OP might have all the info just not sure how to set it up. When the MTSO that I'm temping for as an IC took over my hospital acct, I asked them what kind of form they would like me to submit. It turned out to be a simple email with number of reports x page rate. The MTSO forgot to tell us what info they needed on their invoice and being used to having that in place, we forgot to ask until pay period ended. Ask them. They're accountant likely wants a standard format where s/he can pick up what she needs without looking at a variety of invoices. Ignore those that feel the need to chastise.

Everyone Has to Start Somewhere - MW-MT

[ In Reply To ..]
You should first research "line counting" programs for yourself. It would be wise to bring yourself up to date on this stuff. There are some good ones out there that make this much easier than counting out of Word. Try "Practicount" first. You have to buy it, but I've used it for years and it's really good. Another one you could try is free on this board, "Flashcount," that you can download and use. Both of these give batch line counts. It depends how you save your work too. If you're going to invoice by each report name that you've saved in Word, that's fine and these programs are great for that. If you save it as a "batch" say for a day's work or so, the programs can count it that way too. If you're using an MT platform, there should be some built in capabilities to do a line count and produce an invoice from within that program. It takes awhile to figure out how you want to do this. By email, I'm sending you (attachment) a sample of how I do this as a billing from a small MTSO/freelance MT. Hope it helps. I will explain it further in the email. Keep plugging away--it takes time to get good at being your own boss!

Get Sylcount Line Count Software - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
When I worked PT for a company that asked that I invoice them, I went to http://www.sylvansoft.com/line.counter.gold.htm and purchased the Sylcount Line Count Software. I researched many other line counter softwares mentioned on this site and others, and it was the most recommended. It is really easy to use and is extremely accurate. It definitely takes the headache and worry out of trying to figure it out by dividing the counts given to you in MS Word. I never had my PT company question anything about my invoices. I was very pleased with it while I used it and got to turn the purchase in on my taxes! :)

BTW, ignore the rude comments by the panic poster. Not all of us on here are waiting for an opportunity to make someone feel bad. There are people on here willing to help if you have a question. Good luck on your job! :)

Similar Messages:

Apr 18, 2011

I am currently using the Emdat system and doing my first billing to my clients....can you tell me, if you use Emdat, what invoicing program you use?? Thanks, Cat ...

Jun 25, 2012

I am losing my marbles so here's the short story. I have an account that I charge 2 different rates on -- a STAT rate and non-stat rate. Do any of you MT's out there use a program that can invoice a client for 2 different rates but input info only one time? I currently have a program that is pretty easy but am running 2 separate invoices for STAT and non-STAT then manually combining the two. Any suggestions would be appreciated. ...

Apr 09, 2010

I used MP Count on my old computer. Just got new one, and I see it's no longer available. ...