MTIA: 2010 Year in Review

The Medical Transcription Industry Association recently published a 2010 Industry Review on its web site. For the benefit of our medical transcription readers, we have included MTIA’s review below:

Membership

  • Hosted successful 21st Annual Conference, appropriately themed “Change: New Bonds. New Purpose.” in Daytona Beach, with over 200 attendees and 30 exhibitors
  • Responded to membership by reducing 2011 conference pricing structure, making it more financially accessible to small and mid-sized MTSOs
  • Awarded Sten-Tel, Inc., the MTIA Industry Support Award
  • Approved name change of Clinical Documentation Industry Association (CDIA) to more accurately reflect the rapidly changing healthcare documentation landscape that is no longer limited to traditional dictation-transcription, thereby increasing the relevance of the association in the health IT sector and positioning it to attract new membership
  • Launched new electronic Health eBrief: Clinical Documentation Newswire in November, offering members greater diversity of industry sector news and efficiency of delivery

Advocacy

  • Maximized the expertise of the Dewey Square Group and MTIA resources, eliminating the guesswork of how to tackle policy issues, resulting in a high-impact coordinated effort
  • Met with the offices of 47 Republican and 46 Democratic federal legislators during the 5th Annual AHDI-MTIA Advocacy Summit in March 2010, encouraging them to support efforts to have the dictation-transcription process acknowledged in the “meaningful use” regulations
  • Gained the participation of over 600 AHDI and MTIA members who sent letters to their legislators in support of their colleagues who went to Capitol Hill
  • Submitted testimony requesting Congressional support of our key roles and challenges, which has raised awareness about industry related issues and will continue to make the case for the value of narrative and our risk management contribution as rules and regulations around certification and future iterations of meaningful use are crafted
  • Bolstered legislative relationships and better educated key congressional members on the work that the medical transcription industry does and the challenges it faces, with congressional visits hosted by members (MedQuist and Transcend Services, Inc.)

Sponsorship

  • Joined Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity in promoting the Power of 10 campaign, pledging a commitment to ongoing year-round advocacy.

Board

  • Elected 2011 Board of Directors: Robin Daigh, VP, Marketing and Business Development, MD-IT; Dale Kivi, Director of Business Development, Future Net Technologies Corp.; Lee Tkachuk, CEO, Keystrokes Transcription Services, Inc.; Nick van Terheyden, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer, Nuance; and Linda Yaniszewski, CEO & President, ExecuScribe, Inc.
  • Hosted CDIA Vision Framework Building session at Q4 meeting, focusing on reenergizing and strategizing CDIA’s vision, mission, and values to augment membership engagement and expand growth opportunities
  • Held joint meeting with AHDI and AHIMA executive board members to explore future collaborative ventures and potential for promoting mutual efforts

Brand Building

  • Moved the needle forward in growing the visibility of the industry sector among policymakers, regulators, and key healthcare associations
  • Released the Ethical Best Practices Manual for the Healthcare Documentation Sector, Speech Recognition Adoption Guide, and Healthcare Documentation Quality Assessment and Management Best Practices, in partnership with AHDI
  • Linda Yaniszewski featured in Healthcare Financial Management Association’s supplement Your Outsourcing Strategy as a result of the Chicago media tour
  • Joint CDIA and AHDI executive leadership met with U.S. Small Business Administration officials to further efforts in small business development, job training, and competitiveness of workers
  • Developed CDIA Strategic Marketing Plan for implementation in 2011

Changing EHR Market is Wreaking Havoc on Vendors’ Cash Flow

Advance Perspective’s HIM Blog recently re-posted a blog post by Don Fornes of EHR Software Advice, in which he discussed the ever-changing eletronic health record (EHR) market and how it’s impacting vendors’ cash flow. The medical transcription factoring specialists and medical billing and coding invoice funding specialists at PRN Funding took the liberty of summarizing the bulk of the post below:

In a nutshell, Fornes’ article talked about how most people would think that the Federal subsidies for EHR implementation would create a massive boom for EHR software industry, however, this concept couldn’t be further from the truth. Based on the data points that Fornes has observed over the past few months, he thinks that most EHR software vendors are actually experiencing a cash flow crunch.

