Fact · Dictation for work and study
65characters per line
A 2007 AHIMA and MTIA task force describes the 65-character line as the previously advanced standard unit of measure for medical record transcription.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“The previously advanced standard unit of measure for medical record transcription was a 65-character line (commonly referred to as the AAMT line).”
Visible Black Character as the Unit of Text Measurement: AHIMA/MTIA Joint Task Force Report, AHIMA/MTIA Joint Task Force on Standards Development, American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA), 2007, Background.
Open the original- What it measures
- Transcription was billed by the line, and each line was a fixed number of characters that counted spaces and formatting codes.
- What it does not show
- The report is from 2007 and describes the industry's own standard. It does not say whether any particular vendor uses this rule today.