2009 HIM Salary Survey Results

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:

  • 90% of respondents are full-time HIM professionals (up from 88% in 2008)
  • 64% of those who responded to the survey are employed as a HIM director, coder, MT or cancer registrar
  • Only 19% of respondents indicated that they were working more than 45 hours/week
  • 46% said their salary had NOT increased from 2008
  • 8% said their salary actually DECREASED from 2008

Ethics Manual Now Available for Healthcare Documentation Sector

Last week, AHDI and MTIA announced on AHDI’s blog that the “first set of documents for for its compliance and best practices program is available for purchase.”

The package will include:

Sample HIPAA policies and procedures in addition to a sample business associate agreement (pursuant to the Feb 2010 HIPAA regulations).
Click here for more information and pricing: Manual of Ethical Best Practices for the Healthcare Documentation Sector.

PRN Funding’s December Funding’s Bulletin

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.

Medical Transcription Competition Heats Up in 2009

As a follow up to the 2008 Medical Transcription Vendor Study,  KLAS  released a new report, “Transcription Services: Steady Demand in a Volatile Market” this month. The study’s overall findings point to a heightened level of competition among medical transcription vendors in 2009.

KLAS’ director of financial and services research and author of the new report, Graham Triggs, said: “Sixty-two percent of respondents in this study have switched MTSOs at least once – suggesting that every vendor is vulnerable if performance starts to wane.”

Transcend was ranked #1 in 2008, but the outsourced transcription vendor dropped to fifth place in 2009. Webmedx and Precyse Solutions took the top two spots, followed by Encompass and TransTech.

Factoring medical transcription invoices presents a great opportunity for MTSOs to gain a competitive edge in the MT industry because they can offer extended payment terms to their customers and still have enough cash on-hand to meet payroll.

Click here to read more on the report: KLAS-Medical transcription market is volatile.

New CEO for AHIMA

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.

MTIA Increases Membership Dues

Dedicated to funding MTSOs, PRN Funding has been a proud member of the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) for eight years. Naturally, PRN Fumding was intrigued when received a mailer from the 2009 President of MTIA, Linda Yaniszewski, informing us that the 2010 membership rates were increasing.

MTIA formally unveiled it’s Vision 20/20 Campaign at the 2009 AHIMA Conference. This week’s mailer solidified the changes in membership pricing.

There are now three membership tiers to choose from, all with a hefty price:

Gold – $10,000
Silver – $5000
Bronze – $2000

Q: What do you think about MTIA raising their member fees?

MTIA Promotes Meaningful EHRs

As members of the Medical Transcription Industry Association  (MTIA), PRN Funding recently received a mailing explaining that dictation and medical transcription is still the most preferred, effective method for documenting healthcare encounters. MTIA listed a handful of other reasons:

    1. At least 1.2 billion clinical records are produced in the United States each year.
    2. 60% of all clinical notes are documented via traditional dictation and transcription.
    3. No documentation method captures complex patient stories better than narrative dictation.
    4. Transcriptionists/editors ensure accuracy of clicnical information and support physicians in risk management.

    For a list of MTIA member companies, visit MTIA’s web site.

      Factoring Terminology

      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.

      AHDI-West Schedules Productivity Webinar

      Betsy Ertel, AHDI-F, is hosting the AHDI-West “Power of 10” Technology Webinar #2 on Thursday, October 29 1-2:30 pm PDT. The title of the web presentation is: Looking at Expansions Through Windows.

      Topics to be discussed include the following:

      1. Concept, Benefits and Value of Abbreviation Technology
      2. Working in Windows with Expander Programs
      3. Conflicts with Do’s and Don’t’s in Creations
      4. Interactive Abbreviations with Feedback vs. Long-Form Keyword Name Creations

      Registration is $10, and is open through October 27. Visit the AHDI-West web site to register for this webinar.

      All proceeds will be sent to AHDI and contributed to the Power of 10 campaign. For more information, contact Kat King, AHDI-F, at events@ahdi-west.org.

      Medical Scribes Help Form EHRs

      While the majority of other businesses started converting to electronic files years ago, hospitals are lagging behind. In fact, only 1.5% of hospitals today have a “comprehensive electronic health record, and 8% have a basic version. The main reason why hospitals have been slow to adapt the technology is the massive price tag ($20 million-$200 million).

      The University of Virginia Medical Center is taking strides to adopt EHRs. The medical center recently started employing medical scribes to help follow doctors in the ER and take down detailed notes on laptops which will form part of each patient’s electronic health record.

      Click here for the entire article: High-tech scribes help transfer medical records into electronic form.