Reiterating the Rights of Home Caregivers in Pennsylvania

The homecare factoring specialists came across a worthwhile article in the Pennsylvania Homecare Association’s weekly e-newsletter, and we wanted to share the details below:

Officials in the Pennsylvania Department of Health recently met with Susan Heinle of Visiting Angels and the Pennsylvania Homecare Association (PHA). They discussed the legal roles and abilities of homecare aides in medication assistance, and of “nurses employed by private duty homecare agencies and defining specialized care for homecare agencies and registries.”

Currently, the law prohibits Pennsylvania home nurses like Heinle from assisting their patients with the application of basic medications such as eye drops, topical creams and pills. These limitations affect both patients and families, who wish “to help their loved ones stay at home as they age but need help with medications.” PHA CEO Vicki Hoak decries the state of things: “not being able to provide this assistance is very frustrating to many of our members because families simply can’t afford to have a nurse come to the house just to hand over pills.”

Following this meeting, the Department of Health has decided to formulate a series of FAQs that, according to a press release on the PHA website, “will address medication assistance and provide further clarification on what is and what is not specialized care. This clarification is expected to be released in late summer.”

The goal of these discussions is the eventual optimization of home nurses’ legal capabilities. The effectiveness of the industry and its ability to assist its patients depends on the reformation of Pennsylvania’s legislation as it currently stands. These reforms would greatly benefit our homecare factoring clients in their respective missions-the improvement of the lives of each and every one of their clients. For more information, visit the PHA’s website.

CMS Approves New Rates for HCBS Waivers in Pennsylvania

Last week, CMS approved new rates that were proposed by the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) for those home care agencies that provide services under HCBS waivers, including Act 150, Attendant Care, Aging, CommCare, OBRA and Independence.

A couple of different regions were affected by the new rates:

Allegheny, Beaver and Westmoreland Counties
Decrease in reimbursement for PAS (personal assistance services) from $21 to $17.16.

Philadelphia County
Increase in reimbursement for PAS from $15.76 to $19.12.

Montgomery County
Decrease in reimbursement for PAS from $24 to $19.12.

There are a couple more counties throughout the state of Pennsylvania that will see slight decreases or increases.

The Pennsylvania Homecare Association has been following the new rate change closely and advising its members on how best to handle the changeover. Click here for more information on the New Rates for HCBS Waivers.

Medical Dictation and Transcription Goes Mobile with New Application

Webahn, Inc. recently announced the release of Accent HD, which is a new app for iPad that helps doctors dictate, review reports, print, and manage files in multiple formats such as PDF, RTF, and Text.

“Our goal is to provide flexible technology that moves with health care providers,” Vinu Nair, Webahn CEO said in the official press release, “Our solutions help doctors improve productivity and spend more time with patients.”

In essence, Accent HD is an app that offers a simple but intuitive interface for dictation that uploads via WiFi to OvernightScribe. Files are then transcribed, and posted in the clinic account. Physicians can carry the iPad with them to review archived reports, then dictate immediately upon seeing a patient.

Click here to read the official press release: New iPad App Accent HD Takes Medical Dictation and Transcription Mobile

Happy Medical Transcription Week 2012

Did you know that President Ronald Regan established May 20-26 as National Medical Transcriptionist Week? He did–In 1985.

So the medical transcription invoice funding experts at PRN Funding, LLC wanted to wish all of medical transcription blog readers a very Happy Medical Transcription Week!

Of course, the MT industry is not going away, but it is in a constant state of flux as large MTSOs acquire small ones in addition to incorporating EHRs. If you’re an MTSO or a transcriptionist, we want to hear your thoughts on the future of the industry. Feel free to leave comments.

Hospitals Benefit from Outsourcing Release-of-Information

Did anyone happen to read ROI in a Hybrid Environment in For The Record magazine’s April 23rd issue? It a nutshell, the article discussed the pains involved with switching over a facility’s paper medical record system to an electronic medical record system. The article referred to the transition phase as an ROI (Release-of-Information) Process.

