Advocacy Summit 2011 Details Released

Attendees are set to speak with key legislative officials and staff about the medial transcription industry’s critical role in healthcare delivery at Advocacy Summit 2011 is set for May 3-4 in Washington DC.

According to the official MTIA Blog, Advocacy Summit 2011 attendees will receive the following:

  • Orientation and training on effective lobbying techniques
  • Appointment scheduling services for legislative meetings
  • Materials to convey a clear, concise, and powerful message
  • AHDI/MTIA staff assistance every step of the way

Additional events are scheduled at the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center.

Download Registration Form
Register Online – Full Registration
Register Online – Day Tripper Package

The Hotel
Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center
3800 Reservoir Rd NW
Washington, DC 20057
Phone: 202-687-3200

The Georgetown University Hotel and Conference center is nestled among the buildings of the university campus in one of the most historic Washington, DC, neighborhoods. Complimentary transportation to two nearby metros—Dupont Circle and Rosslyn—are available along with abundant shopping and restaurants right around the corner in the heart of Georgetown. Single- and double-occupancy rooms for AHDI/MTIA Advocacy Summit attendees are $189 per night.

Online reservations
Reserve by Phone: 1-888-324-2111 (mention you are with AHDI/MTIA)

Room-Sharing Program
Advocacy Summit attendees interested in sharing hotel room costs at Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center may contact Miranda Youkhaneh at myoukhaneh@mtia.com or 800.982.2182 for roommate pairing.

For more details and updated information, visit Advocacy Summit 2011 at www.mtia.com/AdvocacySummit.cfm.

CDC Report Finds 59 Million Americans without Health Insurance

CDC analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and early release NHIS data from the first quarter 2010 to help determine the number of uninsured Americans or who had gaps in coverage. Then CDC used their findings to determine whether lack of health insurance coverage was associated with increased levels of forgone health care. Here are some of it’s key findings:

  1. In Q1 of 2010, approximately 59.1 million people had no health insurance for at least part of the year before the interview, which is up from 58.7 million in 2009 and 56.4 million uninsured in 2008.
  2. Of the 58.7 million who were uninsured in 2009, 82.8% were between the ages of 18-64, and 16.2% were under the age of 18.
  3. From 2008-2009, the number of uninsured children decreased 5%, however the number of adults (aged 18-64) who went without insurance increased 5.7%.

CDC also concluded that Americans aged 18-64 with chronic medical conditions and without consistent health insurance coverage are much more likely to forgo needed medical care than those with the same conditions and continuous coverage. In addition, CDC said: “Increasing the number of persons with continuous health insurance coverage can reduce the number of occasions that persons forgo needed health care, which can reduce complications from illness and avoidable long-term expenditures.”

Click here to read more from CDC’s report on Health Insurance Coverage and Health Care Utilization.

AAPC Welcomes 100,000th Member

Mrs. Carla Peacock was The American Academy of Professional Coders 100,000th registrant to become a part of the medical coding association.

The AAPC is celebrating this triumphant membership milestone by awarding Mrs. Peacock with an all-expense paid trip to the 2011 AAPC Conference, scheduled for April 3-6 in Long Beach, CA. She will also receive a free Certified Professional Coder (CPCA) exam along with a 2011 AAPC webinar subscription to help earn CEUs.

Click here for more details on the 100,000th AAPC member.

Cash Flow Problem – Try Invoice Factoring

There was an article in today’s Wall Street Journal entitled: Fast Money talked about how many companies are using “what was once a controversial way of obtaining quick money–Selling their invoices to a factoring firm.

Although business owners suggest a number of reasons to take advantage of factoring, one of the biggest attractions is no longer having to wait to be paid. Other business owners use accounts receivable factoring to help them get their companies up and running. Still, some business owners see use factoring to help them bridge the cash flow gap for a short period of time.

Still, these same business owners who use factoring also admit that there are some drawbacks, namely the cost of factoring.

The article also included a factoring snap shot for those business owners who are thinking of working with a factor.

  1. Ask Around – Talk to other people in your industry who have used a factoring firm.
  2. Check References – When you find a factoring firm you want to work with, ask them for references.
  3. Choose a Factor who Understands Your Business – Take the time to provide sample invoices for the factoring firm to review ahead of time.
  4. Listen – Communicate with the factor over the phone to get an idea of how the factor will interact with your customers.
  5. Negotiate – Once quoted, try negotiating the rates.
  6. Be choosey – About which invoices you want to factor.

Staffing Agencies Name Cash Flow No. 1 Challenge

About two years ago, The Receivables Exchange marketplace opened its doors. It’s a unique factoring service that allows factors to bid on various business owners’ invoices.