According to Fornes, these EHR software vendors have been pouring cash into marketing and brand awareness initiatives to remain top-of-mind for physicians’ practices and medical facilities, however, most providers have taken a “wait-and-see” approach to EHR adoption.

Couple these two scenarios with the increasing shift for the software industry as a whole to shift to cloud computing because of low monthly pricing.

As a result of EHR vendors investing a lot of money into their business expansion, providers writing fewer checks than anticipated and the checks that are written are much smaller and more spread out, a difficult cash flow scenario has been playing out for a number of vendors. Fornes commented how he’s seen “some EHR vendors stretching their payables out 90 or even 120 days.”

Overall, it was a very informative article, however, what Fornes left out what that EHR vendors have the ability to drastically improve their cash flow by factoring their invoices. For example, an EHR vendor could sell its invoices to PRN Funding and receive cash the same day.

Click here to read Fornes’ original blog post.

AHDI Offers Monthly Webinars

Every month, the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) offers educational webinars. Two that the association is encouraging its members to attend are:

Your Association, Your Benefits: An online presentation that details AHDI member benefits and how to take advantage of them.

Steps to Credentialing: A web presentation that explains in detail how to become credentialed.

There are even more complimentary webinars to choose from on AHDI’s Online Store under “Meetings/Webinars”.

Jan 2011 – PRN Funding’s Recent Factoring Transactions

PRN Funding offers financing services to healthcare vendors. Most notable, PRN Funding offers healthcare staffing payroll funding, medical transcription invoice funding, medical coding factoring and medical billing AR funding. Most recently, PRN Funding also provides private duty home care factoring agencies.  By purchasing these companies’ accounts receivables, PRN Funding provides the cash needed for them to sustain and grow their healthcare business.  With that said, we are pleased to announce some of our most recent factoring transactions:

A Nurse Staffing Agency Finally Gets Approved for AR Financing
In an attempt to get her company started, this Illinois nurse staffing agency owner borrowed from friends and family, maxed out all of her credit cards and fell behind on her bills. Naturally, her poor personal credit was greatly hindering her ability to obtain ongoing business financing from a traditional lender.

Frustrated from being turned down, the nurse staffing agency owner started researching alternative financing options and came across PRN Funding’s nurse staffing invoice funding web site. Through her research, she learned that PRN Funding based its credit decision on her customers’ creditworthiness, rather than her own. The agency owner applied online that day and after hearing ‘no’ for so long, she was finally approved for a line of credit.

An Allied Health Staffing Agency Works with Long-Term Care Facilities
Two business partners from Louisiana knew that in order for them to start a successful medical staffing agency in a down economy, they would have to focus a specialized staffing niche. So instead of placing RNs, LPNs and CNAs, they chose to focus on providing various types of therapists to help fill gaps exclusively at long-term care facilities. Within two months of opening their doors, the savvy business partners had more shifts to fill than therapists. However, they couldn’t hire additional therapists because their cash flow was continuously held up by slow payments from the long-term care facilities.

The business partners were familiar with factoring, and they knew that most general factors wouldn’t be comfortable purchasing receivables that could consistently age out past 90 days. Luckily, a friend of one of the partners suggested they approach PRN Funding because it was a factoring firm that specialized in allied health factoring. The business partners called in on a Friday, received documents the next day, and factored their very first allied health invoice by the end of the week. Having a better cash flow allowed them to bring on three new therapists that month, and they haven’t had to turn down new business since.

Tennessee Business Owner Uses Medical Coding Invoice Factoring to Improve Cash Flow
When this entrepreneur first started her medical coding business, she coded exclusively for one physician. Over the years, the business owner’s outsourced medical coding services expanded steadily. She gradually started hiring new coders and while simultaneously adding multiple doctors to her portfolio.  Then the economy turned south, and with it, the business owner’s receivables started coming in slower.

