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

pathetic wages - whistlingdixie

Posted: Mar 17, 2012

Does anyone else feel this way, work hard, trying to do a good job, need to pay the bills, need the insurance and end up with $80 for a full day's work and that is sometimes on a good day but $10.00 per hour seems to be on average what I get, after looking up docs, looking up meds, relistening to blanks, relistening to diagnosis, trying to understand lab values and yada, yada, yada. Everyday becomes a marathon just to make $10 bucks an hour - haven't earned so little for many, many years. Remember when transcription was a respectable career and could actually feed yourself and family on it - this is ridiculous! Anyone agree? Let's hear it!

Not at my current job but, yeah, BTDT! - AuntieAnxiety

[ In Reply To ..]
Mercifully, I'm no longer in this predicament with my current MTSO, but I totally understand where you're coming from.

At the previous MTSO for which I worked, it was a battle every pay period to get enough work to just pay for the insurance coverage.

I finally threw in the towel and decided the insurance was a "luxury" I simply could no longer afford and went to work for a very small MTSO that didn't offer benefits, but did offer a decent pay and plenty of work, and I was able to kiss those ridiculous 60- to 80-hour work weeks scrambling for work goodbye.

At the end of the day, I'd rather purchase my own insurance policy and pay for it privately than be a slave to an overstaffed MTSO that expects you to work 24/7 just to catch enough lines to pay for benefits.

IMO, having to declare insurance a "luxury" was truly one of the lowest points in my MT career but I just had to step off of the crazy train before I hit total emotional and physical burnout. I may not have insurance at the moment, but I feel 1000% better, that's for sure.

pathetic wages - MissingMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Would you share the name of the small MTSO you work for? Your post was reassuring to know there are decent small companies still out there. I love the profession and am going to continue my quest to find a great company. Thanks!

I hear ya - Sue

[ In Reply To ..]
I work looong days too and make on average between $8 and $10 an hour depending on the doc. I type 85 wpm so I don't think my speed is the problem. It's the crappy pay these days. ~ I am in the exact same boat as you. Sad, very sad.

Yes, I feel this way - McFeist

[ In Reply To ..]
I work for a small MTSO and have no benefits, but fortunately my husband works for the phone company and covers us both. I don't make a living wage, however, and I want to be able to contribute more to our savings and finances. I have no children, so I am not tied to staying at home.

I love MT. I am good at MT. I made a career change to get into MT and stop commuting 3 hours a day (1-1/2 hours each way). It was good for a while, but our work has dropped off, so I am just not able to get enough daily lines in to make what I want to make. I do straight typing and I am very spooked about getting into VR editing, so I am staying put while I retrain for something else.

I actually really do miss getting out and going to work every day, but I am not interested in going back into my previous career. I was at a crossroads there as well, meaning I needed to make a decision to either pursue a graduate degree or do something else, and I actually did take 2 semesters of graduate courses and was just miserable. That's how I came into MT. It was something I could train for and do without as much expense as graduate school, and I was losing my health from the stress of graduate school, so staying at home was very appealing to me at the time. Now I am healthy, and I cannot wait to get into something else. I do not regret getting into MT, however, because I have learned a tremendous amount in these last 4+ years, and I am sailing through these classes in my new field, which is also in health care. MT has given to me a wealth of knowledge that I otherwise would not have, and for that I am grateful, but it is time to move on now, at least for me.

I do not believe that things will get better in the MT field. I actually don't disagree that transcription/documentation costs need to be reeled in, but I am appalled that the big national MTSOs make such large profits at the expense and exploitation of the MT work force and do not pass along much, if any, savings to healthcare institutions. I also think that it will just continue on this way because there will always be a pool of new MTs that are willing to do anything to stay at home and work, thinking they will be different, and buying into what they are told by MT schools. My own technical school has dropped MT from its curriculum because they feel it is no longer a viable field for students to pursue. I will tell anyone and everyone who is thinking about getting into MT to not do it.

Well, this got long, but I wanted to share my story, especially for anyone new who might be reading these boards. Do not do it. This is not a good career choice. You will not be able to support yourself or your family on MT unless you are extremely lucky, and even then things can go downhill very fast if your situation changes. It is a very unstable field right now. It is hard, hard work. Please, please, don't do it.

Excellent post. The paragraph "I do not believe that things will get better - in the MT field

[ In Reply To ..]
IS GOLD.

The number of MTs with their heads in the sand boggles the mind. There is not a single slim thread to hold onto that indicates that wages will reverse course and actually go up.

MT has basically become - Winding Down MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks to the large-profit MTSOs who do so at the expense of the MT, they have managed to create a legal sweatshop. My hospital is phasing out in favor of outsourcing, and when it goes, I'm no longer an MT. I'm done. I even dropped my CMT because I have been completely devalued after 13 years.

In my opinion, this half-rate pay for SR editing crap - has to stop.

[ In Reply To ..]
Folks, with rare exceptions, it's been THE BIG LIE: You'll be twice as productive so you should accept half the line rate.

Let's see now. Did that EVER MAKE SENSE ANYWAY? No, of course it didn't.

There are two big questions here:

1. How in the name of Delilah did we allow ourselves to get rolled like a drunken bum outside a biker bar?

2. Just WHAT are we going to do about it, and is there a snowball's chance in Hades that we would ever stand together to CHANGE THIS?

No - I take it back. There's only ONE big question now, and it's #2 above. Okay - it's a compound question.

But I'm betting the answers are "Nothing" and "Never in a million years".

Why would it stop? - McFeist

[ In Reply To ..]
I am not trying to be sarcastic or rude, but why would it stop if people are willing to work for half the rate to edit poor-quality VR drafts? I personally am not willing to do it. That is just me, though. There are plenty of people who feel like they are stuck and that this is their only choice. My heart truly goes out to anyone who feels this way. There are plenty of new MTs that will come along and take their places when they are gone, too. There is just enough hope out there, just enough MTs out there who ARE doubling their productivity and talking about it, to give the newbies hope that they, too, will be the lucky ones. It's a lot like playing the lottery. All you have to do is hear one story about a winner to think that you might have a chance yourself at winning.

To answer your questions (the first one anyway), I think it just happened because your companies simply did it. What are people supposed to do in an economy like this? Simply get up and walk away? By the time people figured out it was awful and they weren't making nearly the money the used to, all the big MTSOs were into VR. Nowhere to go. I don't know what you could do to change it. I don't think it will ever be the way it was, though. I personally do not have the energy or passion to take it on (except to warn others thinking of entering the field), and I feel I need to get out now before my straight-typing MT job disappears. I will not edit VR drafts for the pay rates that I am seeing now, though, and certainly not with being aware of the profit margins of the big national MT companies.

VR = Working twice as hard for the same pay. - IF your lucky to see the same pay.

[ In Reply To ..]
Rates need to be raised across the board in this industry. I personally believe the minimum pay should be 6cpl not 4.

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