Although the article was an interesting read, the outsourced medical transcription factoring specialists at PRN Funding wanted our MTSO audience and any other business owner of an outsourced healthcare company to be aware of the side bar article that accompanied the article, Outsourcing Can Help. It caught our attention, and for the convenience of our business owner readers, we’ve summarized the small article below:

A lot of hospitals think that transitioning to EHRs will reduce staffing needs around ROI–This assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, the staffing needs tend to increase in order to avoid falling behind while personnel adjust to new policies and procedures. Furthermore, there’s an underlying need to have specially-trained individuals to help train staff and assist with ROI implementation.

Steve Hynes, president of MRO Corp was quoted in the article: “Switching to EHRs “can be very resource intensive for the hospital and specifically for the HIM department to manage the changes while keeping up with day-to-day operations…Over a long period [resource needs] might fluctuate, but there will be a temporary bubble to get everyone up to speed during the conversion.” And that’s exactly where MRO Corp because outsourcing ROI is a way to lessen the labor-intensive burden.

We may be jumping the gun, but it sounds like outsourced ROI companies could be another good candidate for invoice factoring, as hospitals routinely take their time paying vendors.

Aging Workforce is Straining Social Security

Did you happen to see the Associated Press article on Monday entitled: Aging workforce strains Social Security, Medicare?

If not, the healthcare factoring specialists at PRN Funding summarized the startling findings below:

Social Security and Medicare, the government’s two largest benefit programs, are in worse shape than previously thought due to the increasing aging population and the slow-rebounding economy. Moreover, Medicare is in the worst shape because of rising health insurance costs.

The predictions from last year was that the Medicare hospital insurance fund for seniors would run out of money in 2024, and Social Security’s retirement fund would run out in 2038, with the disability fund running out of money by 2018.

The latest projections from March indicate that the disability fund would run out of money two years earlier in 2016.

Huge Need for HIT Workers in Texas

Did anyone see Lisa Brzezicki’s recent post on Advance Perspective’s blog: Survey Reveals Lack of HIT Workers in the Lone Star State?

She discussed the results of a recent Texas Health Information Technology Employer Needs Assessment Report conducted by done by the Department of Health Information Management at Texas State University-San Marcos.

The report’s main findings: There will be a much greater need for health information technology (HIT) workers in Texas than previously anticipated.

Here’s what Lisa had to say about the report:

It is projected that Texas will need an additional 10,000 HIT workers for the state’s $103.6 billion healthcare industry by 2013. This gap is much larger than the original estimation that Texas would require an additional 3,500 HIT workers between 2010 and 2015. The results from this survey have shown the original 3,500 figure to be grossly under-estimated.

Led by Susan H. Fenton, PhD, the survey was conducted as part of a contract with the Texas Workforce Commission, with funding for the project coming from the governor’s office through a Wagner-Peyser grant. The study data was accumulated by conducting HIT employer focus groups across the state and through a statewide HIT employer survey.

The HIT Employer Needs Assessment has demonstrated that Texas providers (clinics and hospitals) are conservatively estimated to need 9,500 HIT employees between now and 2013. Non-providers (HER vendors and consultants) reported needing an additional 500 HIT employees by 2013, so it is conservatively estimated that Texas will need an additional 10,000 HIT workers by 2013.

According to the report detailing the study, results indicate that the current Texas HIT workforce is insufficient to meet the needs. This gap will only grow and the quality of care for Texas citizens will suffer if action is not taken. Bridging this gap will require a collaborative effort between employers, educational providers, public organizations and others to develop and implement a plan of action.

To read the full text of the report, go to www.health.txstate.edu/him/TxHIT-workforce/news/contentParagraph/03/document/TexasHITEmployerNeedsAssessment_RELEASED_03302012.pdf

CDIA (formerly MTIA) Closing its Doors

Did any of our medical transcription invoice factoring blog readers see the letter that the board members of the Clinical Documentation Industry Association posted on their web site?

If not, here’s a copy of what’s on the site’s home page:

Dear CDIA Members and Supporters,

The Clinical Documentation Industry Association (CDIA) has weathered many financial challenges over the past few years from the significant contraction in the marketplace and overall unhealthy economic conditions. In response, we rebranded the association to expand our reach beyond medical transcription, editing, voice, and speech recognition to encompass every touch point in the clinical documentation continuum. Our flagship event, the CDIA Annual Conference, had broadened the educational program to bring together these complementary audiences.

