10 Things You MUST Ask A Medical Transcription Company Before Taking The Job

1. What do they base compensation on? Hourly Rate? Character lines? If so, how many characters per line? What counts as a character? Do headers and footers count? What about signature lines and salutations? If gross lines, do they pay for headers footers, signature lines or other boilerplate text? If it is minutes, then what extra work beyond straight typing, such as formatting, extra correspondence and copying from one system to another would be required?.
   
   Especially with regard to minutes, you can spend a LOT of time doing things that are not really earning you money, like cleaning up the format of the report, or typing letters that are not specifically dictated. Just be sure you know going in what you will be paid for, and what you will not.
   


2. Do they have a mandatory probation or QA period? If so, how long is it?
   
   For Newbies, QA is a stressful period, and it's good to have a light at the end of the tunnel. Experienced pros probably don't need to worry about this too much.
   


3. What are the standards that must be met in order to advance out of QA?
   You need to know what the standards are, absolutely.
   
   Again, the experienced folks aren't too worried about this.
   


4. When can you expect to see a raise in your per line or per minute rate? Is it production-based, or time-based (as in longevity with the company)?
   


5. Is the employee or contractor expected to provide his or her own transcription equipment? What kind of technical support is available if there is a problem?
   
   If you don't work at home, this isn't an issue, but if you do, you need to be assured that the company has a good IT staff to help you out when (not if) you have a problem. Some companies still ship computers and everything to the employee or contractor, and they expect you to use that for your work.
   


6. If this is a work-from-home position, does the company expect the employee or contractor to have broadband Internet service? If so, will the company reimburse for the expense?
   


7. What are the expected working hours? Does the company have a "third" shift (i.e., midnight to eight AM)? Do they pay an incentive bonus for working that shift if so?
   
   Some companies just have an expected turnaround time, and others expect you to work set hours. What works for you? Working at midnight might be great if there is incentive pay involved and you can stand to be typing at 3AM...
   


8. Does the company provide health benefits for employees? Will they provide specifics on the plans they offer?
   


9. Does the company provide a 401(k) for employees? If so, do they match contributions, and how much?
   


10. How does time off work? Is there paid vacation for employees? How much and how does it accrue? How does time off work for contractors?
    
    If you are working from home and you need to take a day off for some reason, how much notice do you need to give?
    

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1. The program should be taught by qualified instructors who are credentialed experts in their respective fields.


2. The program should employ certified medical transcriptionists to teach medical transcription practice courses.
   
   The experienced pros will be able to give you all kinds of assistance and show you tips and tricks that someone who has merely studied cannot.


3. The program should indicate the number of classroom hours students actually perform medical transcription.
   
4. The program should indicate the number of minutes of actual physician dictation used for practice (The Model Curriculum recommends 30 dictated hours of actual physician dictation.)
   
   It is all right to start out with dictation not done by physicians for getting a feel for it, but you MUST have actual physician-dictated material to work with, or you will be lost when you get in the real world!


5. Will the school provide names and addresses of former students as references?
   
   Contact them. Find out what they liked, and didn't like.


6. Does the school have an advisory board? Does it include certified medical transcriptionists?
   
7. The program should indicate length of externship or on-the-job experience available (The Model Curriculum recommends 10 dictated hours of authentic physician dictation, for a total of 40 dictated hours during the training program.)
   
8. It should include relevant publications among its educational materials.
   
9. The school should use the AAMT Book of Style for Medical Transcription, 2nd edition in its training curriculum.
   
10. The program should be based on The Model Curriculum for Medical Transcription*, 3rd edition, published by AHDI, which recommends courses in the following:
    
    
    
    • English grammar and punctuation
    
    
    • medical language
    
    
    • anatomy and physiology
    
    
    • disease processes
    
    
    • pharmacology and laboratory medicine
    
    
    • transcription technology
    
    
    • medical transcription practice
    
    
    • healthcare records
    
    


11. Privacy, ethics, and other medicolegal issues
    
12. Lastly, the school should offer job placement assistance.
    This can be invaluable! What a relief to know that the school, with all its business contacts, is in your corner helping you find that all-important first job!