MedicalCodingandBilling.com Gets New Look

As an advertiser on the MedicalCodingandBilling Web site, PRN Funding is happy to announce that the site has had a recent overall, offering even more to individuals considering a career in medical coding and/or medical billing.

The MedicalCodingandBilling Blog announced: “It has a brand new “face”, i.e. new template and its layout is much easier to navigate via the navigation panel near the top.”

PRN Funding supports MedicalCodingandBilling.com because we offer both medical coding funding and medical billing factoring services.

Landing a Business Loan After Bankruptcy

Who does a business owner turn to for financing when he/she has been  turned down for business loans due to a personal bankruptcy?

Business Week columnist, Karen Klein, tackled this question earlier this month (Landing a Business Loan After Bankruptcy).  Noting that it’s hard for entrepreneurs to get startup capital in general, Klein said it’s even harder to get bank financing now because banks have tightened their lending standards.

Although Klein suggested asking friends, family and/or other strategic investors to put a monetary interest in the new business, she also recommended accounts receivable factoring.  PRN Funding couldn’t agree more with this advice!

For nine years, PRN Funding has been able to provide  healthcare staffing funding, medical transcription invoice factoring, and medical coding accounts receivable financing to numerous clients who have had less-than-perfect credit.  These healthcare vendor clients know that PRN Funding extends credit based on their customers’ ability to pay, rather than the business owner’s personal credit.

Check out some of PRN Funding’s client success stories to see just how PRN Funding’s accounts receivable factoring program was able to help.

AAPC Anounces Inaugural Interventional Radiology and Cardiovascular Credential

The American Academy of Professional Coders started offering a brand new stand-along core credential this month, the Certified Interventional Radiology Cardiovascular Coder (CIRCC).

Vice president of AAPC’s product management, Stephanie Jones was quoted in the AAPC’s news article saying, “Current trends reveal increasing numbers of procedures are being performed in interventional radiology departments, cathlabs, hospitals and clinics, which have significantly elevated demand for vetted coding expertise in the interventional radiology and cardiovascular sub specialties.  Until now, there has been no proficiency standard for this subspecialty…”

Acknowledged for ethical, accurate, experienced and professional medical coders, the AAPC’s medical coding certifications are recognized across the nation as the “gold standard.”  Individuals who possess the CIRCC credential have achieved a high level of coding education and his/her proficiency and accuracy in interventional radiology and cardiovascular coding and charging has been validated.

Click here for more information on the First-of-Its-Kind Interventional Radiology and Cardiovascular Credential.

Essential Requirements for Medical Coding Vendors

There was a great article in June’s edition of For the Record Magazine detailing how medical coding vendors and healthcare organizations can build lasting relationships.  All in all, PRN Funding feels that well-written articles like this one show how much the outsourced medical coding industry has grown, and we’re pleased to see it happening so fast.

We summarized some interesting observations from the article for our medical coding service owners and medical coding consultants below.  The article can be viewed in its entirety by clicking here: Seal the Deal.

The need for outsourced medical coding vendors arises when…

  1. There are long-term (one or more positions is open for three or more months) medical coder vacancies.
  2. There is an abnormal increase in discharged not final billed (DNFB) records.
  3. There is a need to cover regular medical coders when they are out for vacation, illness or maternity leave.
  4. There are seasonal spikes that cause more hospital visits and coding backlogs.
  5. A facility is having a hard time recruiting and retaining qualified medical coders or if there is a persistent  staff shortage.New medical coding guidelines, such as the Present on Admission’s (POA), are issued.

When selecting a medical coding vendor, healthcare institutions look for…

  1. Medical coders who are both certified, have at least two years of experience and be reliable.
  2. Medical coders who have professional liability insurance.

Some questions a healthcare facility may ask a medical coding vendor include:

  1. What are the pricing guidelines for contracted medical coding services?
  2. How does the medical coding vendor plan to perform quality checks?
  3. Who will perform the quality checks?
  4. What steps need to be taken to ensure records are coded accurately?
  5. How will the facility make sure patient records have been coded correctly using internal guidelines?


Some qualities medical coders need to make a successful transition to working for a vendor are…

  1. Be able to work independently and make independent decisions.
  2. Be flexible and able to adapt to change easily.
  3. Have a strong motivation to find work and a designated work space if working from home.
  4. Have a willingness to learn.


For medical coding vendors to stay at the top of the profession, they should…

  1. Develop and maintain a Web site.
  2. Ask facilities where you have worked to give a testimonial to include in marketing materials.
  3. Print business cards and network.
  4. Attend local, regional and state medical coding meetings, such as the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).

