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:
The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) chose Lori Hendrix, CPC, CPC-H, CIRCC, CPC-I as the 2009 Networker of the Year.
According to the February 15th edition of For the Record Magazine, AAPC’s Networker of the Year Award recognizes an AAPC member “who represents the higher standards of coding set by the organization and who shares the benefits of being a member with fellow coders.”
Hendrix responded to AAPC’s recent membership drive, Drive to 100K, and started referring colleagues to become active AAPC members. As a result of her hard work, she was named Networker of the Year for the second time (her first was in 2003).
Have a question about invoice funding that hasn’t already been addressed on The Factoring Blog? Mosey on over to PRN Funding’s Web site, where healthcare business owners and cash flow factoring professionals can find a wealth of information.
PRN Funding’s president, Phil Cohen, has been busy writing various articles about factoring over the last few months. Have you been keeping up? Check out the Factoring Industry News section of our web site for his most recent contributions.
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Did anyone happen to catch the article: The Disposable Worker in BusinessWeek last month? If not, don’t fret, the invoice factoring specialists from PRN Funding took the time to summarize some of the interesting article’s main points below:
These brutal economic times has prompted more companies to use temporary workforces. Utilizing temporary employees gives these companies the ability to add and let go employees quickly and easily, relieving them of any kind of fixed costs. Their approach has created an era of disposable workers that will cause lasting damage.
“Older people who lose their jobs are often forced into premature retirement, while the careers of younger people are stunted by their early detachment from the working world.” Through their actions, many employers are laying the groundwork for employees to become alienated and dispirited.
Moreover, there’s a new trend in upper management, in which bosses are no longer rewarded fpr the number of people they supervise. Rather, they are rewarded for short-term profit performance obtained with less staff.
In addition, the article explained how offshoring has increased during the recession. Economists believe that most jobs shipped overseas will remain offshore even when things start improving in order to help companies continue to keep costs down.
The article referred to the European temporary market model as a way to improve conditions in the U.S. At least in Europe, part-timers and temporary workers receive government health insurance and are required to receive wages and benefits comparable to permanent employees.
Phil Cohen, president of PRN Funding, LLC, was recently featured as a guest writer for a popular medical billing and coding web site.
He previously wrote a two-part series explaining how medical coding companies can improve their cash flow by factoring their receivables. Mr. Cohen discussed the things to look for when choosing a medical coding factoring company.
This time, Mr. Cohen wrote specifically how medical billing companies can benefit from selling their invoices to a factoring firm. In a nutshell, instead of waiting up to 90 days for reimbursement, medical billing factoring provides business owners immediate cash.
Check out the article here: Medical Billing Companies Can Increase Their Cash Flow Through Factoring.
Advance for Health Information Professionals published their annual HIM professionals’ salary survey results in the December Issue (pages 12-15). For the convenience of The Factoring Blog’s HIM readership, we’ve included some of the more pertinent findings below:
As many of The Factoring Blog’s readers already know, PRN Funding provides accounts receivable factoring to healthcare vendors such as temporary nurse staffing agencies, medical transcription services and medical billing and coding companies and most recently, private duty home care agencies. By purchasing these companies’ invoices, PRN Funding provides the cash needed to sustain and grow a health care business. We are pleased to announce some of our most recent fundings:
A Home Care Agency No Longer Has to Wait for the State to Pay
This Chicago-based home care agency owner had been staffing sitters and home care aides into peoples’ homes since the beginning of the year, getting paid routinely in every two weeks by the state of Illinois. However, as the fourth quarter approached, she watched her receivables age out.
Worried that the lag in her payments would eventually start affecting her ability to meet payroll, the agency owner Googled “home care factoring,” and clicked on the first search result-PRN Funding’s home care factoring page. After ten minutes of perusing the site, the agency owner called 866.776.5407, and was immediately connected to a home care factoring specialist. Two weeks later at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the agency owner presented PRN Funding with the first batch of invoices and had funds deposited directly into her account within hours.
