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

My Own Personal Survey - Alias

Posted: Feb 07, 2012

I was just watching the news, and the all the job openings with average annual income. What I would like to know is this: Is any MT at MM or any other MTSO able to make a living wage? Please be honest. I for one am not evening breaking $1000 a month anymore, and at one time I was able to make at least $36,000 a year. Thanks

survey - will remain anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I gross in the range of 1100 to 1600 a month here, and I average 32 hours a week. My spouse makes the income... Thank goodness.

same boat - staying anon

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My spouse also makes the majority of the money and carries the insurance since MM went to the worst possible insurance they could find. I work harder now than I ever have and make sure I punch out even to use the bathroom. I gross in the range of 2300-2600 a month and work 40 a week.

2300 to 2600?? I WISH I could average that. You must either average 2000 LP day - or still do a lot of straight typing.

[ In Reply To ..]
either way...I see you work really hard to make it.

all ASR - will remain anon

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My goal is to average 250-300 per hour. Everyone here will tell you the same thing- keyboard shortcuts, do whatever you can to keep the pedal down and voice moving (work ahead and format paragraphs and delete double words), use your expansions and just staying focused. Like I said, I also punch out every time I get up from the computer too to make sure I get an accurate line count. I also keep close tabs on my line counts and know exactly where I am for each shift. I also work some hours where I get more money for the shift differential. Doable.

Well..I very much admire your focus. That is my problem - I am easily distracted...

[ In Reply To ..]
and I probably do not get an accurate line count with all the up and down, etc., so in that regard I have no one but myself to blame. But just think with your excellent work habit how much money you would be making if they paid a decent wage! You would be raking it in and deservedly so!!

I tried to increase my line count - fedup2

[ In Reply To ..]
I usually average between 1100 and 1200 per month, but in the early parts of November and December, I made a real effort to increase my line counts. I actually got to 250 LPH and was expecting more, but I didn't even get to $700 a check. Now in January, I got moved off an account I worked on for many years to a pool of 6 hospitals, so needless to say, my line counts have gone down again. I keep trying until I can get out, got a plan, tired of working for peanuts.

Once again I do not think your ASR is the norm. - I watched my reports today

[ In Reply To ..]
very closely and there were not but a few lines that required no editing; most required many edits, and the ASR is getting worse by the day. There is just no way in the world to make any money on my account. I am very resourceful, and if there was a way, I would do it.

could be - will remain anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I know what you are saying, some accounts/dictators are better than others. However, I still get through most reports faster without retyping. I made a decision awhile back to stop training ASR and instead focus on making money. I figure I could either complain about ASR or embrace it and find all the tricks I can to make some money. I set the tools/options to what I need, not what they tell me. Do I need that bouncing yellow ball? No. Too distracting. Do I need all the skip/redundant markers in there? No. Because we were told awhile back to not use them because it was messing up the speech engine. I just focus on editing. Highlight and delete or type a few words. If it puts a skip marker in I never see it and if it doesn't I don't worry about it. I keep the pedal down and keep moving and I use all the keyboard shortcuts I can so my hands never leave the keyboard. I try to get through the ADT as quick as possible with Ctrl-S and Ctrl-O and all the other keys available and then highlight and delete all the ADT garbage in the report. Ctrl-M to cut out the lags where the doc is not talking. I work ahead as best I can formatting and making lists. I also make expansions as best I can for PE and ROS and any doc I have to look up in the repository because it is easier to edit my expansions than any nonsense that ASR spits out. It is a work in progress because I am always finding ways to get through the reports as efficiently as possible.

Well I too make more than minimum wage, but - anon as well

[ In Reply To ..]
nothing near the $40k I used to make and some say they still make, and it isn't because I am stupid and don't know the "shortcuts." It is because I am correcting every other word in the most useless ASR around.

told not to use skip/redundant markers? - missindale

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Messing up the speech engine? When were you told that? I've never heard that.

awhile back - will remain anon

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There was a glitch awhile ago where spaces weren't being added after the skip markers so they were showing up in the final reports and the clients were mad. So they made us go in and fix it so that no markers were showing until they fixed the glitch. Maybe they told us they had the glitch fixed and told us to put them back in, maybe they didn't, hard to remember since they delete the emails every 6 months. In the meanwhile I had gotten so used to not having them there I kept them off. It doesn't mean they are not there, I just don't see them. So I don't worry about did I put a space in or did I backspace and a marker got added or not. I just edit.

