Small Business Owners Report Cash Flow Concerns

According to the Monthly Small Business Watch, a report that measures economic confidence by randomly selecting 750 small business owners and asking them to respond to six questions, 50% of small business owners have experienced temporary cash flow issues in the past 90 days. In addition, 53% of the surveyed business owners reported that they will decrease spending on business development in the next six months.

Now, more than ever, is a prime time for cash flow consultants and factoring brokers to reach out to those small business owners and pair them with the appropriate funding source. As many of The Factoring Blog’s readers know, PRN Funding is a great option for medical staffing factoring, medical transcription factoring, medical coding factoring and home care factoring.

Click here to read more current small business cash flow statistics.

Factoring Makes List of 101 Ways to Save Money

Jill Amadio, Jacquelyn Lynn, Ivan R. Misner, Chris Penttila, Guen Sublette and Laura Tiffany of Entrepreneur.com came recently contributed to a very important document for business owners: 101 Ways to Save Money in Your Business.

Compiled to advise business owners and entrepreneurs on how to save money in a penny-pinching economy, the accounts receivable factoring specialists at PRN Funding found #86 particularly helpful:

Consider the factors. Factors–companies that essentially buy and then liquidate a company’s accounts receivable–provide an option to tied-up money.”

PRN Funding Celebrates Medical Transcription Week

Following suit with the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), PRN Funding wants to extend a very heartfelt, Happy Medical Transcription Week!

Per the organization’s web site, the AHDI is encouraging medical transcriptionists and editors to embrace the theme of the 2009 National Medical Transcription week, Knowledge is  and celebrate “by doing something important for yourself.”

Click here to see what else you can do to celebrate National Medical Transcription Week.

Miami Has Highest Healthcare Costs in Country

A Medicare report that was released on Monday announced that private healthcare costs in Miami are the highest in the nation. An average family living in Miami paid a whopping $20,282 in healthcare costs in 2008, which is almost 21% higher than the national average.

The Milliman Medical Cost Index report held southern Florida in the spotlight specifically because President Barack Obama’s vow to trim $2 trillion in healthcare costs will most likely start there.

The report studies 14 cities, showing that healthcare costs were cheapest in Phoenix, AZ ($14,857 per family), and New York came in close to Miami, with average healthcare costs of $19,684 per family.

The report also explained that the national average is $16,771.

Click here to read the entire article as it appeared in the Miami Herald, Average Family Pays $20,000 in Health Costs.

Ohio Hospitals Feel Financial Pinch

A couple of days ago, PRN Funding blogged about the effects of the economy on America’s hospitals. Not surprisingly, the economy is affecting the health care systems and hospitals local to home–Right here, in Cleveland, OH, the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, MetroHealth Medical Center and the Sisters of Charity Health System are all facing tough financial decisions.

According to an article on Cleveland.com, the Cleveland Clinic “cut spending on construction, travel and consultants. It also instituted a hiring and pay freeze late last year,” while University Hospitals continues to monitor the economy and keep the possibility of future layoffs on the table.

Meanwhile, MetroHealth Medical Center and Sisters of Charity Health System are annoucning job cuts. The Ohio Hospital Association reported that 1/3 of Ohio’s hospitals plan layoffs in the next six months.

Some blame the region’s unemployment, which was 9.3% in February, as the biggest challenge to the state’s hospitals. “Fewer people are opting for elective procedures as household budgets tighten. And rising unemployment means fewer people who are insured and able to pay their health bills,” the article said.

Click here to read the entire article: Cleveland Hospitals Feel Financial Pinch.

Slow Payments Push Public Hospitals Towards Bankruptcy

Health care restructuring experts predict that the economic downfall “will force more municipalities to make the tough political call of shedding financially draining public hospitals, possibly through a bankruptcy filing,” according to a Wall Street Journal article that was published last week.

