AHDI – Power of 10 Challenge

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) recently launched a year-long campaign to raise $10 from 10,000 MTs by 2010.

The medical transcription association plans to use the money to help support it’s advocacy efforts in Washington D.C.

Per AHDI’s Web site: “Our lobbying firm, along with our government relations staff, are making sure our sector is well represented in important meetings and discussions being held by our nation’s legislators and policymakers on healthcare reform, criteria and standards for EHR systems, and workforce development in allied health.

Currently, there are two ways to contribute to the Power of 10 Campaign:
Mail – Send donations to: AHDI 4230 Kiernan Avenue, Suite 130, Modesto CA 95356
Facebook – Make a donation through the Facebook cause: Support to AHDI Power of 10 Campaign. For every 10th donation of $10, AHDI will give away a great credit-worthy product, starting with an educational CD.

Click here for more information about the Power of 10 Campaign.

Temp Nurses Needed to Administer Swine Flu Vaccine

Here’s a brand new niche that temporary nurse staffing agency owners should jump on right away…As the H1N1 vaccination becomes available, healthcare facilities across the U.S. will need additional personnel to handle the projected influx of people who want to receive the vaccine.

An article on WMTC-TV’s web site quoted Yvonne Madlock, Director of the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department: “Our goal in the next several weeks is to identify a pool of nurses that can work with us to assure we have an adequate number of vaccinators available.”

Click here to read the rest of the story: Nurses Needed to Help Deliver H1N1 Vaccine in Memphis.

Results of New Health Care Reform Poll Are In

A results of a telephone poll of 3003 U.S. adults that began on September 8 and concluded on September 17 are in, and the overall takeaway from the poll is that most Americans are willing to pay higher taxes to receive the best quality healthcare.

Conducted by Thomson Reuters, the survey also revealed the following:

    1. 35% believe that President Barack Obama’s reform agenda will lead to better health care
    2. 41% think the President’s agenda will lower costs
    3. 76% believe Americans deserve the best in health care
    4. 43% believe that they are receiving the best in health care right now
    5. 77% of those polled are currently satisfied with their doctors
    6. 68% are currently satisfied with their health insurance coverage
    7. 53% are currently satisfied with their out-of-pocket expenses

      Click here to read more of the survey’s results: Americans willing to fund health care reform-poll.

      CA Facing Allied Health Shortage

      According to a report issued by The California Wellness Foundation, by 2030, the state of California will need 988,000 allied health professionals.

      Similar to the nurse faculty shortage, the allied health workforce is experiencing problems with retaining educators because instructors get paid more money to work than to teach the profession. In addition, California’s state budget crisis is reducing the systems’ ability to offer classes due to high equipment and material costs.

      There is one positive note…About half of the allied health professional jobs that will be required in the state by 2030 are entry-level positions, meaning a high school education is all that’s needed.

      For all those allied health staffing agencies out there, it sounds as though CA is a good place to start marketing your services.

      Click here to read the entire article: Dire Shortage Seen in Allied Health Professionals.

      Pinpointing Slow Hospital Job Growth

      Is the recession responsible for the flat job growth in the hospital sector? Or, is something larger at play? Are we seeing a fundamental shift in the way healthcare is being delivered in this country? Is the idea of the single, monolithic brick-and-mortar hospital giving way to a more fluid contract where hospitals play a less-centralized role?

      Reporter, John Commins, attempted to answer these questions and more in his recent HealthLeaders Media article: What’s Behind Slow Hospital Job Growth?

      According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary August 2009 data, the overall health sector reported 27,900 payroll additions in August, while hospitals lost 700 jobs.

      One explanation for the trend is that the recessions has accelerated a long-term trend away from hospitals and toward the outpatient setting, senior healthcare analyst, David Bachman, said.

