Did anyone see the Wall Street Journal article: A Credit Crunch That Lingers earlier this week?
The reporter, Emily Maltby, wrote that even though the economy us “on the mend,” small business entrepreneurs are still struggling to land credit. She went on to discuss the myriad of explanations:
- Most of the government programs created to address the problem have been focusing primarily on Small Business Administration loans, which amount to just 10% of all small business lending.
- Some bankers claim that loan volumes are dwindling because the demand is down. These bankers say that business owners aren’t willing to take on more debt during these difficult times.
- Other bankers blame federal regulators for insisting that banks to be more prudent with lending.
Entrepreneurs are stuck in the middle of the finger-pointing debate with limited or no access to cash. Many of these small business owners are being forced to curtail their growth and hiring, which in turn, is slowing the nation’s recovery and keeping unemployment high.
The article highlighted Julio Valencia’s business, JTI Landing Systems because his somewhat new business has been turned down four times by larger banks. Exhausting his personal cash and retirement savings, Mr. Valencia struggles with cash flow, though not because of poor money management. Rather, his cash flow problems stem from slower-paying customers.
PRN Funding’s Take: Mr. Valencia and other small business owners who are struggling with poor cash flow should look into accounts receivable factoring as a lucrative alternative financing option.
The Gallup Organization conducted a survey in November-December 2009 for The National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation (NFIB) of 751 small business employers (employing people 1-250) to help better understand the small business credit crisis.
Below are some of the survey’s key findings (as reported by The Secured Lender:
- 55% of small businesses attempted to borrow in 2009.
- 23% of those businesses were not able to have all of their credit needs met (which dropped significantly from earlier in the 2000s when up to 90% of businesses had their credit needs met).
- The financial institution extending a line of credit changed the terms/conditions of the line(s) during 2009 for 29% of small businesses.
- The most frequent “change” was increased interest rates for small businesses.
- The best predictors of success in meeting the credit needs were higher credit scores, customers of banks with less than $100 billion in assets, more properties collateralized for business purposes and fewer second mortgages held.
- Most common planned purpose of credit rejected was to fill cash flow needs. (SIDE NOTE: Payroll Funding and Invoice Factoring companies are used every day to fill cash flow needs.)
Did anyone see Vanessa Best’s article in the July issue of BC Advantage? In the article, How to Jumpstart a Successful Medical Billing Business (page 31-32), Vanessa lists 10 steps to to start a medical billing and consulting business:
- Choose a business type.
- Choose the name.
- Develop a business plan.
- Learn about your market.
- Keep abreast of the medical field.
- Get reasonably priced software from vendors listed with the BBB.
- Develop your marketing strategy.
- Launch your marketing campaign.
- Establish how much your time is worth and set fees for service.
- Put it in writing!
Although the medical billing invoice funding specialists agree with everything on Vanessa’s list, we thought medical billers and medical billing consultants should add one more thing to the list.
Team up with a medical billing factor. Most medical billing companies and medical billing consultants have to wait weeks to be paid for their billing services. Imagine a world where you sent an invoice to a physician, and you got paid on the same day. PRN Funding’s medical billing factoring program is designed to do just that!
Check out our medical billing factoring web page for more details.
Even though Jacksonville, FL was not one of the more desirable cities for a medical coding conference, the 2010 AAPC Conference ended up being a good one for PRN Funding.
Phil Cohen (PRN Funding’s owner), Vera Pereskokova (Account Manager) and Nikki Flores (Marketing Manager) had the pleasure of speaking with a number of medical coding business owners and medical coding consultants during the show. All of them showed a great interest in PRN Funding’s medical billing factoring services as well as our medical coding invoice funding program.
Congratulations to Lori H. of Compass Coding Services, who was the lucky winner of our iPod Shuffle and $50 iTunes gift card drawing!
Last week, the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) announced that it hired a new Vice President of Practice Management. Daniel Schwebach has more than nine years of experience in the healthcare industry, and his new duties include: developing and and strategically implementing AAPC’s new practice management initiatives.
According to the official press release: “Prior to joining AAPC, Schwebach was a manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, were he specialized in operational and strategic consulting for ambulatory services.”
Click here to read the entire press release: AAPC Hires VP of Practice Management.
Review of Systems-expanded (ROSe) recently announced that it has added an advanced-level program to its compliance training offering specifically designed for medical transcription service organizations (MTSOs).
Developed by lead ROSe instructor, Brenda J. Hurley, CMT, ADHI-FL, the Advanced Compliance Course Training consists of four classes surround topics such as security risk assessments, policy development for reducing potential risks, and tips for business associate agreements.
According to For the Record Magazine, the new course “offers MTSOs the ability to provide instruction to their medical transcription staff regarding the new compliance requirements and new security and privacy risks they will encounter in their daily work activities.
There is special pricing available through June 30th. For more info, visit www.rosemtschool.com.
Jacksonville, FL-PRN Funding will be exhibiting in booth #111 at the 2010 AAPC Conference, and the crew is excited to talk to medical coding business owners and medical coding consultants about the benefits of medical coding invoice factoring.
In addition, AAPC Conference attendees are encouraged to stop by booth #111 June 7-9 to enter for a chance to win an iPod Shuffle and $50 iTunes gift card.
Click here to read the official press release: PRN Funding Talks Medical Coding Factoring.
It’s hard to believe that 25 years have gone by since President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation making this week National Medical Transcription Week.
Here are some fun medical transcription facts to keep in mind while celebrating the week:
- There are 1.2 billion medical records produced in the U.S. every year.
- 60% of those records are documented via medical transcription/dictation.
- Dictation/medical transcription is still the preferred method among US physicians for documenting patient encounters.
For more information on the 2010 Medical Transcription Week, please visit AHDI’s web site.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced last week that banks need to restore a proper balance between making loans to creditworthy borrowers and lending prudence.
He clarified that banks have erred too far on the side of caution since the beginning of the financial crisis, and as a result, “credit conditions for small business are the tightest they have been in recent memory.”
Click here to see the entire story: Bernanke: Small Business Lending Tightest in Recent Memory.
Due to the recent flooding in Nashville, AAPC’s National Conference has been moved to Jacksonville, Florida. The conference dates, times and educational sessions will remain the same. PRN Funding will still be exhibiting in booth #111 at the upcoming medical coding trade show.
For those who registered prior to the move, here is information to help with the transition:
Help for Nashville AAPC Conference Registrants