Unfortunately, the external factors have become too strong for the association to overcome and this is why we are writing to you today. On behalf of the CDIA Board of Directors, we regret to inform you that the association is closing and the annual conference planned for April 2012 in Baltimore, MD has been cancelled.

This has been a very difficult decision that the Board did not take lightly. The association’s finances could no longer sustain the organization to serve the members and support the annual conference. Over the next several weeks, CDIA representatives will be winding down the association and information will be sent regarding recent payments made to the association.

Thank you for your support of CDIA and participation in the association. We encourage you to continue to promote the spirit of CDIA’s mission, values, and advocacy platform as you continue your involvement in other associations, including the Health Story Project (www.healthstory.com) and AHDI (www.ahdionline.org).

Sincerely,

The Clinical Documentation Industry Association

The medical transcription invoice funding specialists asked the president of PRN Funding, Phil Cohen, what his thoughts were on the CDIA’s closing, and this is what he had to say:

First and foremost, on a personal level, I’m saddened by the announcement. I’ve either exhibited or attended the annual CDIA show since 1992! However, I don’t believe that the association’s closing is any indication that the medical transcription (or clinical documentation industry) is hurting. Rather, it just shows how the amount of mergers and acquisitions have been affecting the industry. To date, there are fewer smaller MTSOs in the industry and there are also fewer large players in the industry. For an association to remain active, viable and financially sound, it needs more contributing members, not fewer.

QUESTION: What are your thoughts on CDIA’s closing?

Temporary Hospice Staffing Factoring Case Study

The temporary hospice staffing factoring specialists at PRN Funding recently invited one of our current hospice staffing clients to “spill the beans” in a tell-all interview about her experiences with using PRN Funding as a medical staffing factor.

Although the video and printed interview is posted on PRN Funding’s web site, we also included them on The Factoring Blog for all of our medical staffing agency owners.

Chastity Williams has a big heart, and she had a big dream. As a long term care nurse she had many encounters with hospice nursing. In 2007, there was a tremendous nursing shortage and hospice was a very misunderstood area of health care. Chastity knew she could help make a difference in people’s lives and wanted to start her own hospice temporary staffing agency – Nursing by Demand.

“Like everyone else, I had an idea and thought I’d open a business. When I started I was all heart and had big ideas for the nursing part, but I didn’t know as much about the business part.” She felt uncertainty as many entrepreneurs do, and wondered how she’d be able to raise payroll.

“Chastity had a couple clients lined up before she started, but as in many new business situations, they didn’t pay quite fast enough. So she didn’t have the cash on hand to meet payroll. That’s a lot of pressure for a new business,” says Ryan Elliott, her Account Manager at PRN.

A business loan was out of the question – Chastity was adamant that she didn’t want to start a business with debt. She did some research and came across PRN Funding’s web site as well as some others, and looked into several.

Click here to continue reading why Chastity decided to choose PRN Funding as her hospice staffing factor.

IVANS Study Shows EHR Adoption Growing

IVANS, Inc. a national health information exchange, announced in a press release earlier this week that Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) usage is up. Specifically, the study announced that 42 percent of healthcare providers surveyed currently use either EHRs or EMRs systems, however, 39 percent have no plans yet to implement stage one of meaningful use. (Meaningful Use is defined as a provider using certified EHR technology in ways that can be measured significantly, according to The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.)

The press release continued: ‘Stage one of meaningful use sets the baseline for electronic data capture and information sharing. The IVANS study demonstrates it is not enough to simply have an EHR or EMR system in place, but providers must be able to share and use the data in a meaningful manner, or they risk a possible reduction in their Medicare fees or could lose out on financial incentives.’

Additionally, attendees of HIMSS12 at the Venetian Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, NV, February 20-24, 2012, who visit IVANS Booth #7101 can request a copy of the executive summary.

Click here to read the official press release: IVANS Study Finds EHR Adoption Growing.

Older Posts
Newer Posts