The Receivables Exchange recently conducted a survey of 636 executives at companies from the $1-200 million revenue range across 15 different industries. The results of the survey yielded some interesting insights into the cash flow worries at temporary staffing firms:

  1. 2/3 of the executives surveyed listed working capital as their #1 concern, and staffing agency owners were the most worried about cash flow.
  2. Staffing agency owners also listed seasonality and disruptive events (i.e. fluctuations in the market that affect demand for services) as top concerns.
  3. Although extended payment terms were not as big of a capital challenge for staffing agency owners as in other industries, staffing executives still listed it as a general business concern.
  4. 1/3 of all the respondents believed that they were being blocked by traditional financing sources.
  5. Nearly half of the staffing companies were not satisfied with their borrowing capabilities from traditional financing sources.

Given all of these findings, it comes to no surprise that staffing agency owners would benefit greatly by selling their invoices to a factoring firm. Click here to access the complete research report: http://www.receivablesxchange.com/recruiting-staffing.

CBaySystems Sheds Light on Outsourced MT Industry

Last week, the medical transcription invoice funding specialists at PRN Funding blogged about CBaySystem’s IPO. Since then, we learned more details on the company’s plan to go public.

As part of CBaySystems’ IPO, the MT company filed an S-1 Form with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  In it, CBaySytems shared a number of fascinating facts about the company as well as unique insights into the clinical documentation industry as a whole.

CBaySystems is the “leading provider of integrated clinical documentation solutions for the U.S. healthcare system.” The following CBaySystems statistics were calculated over a three-month time-span which ended on June 30, 2010:

  1. CBaySystems processed (on an annualized run rate basis) more than 2.9 billion lines  on its platform.
  2. CBaySystems has more than 14,000 MTs and MEs.
  3. More than 60% of the 2.9 billion lines CBaySystems processed used ASR technology.
  4. Nearly 40% of the 2.9 billion lines CBaySystems produced were done offshore.
  5. CBaySystems serves more than 2400 hospitals, clinics and physician practices throughout the U.S., including 40% of hospitals with more than 500 licensed beds.

Furthermore, the S-1 Form shared a number of interesting facts about the medical transcription and clinical documentation industry, courtesy of research conducted by ValueNotes Database Pvt. Ltd (ValueNotes). Below of some of the market research firm’s key findings:

  1. ValueNotes estimated that the  market for outsourced medical transcription services was $5.4 billion in 2009.
  2. Outsourced medical transcription is expected to grow 8.2% per year over the next five years to $8.0 billion in 2014.
  3. In addition, ValueNotes estimates that the outsourced medical transcription market was 33% of the overall MT market in 2009, and it projects a growth in the market to 38% in 2014.

Click here to read the entire CBaySystems’ S-1 Form.

PRN Funding Prepped for Decision Health’s Private Duty Conferece

According to a press release issued last week on their site, the private duty factoring firm will be exhibiting again at Health Decision’s Annual Private Duty Conference and Expo next month.

Private duty and home care agency business owners are encouraged to stop by booth #209 to learn more about an alternative financing option, invoice factoring.

CBaySystems files for US IPO

According to the Associated Press, the medical transcription services company, CBaySystems Holdings Ltd. filed for an initial public offering worth as much as $115 million yesterday.

Based in Franklin, Tenn., CBaySystems handles medical transcription, billing, and coding services for about 2,400 hospitals, clinics, and practices in the U.S. It did not disclose how many shares it plans to sell or when it plans to complete its IPO. It also did not disclose a proposed ticker symbol for its shares.

Click here to read the article in its entirety:
CBaySystems files for US IPO worth up to $115M.

TRS Includes Medical Billing & Coding in its Career Training Programs

TRS Institute, the nation’s leading provider of AHDI-approved online medical transcription and speech recognition training programs, announced that it was adding a Medical Billing and Coding curriculum to its course offerings.

The new curriculum will include:

    1. Medical Billing & Reimbursement career preparation
    2. Certified Professional Coding for physician’s offices and hospital facilities
    3. Accelerated program for Medial Billing and Coding

      Click here to read the entire article in the Kansas City Star.

      Nuance and IBM Collaborate on CLU

      Nuance Communications (the maker of speech-recognition software) made an announcement today that it has entered into a new collaboration with IBM.

      According to an article on the HealthcareIT News web site, “the two companies aim to help advance the state-of-the-art in clinical language understanding (CLU) technologies.” Moreover, a team of leading natural language processing (NLP) researchers at IBM will collaborate with Nuance’s research and development team to integrate the their technologies.

      The vice president of software in IBM Research, Charles Lickel, was quoted in the article: “With Nuance, we’ll work to ensure healthcare organizations can gain access to, and classify health data to improve patient outcomes and to help lower the cost of healthcare today.”

      Older Posts
      Newer Posts