Finding Doctors to Transcribe for

Today was a not terrible day for me and work.  For some reason the last week has been a hard week for me to stay on task.  My mind wanders and I am not getting the reports that I want to type.  No 20 minute Psych reports to type up, only a multitude of little ones.  Lots of good doctors to type for, but still the minutes do not amass to much of a pay day and they equal a long work day.  It is days like this that make me dream of typing for my own doctors.  And I am sooo sure I will be belly-aching about how boring it is doing the same doctor again and again.  Let me rephrase that...  belly-aching about how boring it is transcribing the same doctor again and again. 

So this brings me to what is the perfect way to get my own little stable of doctors to type for.  It seems that cold calling is not the best way to get to the doctor.  I found that you had to get around office staff that did not take very kindly to someone trying to muscle in on their territory.  Virtual MTs are not the most popular thing, it is seen as a threat in some ways.  I wish that they would see it as a help to them, again back to being part of a team.  The next option would be to e-mail the doctors, but this proves to be a waste of time in that they will ultimately end up in the junk mail file and are then deleted.  Faxed resumes are a good idea if you have access to a fax machine and is inexpensive, but time consuming.  Maybe this is a good chore for your 13 year old son, but if he is anything like mine it is not going to last for too long and you will have to listen to a lot of whining. 

Probably the best bet is to drop off resumes and hope for a call.  I think that networking can play a big part in finding your own doctors locally.  Ask your family doctor, specialists, hockey mom, facebook friends to help you out.  If you are serious about getting your own doctors then this networking and word of mouth is probably your best resource.  Remember to follow through with the information you find.  Organize yourself.  Maybe order business cards from Vista Printing online and hand them out to everyone you can. 

A big weakness and fault in trying this is feeling like they are doing you a favour by hiring you.  It actually is the other way around.  You are offering a service that is of value to them.  If you get a positive response back, don't  gush and thank them for giving you a chance.  That is a mistake.  Play it cool, like a teenage girl.  When you ask then for an approximate amount of minutes of dictation, think about it for a moment and then state calmly that you would definitely be able to fit them into your schedule.  Even if that schedule is between breakfast and the time your preschooler is done morning gymboree.  They don't need to know that. 

Set a price and stand firm.  Make it something that you can live with for the long term.  Do not undervalue your work.  Consider charging by the minute or by the line, whatever you are more comfortable with.  I think that you would be doing yourself a disservice by charging by the hour.  In the beginning this is a good deal, but as you learn the doctor, add to an expander et cetera, you will never be able to make extra money or shave off an hour of work time.  To me, per minute of dictation is just easier.  The recorder says 3:45 and that is what you charge.  Easy to understand for you and the doctor.  However, if the doctor is a speed talker, you price accordingly.  I have seen a business that charge 35cents extra per minute for speed talkers, background noise or accents.  Good to know that that can be done.  They also charge a premium for same day TAT, 2 day TAT etc.  The standard that they offer is 3 day. 

The pricing has to be up to you and your market place.  You have to take into consideration that there will be no QA for you. If this is holding you back, contact a seasoned MT and as them to be an on-call QA for you and pay them for the time they invest.  I am in Canada and $20/hour for QA is a good rate.  So figure that in to your pricing, if you are worried about that. 

You rarely see how much people charge when scanning for information, so I am going to give you a little heads up.  All areas are different of course and getting a number from a MT company is like getting the recipe for KFC.  Call the doctor's offices, conduct a survey, send out some type of market research to get the information from the doctors themselves.  Then you should be able to get a general idea for your market.  woulI would say that the MT companies are getting, at least, 3 to 4 times what they are paying you to work.  So if you are getting 6 cents, I would bet that the company is getting 18 cents.  Big difference. The services that you can offer the doctor is much superior to the bigger companies. 

So what I want you to take away from this is to value yourself not as a commodity, but as an asset to the doctor's business.  Have confidence in what you do and realize that you are needed by the doctor.  Develop a network around you as a Work from Home MT.  The network should include other MTs, members of your community that may know someone that may know someone.  Take the bull by the horns and have faith in yourself.  No one is going to do it for you. 

This was supposed to be a small blog tonight and once again, my words have gotten away from me.  Until tomorrow. 

Oh yes, I would like to say that this blog is my place to be free.  My ideas are free flowing and not really thought out.  Spelling mistakes and missing commas and grammar errors are my friend in this little world.  I will cringe when I see one, but please don't judge me.  (okay you can comment me and I will fix it)