According to MTIA’s blog, the medical transcription organization is “encouraging its members’ companies to continue efforts initiated during the Advocacy Summit in strengthening and building relationships with members of Congress in local and regional locations over the summer. These meetings, or constituent coffees, provide a rare opportunity to interact directly with elected officials about the industry as well as discuss the important role MTs and MTSOs play in the healthcare community. Meetings can be held in company offices or in client locations to share the work we do in contributing to patient care delivery.

The Dewey Square Group has created Guidelines for Hosting a Regional Congressional Meeting to assist you with scheduling a local visit with your members of Congress.

If you have any further questions or would like assistance in getting started, please contact Andrew Wolf at awolf@ahdionline.org or Miranda Youkhaneh at myoukhaneh@ahdionline.org.”

Last week, BusinessWeek published an article entitled: Health-Care Bill Surprise: 1099 Nightmare, and we thought the small business owners who read The Factoring Blog should be aware of its contents.

In essence, the article says: Small business owners should be aware of page 737 of the recently-approved healthcare reform bill, as it contains a three-paragraph provision, inserted by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee to help offset the cost of the bill. In a nutshell, this insertion requires companies to report to the IRS payments of more than $600 a year to any vendor. The intent is noble: to capture $2 billion or more a year in taxes on income that currently goes unreported by contractors and small businesses.

Business advocates fear that the new rule will create a massive paperwork headache for small businesses because come 2012, the new rule will expand 1099-MISC reporting to include payments to companies, and for goods as well as services.

Read more here: Health-Care Bill Surprise: 1099 Nightmare.

In this week’s edition of Inside ASA, The American Staffing Association announced that the New York Staffing Association will have a featured luncheon speaker on Super Seminar Day (May 18).

General Counsel, Ed Lenz, intends to speak about how the new health care reform law will affect staffing agencies.

Attendees will also receive a comprehensive written outline of the new health care reform law that will include the following topics:

Major new tax provisions
Requirements for individuals to buy health insurance
Small business tax credits
Employer penalties if employees receive government assistance
Employer notice requirements
Medicare tax withholding obligations
Auto enrollment requirements for certain large employers

For more information, visit the New York Staffing Association web site.

President Obama signed the landmark health care reform bill yesterday, which will require the majority of employers (including medical staffing agencies) to pay a penalty to the government if they do not provide health insurance to their employees.

Temporary staffing firms are invited to attend the second national American Staffing Association (ASA) staffing law conference to learn how today’s laws will affect their businesses.

In fact, from April 20-21 in Washington, DC, ASA will offer attendees a full 90-minute briefing on the final health care reform legislation, and go into detail about what medical staffing firms will have to do to comply.

Other topics on the agenda include the following:

• Client indemnity clauses and other risks
• Background checks and negligent hiring
• Immigration developments
• Restrictive covenants and trade secret protection
• Union issues

A brochure, which includes full descriptions of all the conference sessions, is available online at http://www.americanstaffing.net/lawconference.

President Obama will sign the landmark healthcare bill into law on Tuesday, March 23. The House approved the Senate bill by a 219-212 vote yesterday evening. There was also a vote for a reconciliation bill, which was 220-211. No Republican voted for either measure.

The Healthcare Reform Bill will likely affect every man, woman and child in the United States. Here are just a few of the changes to come:

1. An estimated 24 million people who currently lack access to affordable health insurance through their workplace will be eligible for tax credits to buy their own insurance.
2. Nearly everyone who earns less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level  (estimated 16 million people) will become eligible for Medicaid.
3. Medicare will also see some changes that should deliver care more efficiently and come at a lower price. Whereas Medicare Advantage will likely lose $120 billion over the next 10 years.
4. In 6 months time, new insurance policies will have to allow children to stay on their parents’ plan until the age of 26.
5. Within 6 months, small businesses with fewer than 25 employees and average annual wages up to $50,000 will receive tax credits to offset the cost of buying insurance for their workers.
6. Within 6 months, all new insurance plans will have to cover the full price of preventative care, including annual physicals and children’s  immunizations. In addition, prior-approval will no longer be a requirement.
7. Children with medical conditions will no longer be denied coverage, and insurers will no longer be able to impose lifetime limits on benefits, nor will they be able to drop a person when they file a claim.

