The Association of Registered Nurse Staffing Levels and Patient Outcomes

Many experts agree that the nurse-patient ratio is extremely important when it comes to improved patient outcomes. There’s a new review in December’s edition of the journal Medical Care in which researchers evaluated 27 studies of patient outcomes in relation to the registered nurse-to-patient ratio.

According to the review’s findings, if hospitals added one more full-time registered nurse on staff to care for patients, the number of hospital-related deaths in the U.S. could decrease significantly. The report goes on to say:

“When asked how hospital administrators can be better made aware of these possible rates of improved patient outcomes, lead review author Robert Kane, M.D., said, “The issue is not making them aware of the possibility, it’s convincing them that it is in their best interests to act on it. From a business perspective, the savings in reduced lengths of stay would not offset the costs of the added staffing. The case would have to be made in terms of image and liability.”

Click here to read the article that was posted on www.news-medical.net.

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CodeRyte, Inc. and AAPC Form Alliance

On November 14, the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) and CodeRyte, Inc. announced their agreement to offer computer-assisted coding technology for AAPC member training and education.

According to a press release issued by the AAPC, “Through this alliance, AAPC will first provide instructors with the ability to use real-world computer-assisted coding technology to teach coding principles. Later phases of the partnership will make computer-assisted coding available as a practical application for loearning both in and out of the classroom.”

This partnership sounds like an interesting one that will benefit members of the AAPC. We at PRN Funding look forward to the continued growth of the association and the additional phases of this partnership.

Evolving Medical Transcription Model

Gartner Industry Research released a new report on the future of medical transcription. The report outlines the much talked about “Editor” Model of medical transcription, in which medical transcriptionists spend the majority of their time correcting, reformatting and augmenting the material already created by speech recognition programs.

The report also discusses another dictation approach that have left some industry experts worried. The “Once-and-Done” Model (OAD), which appears to be rapidly gaining acceptance in the ambulatory, single-physician and small physician’s practice marketplace.

The report goes on to explain the model: “In the OAD model, a physician performs dictation while seated at a computer terminal. Speech recognition is used to convert the physician’s voice directly into text, and this same physician is responsible to correct errors in speech recognition, as well as to format the document appropriately…A clinical decision support system may then examining this content to determine whether any alerts or warnings are warranted based on the information that has just been generated.”

Although Gartner hails the OAD model as the next big thing in medical transcription with little disadvantages, not all industry experts agree. (Click here to read the October Cover Story of For the Record Magazine – Once & Done Transcription: A Bold Spin or Off Target?) Whether you agree or disagree with the emergence of this new medical transcription model, it’s certainly something that MTSOs should be watching closely.

Coding Crunch: The Future of Medical Coding

Did anyone see the interesting article in For The Record magazine entitled, Coding Crunch: Who will feed the cash cow?

It talks about how recruiters and HIM professionals at healthcare facilities are having a hard time recruiting and retaining medical coding specialists at their facilities. Some are having to use outside-of-the-box techniques to lure medical coders to their facilities. More and more coding professionals are opting to work from home instead of fighting traffic and losing out on quality family time, and medical facilities are willing to offer this perk to keep their valued coders.

Surely, this conundrum also appeals to outsourced medical coding services who can deliver qualified medical coding specialists on or off-site to these facilities as well.

Temp Nurse Staffing: Always Pay Payroll Taxes

PRN Funding’s president, Phil Cohen, has given unsolicited advice and presentations on the importance of nurse staffing companies paying their payroll taxes. Even going so far as to point out that payroll and taxes are a nurse staffing business owners two biggest obligations, and they are obligations that will NEVER go away.


Another fellow factoring blogger warns about the complications of not paying payroll taxes in the post: Payroll Taxes Must be Paid. The blogger states specifically: “Unpaid payroll taxes are a liability that goes beyond the corporation and sticks directly to the business owner personally.”

The bottom line, don’t mess around with not paying your payroll taxes because when the IRS finds out, and they will find out eventually, your temporary nurse staffing business and you, personally, will pay.

New Trends in Outsourcing

Temporary nurse staffing, medical transcription, medical coding, even locum tenens–All of these kinds of companies come to mind when you think of outsourcing in the medical world. But what if I told you there was a new form of outsourcing that involves direct patient care?

According to a post in the Advance Perspective blog, Offshore Outsourcing: Is Your Critical Care Next?, there are already three Swedish Medical Center hospitals located in Seattle using this “telemedicine” to monitor patients in ICU.

The blog goes on to explain this eICU in more detail:

“According to the company, an eICU center is staffed with an intensivist-led care team that can monitor and care for hundreds of patients at the same time. Likened to an air traffic controller, the monitoring physicians use software alerts to track patient vital trends and intervene earlier-before complications occur. The care team has audio, visual and data connections to the patients and their rooms. If they see a problem developing, they can speak directly with the patient’s hands-on caregiver.”

Q: Do you think this is the next big thing in outsourcing?