My ASR is so bad - old and burned out

[ In Reply To ..]
That when I start a report I can hardly find my place. You are correct, it gets worse every day.

not even close to a living wage - I had to humiliate myself and move back home

[ In Reply To ..]
I not only was able to easily support myself, but help out several of my family members over the course of the years who needed to a place to stay. I am a spinster, childless and only have myself to rely on. Since my salary has been slashed by more than 50% I do not make enough to sustain a simple, modest household on my own. I had to make the humiliating move back home so I can figure out what I am going to do with over 20 years experience in a profession that is still very active, but looks at me as nothing by a cumbersome typist that really want to get rid of.

I also used to be very generous, helped my children and - gave to charities.

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Now I don't even have a car. It is very hard to work so hard for 25 years, be very good at your profession, and not make enough to support yourself.

Wages - Nobody

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I am also a grandma and I am in the same boat. I used to be able to help my daughter and grandkids, but not so much now.

made $28K last year/Not at BM*Modal, though - incognito

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If you consider that a living wage in this day and age. I live Spartan-like. No cable TV, no cell phone, no car. Just the bare basics, but I like it that way.

BM*Modal... - wish I thought of that

[ In Reply To ..]
Funniest thing I ever heard!

feel free to "spread it around"..... - and fertilize your posts with it.

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.

salary - benfingers

[ In Reply To ..]
I went part-time when we got bought and all the incentives/bonus/differentials/internet reimbursement were taken away and when they cut pay per line. The wind was taken out of my sails, so to speak. I stayed due to child rearing, but now they are gone off to college and I am not having any luck with job search. Feel like I am stuck, but I never will go back full time for this company, nor do I work "extra" for them. I have a hubby who makes the rest and I cannot even break 1000 dollars a month anymore at 30 hours a week. Yes, I used to make more than double without bonus, incentives, etc., but they really help me motivate. None now.

$21k last year, full time, working harder than ever - before

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I cried when I saw my last pay stub for the year.

Same here, barely clear $650 per payperiod now. - Fossil

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xx

Years ago I could make 30K in my sleep basically, not anymore.. - tired

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x

nearly fainted when I saw my W2 - slave wages

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$29500. About 60% what I made back in the day. Working as hard as ever.

Company Should be Ashamed - Alias

[ In Reply To ..]
Well, I guess that question was answered. You know, I was watching Family Feud a couple of months back, and one of the families had a member who owned an MTSO in Florida. When Steve Harvey asked him what he did for a living, he was actually embarrassed and hesitant to admit that he owned an MTSO.

That being said, I would be ashamed to the very core of my soul to know that I owned a money-making company, enough so that I myself was making hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention the other upper management people that are reaping the benefits, and not even provide the majority of your employees in the U.S. with a living wage, and knowing that perhaps I helped place them on government assistance.

Here this Vern and anyone else at MM, who is reaping the benefits from this company, there are very few of us that resent your accomplishments, and I'm not being sarcastic about that. I for one am sure you've worked hard to get to this place in your life. Kudos to you!! I do have one question for you, though, how easy is it for you to lay your head down on that pillow of yours at night and have a good night's sleep? As a human being walking around here on this earth with the rest of us, my prayer for you is that you have not become so corrupt and greedy that you cannot see what you're doing to the U.S. employees of this company. If you see this or hear of it, yes, you may laugh in the company of everyone else standing around reading this, but I pray that when you're alone, your conscience finally convicts you enough to JUST DO THE RIGHT THING!!! It's really not that hard.

what makes you think vern can change things - bootleger

[ In Reply To ..]
He does not own this company. Kumar does. He calls the shots. He is an Indian and only cares for putting money in his pockets and keeping the money in India. Vern's job is to keep the clients happy until MModals point and click program is forced on all clients, putting us out of a job. Vern does not care if we are hungry, if we need this job, if we have a roof over our heads. All he cares about is doing the job that pays his bills until the floor drops from under him as well.

Cold hard truth (for me anyway) - fedup2

[ In Reply To ..]
I posted above about trying to increase my lines. After sleeping on it, I have come to realize that no matter how hard I try to increase my line count, it just does not matter. If I can average 250 LPH per pay period and still not even get $700, what's the point? While others like the above poster making over 2000 a month doing 250 to 300 LPH, what does that say? Are we doing the same work? How do they determine our line rates? experience? expertise? difficulty of work? accuracy? I applaud the above poster (anon) for being industrious and using shortcuts and making as much as possible. But what about the rest of us making minimum wage? Where is the incentive for me to even try harder? Has anyone gotten a raise recently? I am just so discouraged, I cannot get away from this job soon enough. I stayed as long as I have because I liked my primary and was loyal to them. The work is still in my BOB, just someone else is doing it and I am doing harder work for the same pay. Sorry for whining, just fed up.

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