Working from home is a dream come true for many people. There are many types of companies that hire at-home employees or independent contractors to save money on training, providing office space, and to simply fill in space needed for temporary work loads and projects. If you are skilled in medical transcription or have worked in the medical field before (as a nurse, CNA, phlebotomist, or even office receptionist) then you may have the experience for medical transcription and coding that you can do right from home. This involves putting either written or verbal doctoral notes or documents into a readable form for either private clients or companies. Here are things you should know when seeking a medical transcription job online.
Type of worker
Companies will either hire people as independent contractors or employees. It's important to know which you prefer to be. An employee is a direct worker for the company and adheres to company rules, schedules, and hours. An independent contractor is not an employee but is brought on for projects or on a full or part time basis. As an independent contractor you don't have access to benefits such as vacation time, medical insurance, or even retirement benefits, which you may have access to as an employee. Since independent contractors have no real ties to the companies they work for, they can be let go without cause. The type of freedom you want with your work-at-home experience (such as setting your own hours or how long you want to work) will determine which employment status works best for you.
How you are paid
Don't be surprised when you start looking for online medical transcription jobs and you see that they pay per word rather than by the hour. This is because it's hard to monitor your work pace when you are at home and not in an office and companies want to make sure their staff is actively working. If you are offered jobs that pay by the hour, you may only get the hourly rate if you can meet a certain word count within that time or a number of completed documents.
Equipment you need
For some jobs you will need a headset, recorder, and certain software downloaded on your computer. If you are hired as an employee these things may be provided to you, if not, then you will have to buy them yourself. Keep in mind as well that you will need a swift and reliable Internet connection in order to be considered for hire.
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