For more information on the healthcare bill’s changes, click on The Washington Post’s article: Obama to sign health-care bill into law Tuesday.

James A. White recently blogged about the latest unemployment ratings last week for the Wall Street Journal. January’s rate was 9.7%, which came down from 10% in the previous two months. What PRN Funding found to be the most interesting was that health care sector added 14,500 jobs.

Moreover, it’s also important to note the continuing surge in temporary hiring. “Perhaps once the health care debate is settled some of these jobs will swap into permanent employment, but in the meantime firms are willing to take on workers but not at the expense of benefits on the way in or severance on the way out,” said Steven Blitz of Majestic Research.

As a follow-up from our post last week regarding the House of Representatives health care reform bill, the U.S. Senate has also unveiled their $849 billion health reform bill.

The 2074-page Senate bill is expected to be voted on as early as this Saturday. The proposal now goes to the full Senate, where Republicans have vowed to try to block it.

Some of the more interesting aspects of the bill include the following*:

1. The Medicare payroll tax on individuals earning $200,000 a year and couples earning $250,000 a year would increase by half a percentage point.
2. Bill would require individuals to purchase health insurance, with a fine for non-compliance of $95 in the first year that would escalate to $750 by 2016.
3. Parents would be responsible for providing coverage for their children up to 18 years old.

If the healthcare reform proposal passes the Senate, a combined version of the House’s proposal and the Senate’s proposal will need to pass both chambers before it can be signed into law.

Click here to read the Business Standard’s article on health reform: US Senate Unveils $849 BN Health Care Reform Bill.

As reported by the National Post on Monday morning, The United States House became the first chamber of congress to pass a comprehensive health reform bill, voting 220-215 in favor of the 10-year Affordable Health Care for America Act on Saturday night.

President Barack Obama was quoted in the article saying, “We are just two steps away from achieving health insurance reform in America,” and he’s confident that the Senate will pass its version of the legislation in the near future.

Most likely, the Senate will have a different version of the health care reform bill, and it will need 60 of 100 votes to pass. If it passes, both the House and the Senate will need to meet to agree on a single package.

Currently, the reform package includes obligatory coverage, tax hikes for the wealthy and a clause to prevent insurers from rejecting customers with pre-existing conditions.

Click here to read the entire article: U.S. health care reform ‘two steps away.’

While the majority of other businesses started converting to electronic files years ago, hospitals are lagging behind. In fact, only 1.5% of hospitals today have a “comprehensive electronic health record, and 8% have a basic version. The main reason why hospitals have been slow to adapt the technology is the massive price tag ($20 million-$200 million).

The University of Virginia Medical Center is taking strides to adopt EHRs. The medical center recently started employing medical scribes to help follow doctors in the ER and take down detailed notes on laptops which will form part of each patient’s electronic health record.

Click here for the entire article: High-tech scribes help transfer medical records into electronic form.

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal detailed some promising signs that a bill for the health care overhaul will be passed soon.

Congressional budget crunchers announced that the latest Senate health bill will cost $829 billion over the next decade, covering 94% of the non-elderly. In addition, the new bill will reduce the federal budget deficit by $81 billion.

Democrats are still divided over main elements of the new legislation, namely, whether to include a public health insurance plan and how to pay for the overhaul. So far, the bill’s funding comes from $404 billion in cuts to Medicare and two other government programs. Another $201 billion will come from a 40% excise tax on generous health insurance plans levied on insurers. Finally, the remaining funds will come from annual fees on insurers, medical device makers and pharmaceutical companies.

Click here to read the entire article: New Math Boosts Health Care Plan.