a line is defined as 65 characters

all characters are counted, including spaces, tabs, returns

transcriptionists are employees

transcriptionists are in the United States and therefore the company is responsible for paying employee taxes

transcriptionists are paid minimal benefits

transcriptionists are paid for the same characters as the client is billed and a line is 65 characters

the vendor utilizes an ASP platform and toll-free dictation is included in the service

Editors (QA) are employees paid on a production basis

the vendor maintains a physical office location, with some employees working in the office and production and QA working from home.

The scenario also assumes that production QA editors are paid 3 cpl and 40% of the volume of documents goes to QA for editing.

Production MT: 8 cpl

Production QA: 1.2 cpl

Total production costs: 9.2 cpl (66%)

Employee benefits/taxes: 1.4 cpl (17.5% of MT line rate)

Technology platform: 1.5 cpl

Overhead, including support staff, office space and equipment: 1.2 cpl

Total overhead costs: 4.1 cpl (29%)

Total production and overhead costs: 13.3 cpl (95%)

Total profit: 0.7 cpl (0.5%)

Technology platform costs are higher in comparison to Scenario #1 because the rate is based on a VBC line, rather than a 65-character line. Toll-free long distance service is still not included in the number.

As you can see, there is no room in these numbers for any kind of business development and the owner didn't get paid (unless we count the owner as part of the support staff!).

Summary

Price. As you can see from the numbers, in comparison with Scenario #1 there isn’t a significant difference in outcome. For the VBC, 14 cpl would still be a very low rate.

Turnaround. At a pay rate of 8 cpl with minimal benefits, this company will have trouble finding MTs, even ones with little or no experience. Turnaround would be impacted.

Quality. This company should be doing QA on most, if not all, the documents. However, the line rate isn’t high enough to allow for it and the quality of work produced by this company would be substandard, most likely in the high 80% range.