Thoughts on 2008 AAPC Conference

Three members of the PRN Funding team travelled to Orlando, FL for the 2008 American Academy of Professional Coders Conference (AAPC) earlier this week.  This is what they had to say about the overall feel of the 2008 AAPC Conference:

As a whole, PRN Funding generally sees weak attendee turnout at trade shows.  It was for this reason that we started pruning some of the shows where we usually exhibit.  After taking some years off, this was the first time in five years that we exhibited at the AAPC Conference, and we were extremely pleased with the show.  We enjoyed speaking with the attendees and other exhibitors, and we had a lot of fun giving away a brand new Garmin Nuvi GPS.

Having attended a multitude of trade shows over the past 20 years, we noticed quite a few things that did not fit the normal traffic flow pattern of a trade show.  Given the current economic times, we were astounded by the overwhelming number of attendees who were present for the conference.  We were also pleased with the attendees’ willingness to interact with the exhibitors.

The only gripe our team members mentioned had to do with unwanted glitches and a general dissatisfaction with the exhibit show company on duty for the AAPC show.  Other than that, our team members came back to the office with a number of to-do’s and follow-ups, and we look forward to exhibiting at the 2009 meeting in Las Vegas at the Rio Hotel.

JustCoding.com Revamps its Web Site

HCPro, Inc. distributed a press release announcing the new additions to their Web site design.  Updates that affect the medical coding industry are constantly tracked and explained to medical coders on the new Web site www.JustCoding.com. 

 

The new web design also boasts enhanced search capabilities, faster access to critical coding information, and improved graphics and navigation which translates into meaningful improvements in users’ ability to access articles and updates offered on the site. In addition, improvements to the on-site search will enable medical coders to easily locate and identify numerous items offering continuing education credits, which are critical to maintaining users’ coder certification.

 

Visit HCPo, Inc’s web site here: http://www.JustCoding.com.

 

Read the entire press release here: Redesign of Healthcare Coding Industry Website Provides Medical Coders Better Access to Key CMS Changes.

 

 

 

PRN Funding Discusses Factoring with Medical Coding Community

PRN Funding, LLC and exclusive medical coding web site, MedicalCodingAndBilling.com joined forces when the medical coding web site published the first in a three-part series of articles: How Medical Coding Services can Improve Their Cash Flow by Choosing a Factor.


The three-part series was written with the medical coding service business owner in mind–going over the key components to think about when narrowing down which accounts receivable factoring firm is the best fit for the owner’s medical coding company.


Q: When shopping accounts receivable factoring firms, what kinds of questions do you ask?

Click here to read some frequently asked questions about invoice factoring.

American Academy of Professional Coders Invites Medical Coders to Participate in Survey

After reading the headlines in this week’s BC Advantage e-Newsletter, it appears that the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) is conducting a “Work of a coder” survey. Calling on both certified and non-certified coders, the survey results will be used to examine the daily tasks and responsibilities of a coder and will provide guidance to employers on optimizing their coding staffs.

Click here to complete the Work of Coder Survey.

ADVANCE asks if CAC is a threat to MTs

In a recent post to the Advance Perspective blog, Lynn Jusinski asks discusses the impact that CAC (computer-assisted coding) has on medical coders as well as medical transcriptionists. In her post, CAC A Threat to MTs? she writes:

“CAC was feared as something that would take coders’ jobs away. Codes would be generated using technology, and coders would no longer be needed. That, of course, hasn’t really come to pass. Like MTs, some coders are making a transition, only the coders using CAC are becoming validators instead of editors.

So speech recognition will probably not be replacing MTs anytime soon, and CAC won’t be taking the place of coders in the near future either. But one thing surprised me at the AHIMA session and as I researched for this article-did MTs ever think that CAC could take their jobs?”

Lynn Jusiniski is actually in the process of writing an article about the difference between natural language processing (NLP) CAC technology and structured input (SI) technology, and she’s looking for input from medical transcriptionist. Some questions she’s asking:

If you’re an MT, have you heard of SI CAC technology, or have you heard of anyone losing transcription accounts because of this technology?

What are some of the hurdles you predict for this technology, and is this something you expected would come about?

CodeRyte, Inc. and AAPC Form Alliance

On November 14, the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) and CodeRyte, Inc. announced their agreement to offer computer-assisted coding technology for AAPC member training and education.

According to a press release issued by the AAPC, “Through this alliance, AAPC will first provide instructors with the ability to use real-world computer-assisted coding technology to teach coding principles. Later phases of the partnership will make computer-assisted coding available as a practical application for loearning both in and out of the classroom.”

This partnership sounds like an interesting one that will benefit members of the AAPC. We at PRN Funding look forward to the continued growth of the association and the additional phases of this partnership.

Older Posts
Newer Posts