At first, the medical coding entrepreneur tried to make up for the lack of cash flow by paying her own bills with credit cards, and paying the coders out of her own pocket. It didn’t take long before her credit cards were maxed and her savings account had dwindled. While flipping through an industry magazine, she found an ad for PRN Funding’s medical coding factoring services. According to the ad, PRN Funding’s factoring services could help her get paid quicker, so she dialed the toll-free number and was connected to a medical coding factoring specialist immediately. Two weeks later, she submitted her first medical coding invoice for factoring, and she worried less about her company’s cash flow.

Click here for more information on PRN Funding’s accounts receivable factoring services.

Nuance Releases Speech Transcription SDK for iOS and Android Apps

Per Mashable,

“Nuance, the maker of popular speech recognition apps such as Dragon Dictation, is releasing the Dragon Mobile SDK to members of the Nuance Mobile Developer Program. The SDK will enable app makers to add speech transcription capabilities to their iOS and Android applications.

The SDK is free of charge and lets developers add speech-to-text translation capabilities in eight different languages, as well as text-to-speech functionality in more than 35 languages.

Nuance’s suite of Dragon Mobile applications is widely recognized as best-in-class when it comes speech transcription, and the SDK is already being used by companies such as Ask.com. The SDK should help robust speech-enabled apps become more prevalent, and we look forward to seeing what developers can dream up.

Nuance has been working on speech-based services since the early ’90s. The veteran company has made a number of acquisitions in recent years, including startups like Jott and SpinVox.”

Top 5 Nursing Careers

Everyone knows that nurses are going to be in high demand for the foreseeable future. Driving that point home even more, Brian Summers recently blogged about the Top Five Nursing Careers in the upcoming years. For the benefit of our nurse staffing readers, the nurse staffing account receivable specialists at PRN Funding wrote a condensed version of the post below:

One: Travel Nursing Careers
Travel nurses have the ability to control their career paths while working in a variety of healthcare settings. The pay is good too, ranging from $22-$40/hour.

Two: Military Nursing Careers
Basically, military nurses choose a career in the armed forces, which opens the door to some exciting travel and education benefits while adding a lot of support to the nation.

Three: Forensic Nursing Careers
The main objective of forensic organization is to ensure that criminals are brought to book for their wrongdoings, and forensic nurses help these organizations by documenting injuries and collecting DNA evidence. In addition, forensic nursing is considered one of the top-paying nursing jobs.

Four: Legal Nurse Consulting Careers
In order to become a legal nurse consultant, you need to have specialized training above and beyond your RN license. In addition, legal nurse consultants can easily bring in $100-$150/hour for their services, which include: providing medical and legal inputs to a legal team after analyzing the medical evidence of an event and/or testifying in court as an expert witness in cases that include medical malpractice and product liability.

Five: Surgical Nurse Careers
If you recall, we blogged about how some hospitals are seeing shortages in specialized nurse positions yesterday. So it’s no surprise that surgical nurse careers are anticipated to be in high demand in the next decade. Basically, surgical nurses assist doctors in prep work for surgeries as well as carrying out post-op recovering procedures and administrative duties.

Hospitals See Specialty Nurse Shortages

It’s no secret that the United States is on the cusp of a nationwide nurse shortage as baby boomers continue to age and need more medical care. In fact, the Journal of the American Medical Association projects the RN shortage to hit 400,000 by 2020.

The nurse staffing factoring specialists at PRN Funding have blogged about how nurse staffing agency owners can and should take advantage of this shortage by filling open positions before, however, we found a recent article stating that facilities don’t just need RNs. They need specialty nurses too.

The article, Nationwide Shortage of Nurses Hits Local Hospital in Specialty Health Care Departments, talks about nurse shortages specifically in cardiology and pediatrics. Specifically, the medical facility has been trying for two years to fill the catheter lab nurse position.