      Still, Kurt Mosley (VP of business development for Merritt Hawkins & Associates) blames hospitals’ slow job growth on the economy. However, he thinks the Obama administration and health care reform will really benefit hospitals. He said that  most of the $20 billion that will be set aside for electronic medical records will be funneled through hospitals.

      Transcend Acquires Medical Dictation Services, Inc.

      From time to time, PRN Funding’s medical transcription factoring specialists are asked the following question: What is going on in the medical transcription industry as far as mergers and acquisitions are concerned?

      That’s why we took the time to report on Transcend Services’ recent acquisition of Medical Dictation Services, Inc. (MDI).

      At the end of August, Transcend Services, the third largest provider of medical transcription services to the U.S. healthcare market, announced that it would acquire Medical Dictation Services, Inc. for $16.2 million.

      In a press release issued August 26, MDI Chief Executive Officer, Dorothy Fitzgerald, said: “I recognized that we needed a larger partner to achieve our long-term growth objectives. A critical concern for me was to find a partner that recognized MDI’s potential and was committed to providing excellent customer service.  I am convinced that Transcend is the best partner for MDI, it’s employees and customers.”

      KPMG Corporate Finance LLC and Suender M&A Advisors initiated the transaction and co-advised MDI.

      Click here to read the entire press release: Transcend Announces Acquisition of Medical Dictation Services, Inc.

      2009 National Staffing Employee Week

      The American Staffing Association (ASA) has estimated there are 2.7 million temporary and contract employees who work for staffing firms in the U.S. every day.  To honor these workers, from September 14-20, is a week devoted to them.  There will be planned luncheons, banquets, and office parties throughout the week.

      The ASA has given some tips on how to improve your event this week.

      • Place thank-you stuffers inside check envelopes
      • Give out award certificates to all of your employees
      • Send thank-you postcards to clients to thank them for their business
      • Spread the word about your event by sending a press release to your local media

      Materials for the tips listed above can be found at americanstaffing.net.

      Bipartisan Bill Nearing Completion

      Janet Adamy, Jonathan Weisman, and Greg Hitt of The Wall Street Journal gave an update Tuesday on health care reform…

      The bipartisan plan that has been in the works in the Senate Finance Committee by three Democrats and three Republicans is slowly on its way towards completion.  The plan, the latest version of which was handed out by Max Baucus (D-MT) over the weekend, does not include the controversial public option.

      In a speech given yesterday, President Obama stated that he continues to believe a public option is the best way to “…improve quality and lower costs.”

      On Wednesday, Obama will address Congress in an attempt to lay out his vision of getting the final bill up to par with his standards.  Until now, Obama has given this task to Congressional leaders and Senatorial committees that have only created more confusion.

      Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee hopes to finalize its version of the bill by the end of the week.  Thus far, their bill would cost less than $900 billion over 10 years and would give health insurance to millions of uninsured Americans.  In place of the public option is a group of new not-for-profit insurance co-ops that would compete with private insurers.

      While the plan would require most Americans to have health insurance, it would not require businesses to provide insurance to their employees-a provision that should win over Republican support.  Another aspect of the bill that Republicans will like is that it is paid for through spending cuts and revenue increases and does not increase the national deficit.  The plan would also give tax credits to the low to middle-income Americans to help them buy insurance and expand Medicaid for the nation’s poorest.

      A lot of parties are pleased with the newest bill, but insurance companies are already complaining.  The bill includes a fee placed on insurance companies that will be based on their market share.  Crafters of the bill hope this new revenue stream would ensure a deficit-neutral plan.

      Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, said, “New taxes on health-care coverage will only make coverage less affordable for families and small businesses.”  Other sources of revenue in the bill include eliminating wasted funds in Medicare, which crafters say will not lower the quality of care to seniors.

      We will keep you updated on Wednesday’s events surrounding health care reform.

