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

Wanting to transition to at-home transcription - KiminIowa

Posted: Mar 12, 2012

Hi, I currently work full-time at a University Hospital in Iowa in the Department of OB/GYN and have been transcribing in this department for 8 years. I transcribe for the residents and since their notes are so detailed I have experience in typing about other medical conditions besides just gynecology/ob related. I have an hour commute one way and I am seriously thinking of quitting this job and trying at-home transcription so I can be closer to my daughter during the day. She would still spend most of the day at my mom's so I could still get some work done but when we have a second baby sometime in 2013 I was thinking of trying it out part-time while on maternity leave. I currently make around $20/hour where I'm at. Since I have experience mainly in just OB/GYN and a little bit here and there in Oncology, Derm and Urogyn would I be hireable? Would I be able to make as much money as I do at my current job (or close to it?). I'm really concerned that with VR technology there won't be the demand for MTs as there had been in the past.

oh dear - sorry

[ In Reply To ..]
I would love to tell you yes, but without Acute Care experience, you will not do well. Also, I doubt you will come close to $20 an hour considering almost all places hire at 4 cpl for speech recognition, and have very little straight typing. The work is horrible and you just cannot make money anymore.

I would stay put! Seriously.

Ditto! (nm) - MTx18years

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x

Ditto 2 - Backwoods Typist

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I would also tell you to stay put. I have tried working at home part-time. You cannot make money anymore. Most places, as stated in a previous post, hire at 3-4 cpl for VR and about 7-9 cpl for straight typing, but there is very little of that anymore. Also without acute care experience, its doubtful that you would be successful. Im not trying to discourage you because this is ultimately your decision. I feel your pain on the travel issue as I currently travel 45 minutes at least one way to work.

I currently work for an acute-care hospital that recently went to a clinic style and am paid by the hour. You would be better served staying where you are, especially if you have benefits. Good luck to you.

I concur - Swappie

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I agree with the above posters. I am working very hard to make $10 an hour doing this now. Am looking to get OUT STAT!

The work-at-home bit is a scam, and a trap. - DONT FALL FOR IT! STAY PUT!

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why not try it out first as an IC? - sm

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Work a few nights a week getting some acute care experience and see how you like it. It will also give you an idea of how much you may can possibly make full time working at home.

Meanwhile, keep your other job in case it doesn't work out. If it doesn't work out, you can just stop being an IC and continue your full time job. You never know until you personally try it yourself. I'm a single mom working for an MTSO full time and I'm doing great. Not $20 an hour, but well enough to pay the bills and do ok.

Heck, just saving the gas it costs you to travel an hour each way might be worth it.

Some people here will try to discourage you, but you need to personally find out for yourself what you can do. Just because you have done mainly OB/GYN doesn't mean you can't do acute care.

There will be a learning curve, but you should do fine. I say give it a try first part time as an IC and see how you like it :)

Great idea! - McFeist

[ In Reply To ..]
This way you could evaluate for yourself how things are in the at-home MT world. People seem to have such differing experiences. The cons of working at home for me are the work flow issues. I am lucky in that I do straight transcription (no VR). However, this past year and a half our work has slowed down considerably, and we no longer have enough work for full-time lines, unless I want to work 12 hours to get it. I even took a VR course to see how I liked it with the thought of maybe finding another MT job, and it was awful. I do not want to edit VR docs, so I am now in the process of leaving the field. I would not recommend getting into at-home MT to anyone who would be counting on it for their sole income. Too many variables affecting the ability to earn a steady paycheck. I make between $14 and $16 an hour but no longer full-time since it takes too long to get the amount of lines for full-time.

No way would I quit a $20 an hour job - to work at home

[ In Reply To ..]
No way!! I know people will say we are being negative, but stay put!!! You don't find $20/hour jobs anymore. We are production slave wages. I used to make $22/hour at home, now down to barely $13 and I have been doing this 28 years with experience in everything but pathology. You might try doing weekend work at home, but MT at home is definitely not what is once was. HTH

I agree. I used to make $22 onsite, quit to work @ - home, & now only make $6.50/hr.

[ In Reply To ..]
It was the second-biggest mistake I ever made in my life.

And the #1 biggest mistake? (Drum roll, please):

Choosing MT instead of Court Reporting back in 1975! Dumb, dumb, DUMB!!!
:(

They are telling the truth working directly for a hospital pays - much better. Eventually maybe

[ In Reply To ..]
your hospital will afford you the opportunity to work from home, as many hospitals and clinics are going that route now, but to quite you job and go through a company is a bad idea.

If you are making $20 an hour that is money that you will get regardless of if you have a bad production day or not, a difficult dictator that slows you down. But when working on production, thats not the case. You dont have that hourly wage cushion to rely on.

you have a great job - keep it! - slave wages

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Going home to work has been a huge mistake for me. I don't even approach $20. I'd kill for a job like yours.

at-home transcription - questionable

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Agree with most above. Remember, if you decide to work as an IC, when the clinic or doctor decides to go to EMR or VR without any notice, you will have a job one day and have no job the next. And you will not get unemployment; you will just no longer have an income. It's happened to me where one day the doctor was dictating, bu then never did again because he had EMR available to him and apparently decided to go with that with no notice whatsoever. That is the sad reality of this job these days. You might think of trying to get into some other job outside of MT closer to home before thinking of working from home as an MT.

stay at the hospital - fastfingers

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I don't live too far from UIHC...if I had a job there with all the benefits, there's no way I'd leave it to work from home, commute or not. Yes, you'll save money from not having to commute, but can you really type for 4-5 cents per line...and then hope you get good sound quality and a decent boss? Just saying the grass isn't always greener on the other side....

Stay where you are, I would love to make $20 an hour! - Anon

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I cannot even get $20 an hour working for a hospital in this backwards Southern state I live in! I have been transcribing for 18 years and still cannot get beyond $13 an hour. You've got a good thing, don't give it up!

You're right about the Southern states; I skip applying - for any employer located in the South.

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