For nurse staffing business owners, this would be a great opportunity to get your foot in the door at a facility.

PRN Funding helps provide reliable nurse staffing funding solutions for your agency. Learn more about our nurse staffing factoring solutions today.

Medical Transcription Outsourcing – Benefits for Physicians

MTS Transcription Services (MTS) recently issued a press release on how medical transcription outsourcing is beneficial to physicians.

The press release listed out a number of medical transcription outsourcing services features, namely:

  • Automated electronic report disctribution
  • Document flow management system
  • Electronic medical record solution
  • Web-based file transfer
  • Digital handheld recorders
  • Customizing and maintaining EMR
  • Secured FTP (File Transfer protocol) with an FTP software package
  • Retrieval of completed records using a secure VPN (Virtual Private Network)

In addition, the press release touched upon multiple benefits that medical transcription services offer physicians:

  • Reduces overhead costs
  • Quick turnaround time
  • Complete data security
  • Savings in costs – up to 40-60%
  • Assured data quality
  • High level of accuracy
  • Confidentiality of data
  • Reduce capital costs of infrastructure
  • Availability of services 24/7
  • Improve office effeciency
  • Ability to create backup copies of patient records

NOTE: If the MTSO works with a medical transcription factoring firm, the medical transcription service can offer extended payment terms to the physicians they serve.

Medical Transcription Invoice Factoring Case Study

The medical transcription factoring specialists at PRN Funding recently invited one of our current medical transcription clients to “spill the beans: in a tell-all interview about how PRN Funding helped her MT service more than double in size. Although it’s posted on PRN Funding’s web site, we also included a copy of it on The Factoring Blog for all of our MTSO readers:

Launching a New Company
In May 2009, Terri Davis started Clear Choice Transcription, a diverse transcription company specializing in the medical field. Having spent 13 and a half years in the industry, Davis knew she would need help managing cash flow to meet payroll and keep vendors happy until the client payments started coming in. She also knew standard financing was not an option. This is when she decided to look into special medical transcription factoring.

“When we launched, our largest client was giving us overflow work only, and some of the smaller clients who were paying very quickly were not enough to fund payroll for future growth. Similar to other business owners in this industry, I did not have a lot of tangible assets to offer a bank as collateral. That’s a good thing in that there’s not a lot you need to purchase, but it made it very difficult to get standard financing,” says Davis.


A Flexible Factoring Lender
Clear Choice Transcription’s flexibility in working with their customers gives them the ability to work with different size medical practices, as well as clinics and hospitals. Clear Choice offers differing pricing structures and domestic and overseas transcription options, works within varying Electronic Medical Record (EMR) programs, and with different dictation styles and templates. And so they appreciated a lender who was flexible working with them.

That flexibility, and expertise, is what sold Davis on PRN Funding, even though they considered other funding partners.

“They were very knowledgeable in the medical transcription industry, and the information I received was very impressive. From the very beginning, they worked with me whenever we needed something a little different. For instance, we had to break a large client’s invoice down into different parts due to issues with the client’s billing system. Instead of simply saying no, PRN Funding immediately presented a very easy factoring solution and it worked out very well,” she says. “And I genuinely like the people at PRN Funding. Their response time is great and they made me feel we were on the right track in partnering with them.”

PRN has an intimate knowledge of the medical transcription industry that helps them help their clients.

“We’re unique in the medical transcription factoring industry in that before I started PRN Funding I worked for the nation’s largest medical transcription company,” says founder Phil Cohen. “So I know the industry inside and out and we have a good number of clients in the space. Having worked in the industry for such a long time, my account managers and I bring a lot of expertise to the table.”

