Happy National Medical Transcriptionist Week!

Established in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan, National Medical Transcriptionist Week, National Medical Transcriptionist Week is celebrated annually in the third week of May to bring public and industry-wide attention to the role and contribution of medical transcriptionists in healthcare delivery and clinical documentation.

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), formally American Association for Medical Transcription is celebrating the week with the AAMT Walk for Red Day: Walk for Red Day is a day set aside during National Medical Transcriptionist Week for AAMT members and component groups to participate in a walk-a-thon with the goal of raising awareness about women’s heart health and raising funds to support both The Heart Truth and sponsorship of fitness celebrity Richard Simmons to the AAMT Annual Convention and Expo in Reno, Nevada, in August of 2007.1.

Nursing Shortage Inspires Legislation: Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act of 2007

In the beginning of May, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Stark, D-CA, introduced the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act of 2007 (H.R. 2122), which will limit the amount of mandatory overtime a nurse may be required to work.

 

“Mandatory overtime exhausts nurses mentally and physically, placing patients’ lives at risk and driving nurses out of the profession,” said Stark. “We limit the time that truck drivers and pilots can work to protect public safety. Safe nursing is in the public interest as well.”

 

It’s good to know that legislation is being passed to improve on the conditions of overworked nurses and overall nurse shortages in the United States.  Temp medical staffing agencies offer another alternative to combating nurse burnout rates.  By delivering fresh employees to cover overtime and vacation shifts, everyone wins, including the patient.

Cash Flow 2007 Dallas

Overall, the American Cash Flow Association’s (ACFA) 2007 trade show was a prosperous one for PRN Funding.Check out Nikki Flores’ thoughts on the 2007 Cash Flow Conference:

There was a lot of rain down in Texas, but it didn’t stop the motivated cash flow consultants from coming out of the woodworks. There was a steady stream of traffic stopping by the PRN Funding booth, with brokers stopping to pick up consultant packages and grab our Krispy Kreme donuts.

On a whole, the cash flow consultants we met were well-trained and eager to learn about PRN Funding’s niche in factoring for healthcare vendors. In addition to booth traffic, both of Philip Cohen’s (President of PRN Funding, LLC) presentations were well attended. Cash flow consultants who were unable to attend his presentations, “The other type of healthcare receivables” and “How to choose the best factor for your prospects” can receive free copies of the presentations by emailing nflores@prnfunding.com.

Nurses OK contracts at 13 hospitals

Here’s an interesting article that we found about nurses unionizing in 13 metro-area hospitals in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MO.  The group of 10,750 registered nurses (RNs) approved new three-year contracts that provide 11 percent raises, preserve their health plans, and establish committees to address issues of safety and nurse staffing levels. 

 

Click here to read the entire article in the Star Tribune: Nurses OK contracts at 13 hospitals.

Nurses picket hospital, hospital blames nurses

Nurses employed by the Boston Medical Center (BMC) picketed outside of the healthcare facility alleging violations of their employment contract with the hospital.  The nurses cited below-minimum staffing requirements, overtime pay deficiencies and vacation pay problems. The nurses picketed the hospital last week. Nurses also said that the BMC hospital management threatened to discipline nurses who took part in the protest.

 

Although this is an unfortunate situation for both Boston Medical Center hospital and the nurses involved with this protest, there are still patients that need care.  This dilemma presents an immediate opportunity for a savvy temp nurse staffing business owner to get his/her foot in the door.

 

Click here to read the entire article: Nurses picket the hospital, hospital blames nurses.

Kindred shares slide on new Medicare rules

As a huge powerhouse operating hospitals, nursing homes, institutional pharmacies and contract rehabilitaion services across the country, Kindred Healthcare’s shares started falling after the government announced its changes to the Medicare reimbursements for long-term facilities. It will be interesting to see how Kindred’s payables will be affected as well as the impact this new ruling will have on other medical institutions.

Click on the link to read the entire article: Kindred shares slide on new Medicare rules.

OSU Med Center mulls how to help struggling east

Another prime example of the effects of the national healthcare cash flow crisis, the OSU Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio wants to do some rearranging within their healthcare system to help defray climbing medical costs. Shifting some patient treatment specialties to the Ohio State University Hospital East location will help the facility combat the losses due to uninsured patients and ones on Medicaid.

Click here to read the entire article: OSU Med Center mulls how to help struggling east.

2007 MTIA Conference – AHDI & MTIA Join Forces

Two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to exhibit at MTIA’s 18th Annual Conference, and once again, we were pleased with the show. We had the chance to meet up with old colleagues and friends, while simultaneously meeting new faces and discussing PRN Funding’s factoring niche within the medical transcription industry.

 

We were also very intrigued and excited to learn about the new relationship between the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI)—formerly the American Association of Medical Transcription (AAMT)—and the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA). Seeing a trade association growing and adapting to serve the needs of medical transcription services owners (MTSOs) is a good thing, and PRN Funding supports the merge wholeheartedly. Although MTIA is an excellent association for the medical transcribing world, the organization was too small to effectively reach all of its members. We feel that this collaboration is a good thing for MTSOs worldwide. We look forward to the continued growth of this strategic legal partnership.

 

Q: How do you feel about the merge between AHDI (formally AAMT) and MTIA?

A: Jay Cannon (President of MTIA and COO of Webmedx, Inc.) commented about the new AHDI/MTIA relationship in the June 2007 issue of Journal of the American Association for Medical Transcription (JAAMT).  Like PRN Funding, Cannon is extremely thrilled about it.  In his column, he wrote “I do believe this relationship to be one of strategic importance as we mutually strive toward advancing the relevance of medical transcription in the ever-changing clinical documentation landscape.”

PRN Funding Enters the World of Blogging

Keeping up with developing online trends, PRN Funding unveiled the newest addition to our Web site today, a corporate blog.

As well-known factoring experts to the healthcare services arena (medical staffing agencies, medical transcription services, medical coding companies, etc.), we will use the blog to communicate important information to the healthcare vendor market as well as give fellow bloggers the opportunity to join in on the conversation by posting comments directly onto the site.

Topics to be posted and discussed within the blog include: factoring news, medical services industry news, including updates within the temporary nurse staffing, medical transcription services, medical coding services and medical supply industry news. Check back often because the blog will be updated frequently with current trends and news within the healthcare and factoring industries.