Fact · Dictation for work and study
The AHIMA and MTIA task force compared six measurement standards for transcription work, including the 65-character line, gross line, gross page and per-minute pricing, before it proposed visible black characters.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“The task force identified and evaluated the ASCII line, the 65-character line, gross line, gross page, per minute pricing, and visible black character (VBC) measurement standards.”
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, Comparative evaluation, Background section.
Open the original- What it measures
- The list shows that per-minute pricing was an alternative to line-based billing that the task force considered, so a per-minute offer is a different basis from a per-line one.
- What it does not show
- The report compares the methods in 2007. It does not give the rates or the share of employers that used each method then or now.