An Ohio Medical Billing Company Gains News Business
Until recently, this Columbus-based medical billing entrepreneur had only been providing billing services for a handful of independent doctors in central Ohio. All it took was for one of those doctors to mention the medical billing vendor’s capabilities to an associate, and the billing company had the opportunity to sign on a medical clinic as a new client. He was ecstatic about the new business opportunity; however, there was one major problem. In order to win the business, he agreed to sign a contract with 45-day payment terms. The medical billing business owner knew he could float payroll for a month, but having to wait those last two weeks to get a check was going to make it very difficult for him to pay his employees on time.
Later that day, while paging through a current billing and coding journal, he came across an ad for a funding company that works specifically with medical billing and coding companies. The entrepreneur visited www.prnfunding.com and determined that medical billing factoring was truly the solution to his forthcoming cash flow problem. He filled out an online application, and within a week, PRN Funding had purchased his first invoice to the medical clinic.
Nurse Staffing Agency Switches Factoring Firms
Unhappy with her current funder because it didn’t know very much about the nurse staffing industry, this nurse staffing agency owner from Tennessee was researching factoring firms when she came across PRN Funding’s web site. She was pleased when she found out that PRN Funding had been factoring nurse staffing invoices for over 10 years, so she called the same day to learn more.
Within the twenty minute conversation, the agency owner found out that PRN Funding was already very familiar with the hospitals where she was currently staffing. Because of their nurse staffing expertise, PRN Funding was also able to advise the agency owner not to sign on with a particular facility because it had a record of paying 60 days beyond term. Floored by PRN Funding’s expertise, the agency owner decided to fill out an application that day.
Eight business days later, PRN Funding had completed the buyout process, communicated the remittance changes to the agency’s clients and purchased the first batch of invoices.
Click here for more information on PRN Funding’s accounts receivable factoring services.
According to AdvanceWeb.com, Alan F. Dowling, PhD was recently appointed as the new CEO of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). He will assume his new role on January 13, 2010.
This statement was release in the official press announcement:
“Dr. Dowling has a deep understanding of the complexity of issues facing our association, our members and our industry, as a whole. His experience in the areas of health information and informatics, as well as healthcare delivery systems, gives him keen insights into what will be vital to the next decade of health information management and technology,” AHIMA board president Vera Rulon said. “He is the ideal person for the job ahead.”
Click here to read the entire press release: Dr. Alan F. Dowling Names AHIMA’s Next Chief Executive Officer.
Entering into the world of accounts receivable factoring can seem overwhelming if you are not familiar with factoring industry jargon. We’ve identified and defined some of the more common factoring terms for our readers below:
Account Creditor – You, the Client and provider of goods or services.
Account Debtor – The purchaser of goods or services; responsible for the paying invoice.
Advance Rate – Money provided immediately to the company factoring its accounts receivable–expressed as a percentage of the total invoice amount.
Discount Fee – A fee assessed by a factor that purchases accounts receivable. The discount fee is determined by the size of the invoice, the length of time it takes to collect the funds and the creditworthiness of the customer, not the company selling the receivable.
Factor – A company that provides operating capital to businesses by purchasing their accounts receivable.
Factoring – The business of purchasing and collecting accounts receivable.
Non-Recourse – Generally, a period in which accounts purchased by the factor remain the factor’s accounts and do not revert to the account creditor if unpaid due to an insolvency event. The factor accepts full credit risk for any and all accounts that it purchases during this period.
Recourse – Generally, a period in which accounts purchased by the factor are able to revert to the account creditor if unpaid due to an insolvency event. The client accepts full credit risk for any and all accounts that it sells to the factor during this period.
Reserve – Amount of money that is not immediately provided to the company factoring its accounts receivable when the account is purchased by the factor, expressed as a percentage of the total invoice amount.
Reserve Release – A bonus paid back to you as a result of prompt paying of receivables by your customer. (Advance Rate + Reserve = 100% of Total Invoice) The Reserve, minus the discount fee, is transferred to the client once payment is received by the factor.
Click here to learn more factoring terminology.
The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) is now offering a distance learning training series for the complete 2010 coding updates. Instead of waiting for a workshop in December to get updated with the new codes, these updates will be released upon renewal of the most recent update. Along with the three Webinars, a CD and eManaul are also included with each session.
Listed below are the 2010 coding updates covered in the series:
Sheri Poe Bernard, VP of clinical coding content at the AAPC, believes this series is a “must-have” for all coders.
The training series is available for purchase now at AAPC’s web site. You can also call 800-626-CODE to get more information.