      To read the entire Wall Street Journal article, click here: Key Week for Obama Starts on Feisty Note

      Summary of Health Care Reform Up Until Now

      Jonathan Weisman, Neil King, and Janet Adamy wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal today documenting the key moments in the debate over health care.  The information has been summarized below for The Factoring Blog’s readership…

      Back in 2005, a coalition of liberal health care groups, named the Herndon Alliance, asked focus groups what they thought of a potential government overhaul of the health care system.  The response was similar to what Democrats were seeing at their town hall meetings this past August: A government overhaul would raise costs and reduce care for those already insured. 

      Weisman, King, and Adamy write that insured Americans, a majority of which like their current coverage, do not believe there will be any benefit to them by changing the system. And if anything, they believe it will do them harm.  Also, Americans aren’t buying proponents’ claims that the $1 trillion plan will be deficit neutral and not increase taxes. 

      Former President, Bill Clinton, has been through this process before.  Back in 1994, his health care plan was defeated due to similar concerns.  With the deficit as high as it is and the economy as bad as it is, the current fears are heightened significantly.  The only difference between Obama and Clinton has been a strategy by Obama to line up supporters from leaders in the industry (health care insurers, pharmaceutical makers, and care providers) believing he could win over Republicans as well.  However, Weisman, King, and Adamy say this strategy proved to be a big failure as public outcry about the public plan got louder every day.

      Meanwhile, politicians in the Senate Finance Committee are no closer to getting a bipartisan bill on the table.  A start-up team of 11 Senators quickly downsized to six.  The three Republicans left on the team refuse to include the public option in any bill along with other liberal provisions, which Democrats won’t change. 

      Republicans have been calling for Obama to renounce the public option provision if serious talks about a bipartisan bill could progress.  The president has yet to do so, and there are no indications he will listen to the majority of Americans who don’t want the public option. 

      President Obama is in a difficult spot right now.  On the one side, Democrats say they won’t support a bill without the public option.  On the other, Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats will not vote for a bill that includes a public plan.  The only feasible way for Obama and the Democrats to pass their version of health care reform will be through reconciliation, which requires a simple majority to pass a bill instead of the standard 60 votes in the Senate. 

      Obama is in the process of planning yet another speech, this time to Congress, which will be broadcast live in primetime to the American people sometime next week. 

      In what seems to be his last-ditch effort to push a bill through, will he succeed? Or will he just go down in history as the second politician to fail in reforming health care?

      To read the entire article from the Wall Street Journal, click here: Wrong Turns: How Obama’s Health-Care Push Went Astray

      Health Care Debate Continues as August Recess Ends

      Jonathan Weisman and Janet Adamy provided an update to the health care debate yesterday in the Wall Street Journal…

      After a month of heated town hall meetings and nasty exchanges between the right and left, the health care debate is still going strong.  A final bill has yet to be accepted.  However, a number of things could change between now and the artificial September 15 deadline, set by President Obama, for the Senate Finance Committee to come up with a bipartisan bill.  One thing that could happen is nothing at all.

      The ‘Gang of Six’ negotiators on the Senate Finance Committee, a group of three Democrats and three Republicans, are no closer to a bipartisan bill than they were before the recess.  The Democrats are claiming the three Republicans refuse to have serious talks about reform.  This is now spurring a last-ditch effort by Democrats, in hopes of persuading the American people, that Republicans are to blame for the stalemate.  They are also hoping that Senator Edward Kennedy’s death will aide them in passing reform. 

      A bipartisan bill would be very difficult to hammer out in the next couple of weeks.  People close to the President say he is going to go in a slightly different direction when he addresses the nation sometime in these next two weeks.  Obama will try and lay out exactly what he wants in the final bill. 

      The chances of passing the final bill appear to be slim.  Democrats would need 60 votes to pass it, although they could go the nontraditional route of reconciliation and get it passed with a simple majority.  If Democrats do this, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said, “There’ll be a minor revolution in this country”. 

      What do you think Obama will do in his next address to the nation?

      To read the entire Wall Street Journal article, click here: Democrats Try Tougher Tone on Health Plan

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