Do you have your own line-counting software? How is that working for you? [sounds like Dr. Phil but not meant that way]

I like Practicount. I ran several tests on different software and found this one to be most accurate.

I ran the test using different formats - tables, headers, text boxes, etc. - and hand-counted so I knew exactly how many billable characters (my definition) were in the file, then counted them using a variety of parameters in Abacus, Sylvan, Practicount and also comparing with the Word properties (statistics). Practicount was the clear winner for consistently being most accurate with all types of formatting and parameter settings.

Can you set it to count how your company pays? For example, if you're paid on a 55 character black line can you set it to count this way instead of on a 65 character line with spaces? If I'm not paid for entering demographics, is there any way to have it omit those keystrokes?

You can set the parameters to omit or include any characters. You can set a line to be a specific number of characters. You can create different profiles so if you have multiple clients or accounts and they're different, when you select that profile, it selects the appropriate settings.

You can only make it omit demographics if they're contained in a section you've specified won't be counted; i.e., a text box, table, header, footer etc.

That sounds great! My platform gives me a count, but I like the idea of having something independent of the platform. I am going to download the trial and check it out.

I'll have to take a look at Practicout -- thanks for your information, Julie. I'm still using SylCount IV Gold, though I have not had the problems others have apparently reported with that version -- with the counts varying -- mine are always the same and have coincided with the MTSOs' counts.

Sylcount was the cause of my having to issue an abject apology to a client and issue a credit - the only time I have ever had to do that.

Then again, I tend to put a lot of programming in my templates but they have what is, IMO, a fatal flaw.

I frequently use second page headers that are automated; i.e., I use a bookmark and cross reference in the document to fill in the same information into the header, such as patient name, date of service, etc. That header only shows up if there is a page 2. You never see it if there is only a page 1.

Except if you're using Sylcount Gold IV.

I was doing a radiology account and being the lazy person I am, I programmed it to do that second page header. It was about 17 lines total. If you've done radiology, you know not a lot of reports go to page 2.

I did wonder why the line count was so high but hey - I was making good money, who was I to complain?! However, the next time I ran the count to bill them I just couldn't accept it - I KNEW something was wrong. Took me awhile to track it down but there it was - showing those extra 17 lines on 1-page reports.

I had to recalculate the prior invoice and issue a credit to the client against the CURRENT invoice.

And the other thing I like about Practicount is it counts multiple file formats including Excel, PDF, html - it's used by a lot of different industries.

I'm using Word 2007, so I just hit Alt + R + W. I can count pages, words, characters (no spaces), characters (with spaces), paragraphs, and lines. I have the option to include textboxes, footnotes, and endnotes. It works fine.

The Word 2007 line counter is not very accurate. Even they say it's just an estimate. I use Abacus, but I will check out Practicount. I gave up on Sylcount several years ago because of problems similar to what Julie described. When I talked to their tech support about the issue, they were crabby and unhelpful.

Bingo. I got the verbal equivalent of a shoulder shrug. But what did they care? They already had my money.

I also can't imagine going through the Word properties for every single report and noting the count. Unless someone has a macro that does this?

Similar experience with SylCount "support" here. When it came time to reclaim my second license copy (due to a fried backup computer, now replaced), they gave me their "verbal equivalent of a shoulder shrug," as Julie so aptly put it, and left me hanging. They told me to wait until I got a replacement computer, which I did, after which they basically said, "Too late. Can't help you. We've moved on, so buy our new version." No way. Any new software will be something else -- anything else.