A big part of the problem is state Medicaid programs. The majority of public hospitals’ patients are insured by Medicaid, which has a strong track record of paying slowly. Adding to the slow-paying problem, the current economic downturn has been making it even more difficult for payments to be delivered in a timely manner.

So municipalities are left with a difficult decision: Continue covering their hospitals’ losses in addition to dealing with their other debts, or  shut down the hospital so that residents lose out on health care and the hospital employees lose their jobs.

Click here to read the entire article: Downturn May Send Public Hospitals into Bankruptcy.

Healthcare Sector Job Growth Slows

The economy continues to hinder the job market, and the hospital and healthcare sectors are being hit significantly by the slow economy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics shared some shocking numbers this week:

The hospital sector added 7,300 new jobs in April 2007, and that number increased one year later to 11,300 new jobs. However, in April 2009, the number of new hires dwindled to  a mere 600 new jobs.

The healthcare sectors as w hole, which includes physicians’ offices, residential mental health homes, and blood and organ banks, only added 17,000 new jobs in April 2009, which is way down in comparison to the 30,000 average new hires for the month.

According to an article on HealthLeadersMedia.com, which reported these numbers, “If hospital payroll increases continue at this pace, fewer than 25,000 new jobs will be created in 2009, as compared with 137,100 new hospital jobs in 2008; 105,700 new jobs in 2007.”

It is important to note that even though job growth is slow in the hospital and healthcare sectors, they are still outperforming the overall economy.

Click here to read the entire article: Hospital Job Growth Slows.

AHDI/MTIA EHR Task Force Recruiting for Focus Group

The AHDI/MTIA EHR Task Force has a very real goal to “develop and release an EHR Readiness Toolkit, a resource guide for our sector in preparing for healthcare’s migration to an electronic health information infrastructure,” according to a recent Vitals eNewsletter.

In order to meet this goal, the Task Force wants to form two focus groups of transcriptionists with EMR/EHR integration experience to provide insight, recommendations and feedback to help develop the toolkit.

The Task Force is seeking approximately 8-10 MTs or transcription managers/supervisors who have experience as employees with facility migration to an EMR/EHR are needed for one focus group, and approximately 8-10 MTSOs or independent contractors who have been part of a client’s migration to an EMR/EHR for the second focus group.

Some of the duty’s involved with the focus groups include: complete a comprehensive questionnaire, partake in 1-2 meetings, and review the toolkit prior to its release.

If you are interested and able to participate, contact Tiffany Wagner (twagner@ahdionline.org or 209-341-2461).

Refer a factoring deal to PRN, Get a FREE $25 Starbucks card!

Did you hear?? Starting today, PRN Funding will mail out $25 Starbucks gift cards to the next 20 brokers/cash flow consultants who contact us with a new factoring prospect!

All you have to do is contact me when you have a qualified prospect*, and we’ll do the rest. The best part is, you get the $25 Starbucks gift card even if we DON’T close the deal!

Remember that PRN Funding provides factoring exclusively to vendors who sell to medical facilities. Examples of the industries we factor include:

Healthcare Staffing Agency Factoring
Medical Transcription Factoring
Non-Medicare Home Care Factoring
Medical Coding Factoring
Medical Billing Factoring

Take the first step and email me (nflores@prnfunding.com) your current mailing address so that I know exactly where to send the Starbucks card when you refer a deal.

Thanks!
Nikki Flores

*NOTE: Upon evaluation and approval that the following criteria have been met for a referral, PRN Funding will mail out a $25 Starbucks gift card directly to the referrer:

1. The prospect must be an organized entity (Corporation, LLC). Sole proprietorships, general partnerships and DBA’s do not qualify for this promotion.

2. Broker/cash flow consultant must, at minimum, informally introduce PRN Funding, LLC to the prospect. In other words, PRN Funding will not make any cold calls as part of this promotion.

3. The prospect must have a legitimate need and interest in accounts receivable factoring.

4. PRN Funding must receive a completed application and accounts receivable aging report from the prospect.