Stabilizing Cash Flow
“In this business, as I am sure with most, without cash flow you’re dead in the water. You can’t pay your people, you can’t move forward, and growth is most times impossible,” Davis says. Medical transcription financing was a great option for Clear Choice Transcription, allowing Davis to bring in the people she needed in order to take on more work while continuing to meet payroll obligations. ”

Terri’s largest client was having some issues with their accounts payable system, getting invoices processed, and there were invoices that were aging out past 60 days,” Cohen recalls. “She was stressed about the fees involved with medical transcription funding, but it was nothing compared to the stress she would have felt if she wasn’t able to make payroll.”


Quadrupling Business Growth
Medical transcription factoring with PRN Funding gave Davis the stable cash flow she needed to quadruple Clear Choice billings in just a nine-month period.

“Thanks to PRN Funding, we had the cash flow we needed to bring in enough people to convert this very large client into a full service account, instead of just the overflow work we had been receiving. That was a huge growth for us. It also helped us bring on new clients, too,” Davis explains.

In the beginning Clear Choice had 25 medical transcriptionists in the U.S. and an offshore vendor. Today, they have 110 medical transcriptionists in the U.S. and about 150 on their offshore team. In a very short time frame, Clear Choice Medical Transcription had grown dramatically.

Value-Add: Peace of Mind
To Davis, knowing she has PRN Funding behind her gives her a secret weapon in the competition for new clients.

“It’s the security of having them there. If there’s a client we’re chasing after and their terms need to be extended to 45 or 60 days, knowing in the back of my mind that I have access to the cash flow immediately after invoicing gives me a very big bargaining chip with the prospect. It’s very helpful in bidding on new clients, to know that we can accommodate their needs without over-extending ourselves.”

As an ongoing PRN Funding client, Davis is excited about the future.

“In this industry, if you don’t have a huge bankroll in the beginning it’s very difficult to get started. We were lucky to find PRN Funding in the beginning, and I’m looking forward to continued growth,” Davis says.

Medical Staffing Invoice Factoring Case Study A Factoring Case Study

The allied health staffing factoring specialists at PRN Funding recently invited one of our previous respiratory therapist staffing clients to “spill the beans” in a tell-all interview about his experiences with using PRN Funding as a medical staffing factor . Although it’s posted on PRN Funding’s web site, we also included a copy of it on The Factoring Blog for all of our medical staffing agency owners to read:

The New “Old-time” Banker: Growing in a recession
When Greg Donnelly bought a small respiratory staffing company in 2006, he immediately set to work growing the business, focusing on providing excellent care and nurturing solid client relationships. First Select Medical Staffing gained a foothold in the market and began to grow, from five therapists to 51. What Donnelly didn’t count on was the deepening recession and resulting credit crunch. His relatively new fast-growing company needed funding for payroll: his first payroll in 2006 was $700, and by April of 2008 it was $40,000 every two weeks.

“Banks weren’t lending to small businesses, especially one that was a staffing company: they didn’t have a lot of experience with companies like mine,” Donnelly recalls.

A medical staffing lender who understands He started looking into funding options and found PRN Funding, LLC, a medical staffing factor, and Phil Cohen.

“I wanted someone who would understand my business and had a track record. Right off the bat his company name told me he understood the medical field. PRN is medical shorthand for patient administered treatments, on an as-needed basis. When we first met and I showed Phil my business plan with my respiratory niche, the increasing demand due to aging population and the seasonal capabilities of respiratory therapy, he totally understood it. He’s a very knowledgeable businessman and I was very impressed. PRN Funding was very responsive from the very beginning and they stayed right with me for any questions I had. I wasn’t just an entity, they made me feel like I was important to them.”

Phil Cohen, founder and President of PRN Funding, felt that even though First Select was non-bankable, they were a fit for PRN Funding. “First Select met all of our criteria very comfortably. They were a start-up company, selling to customers with very good credit. Unfortunately accounts were taking longer to pay than expected and First Select did not have the cash flow to meet its payroll.”

First Select had contracts with more than 100 hospitals and long-term acute care facilities with customers among some of the best in the nation, such as the Cleveland Clinic. Though his clients were stable, the recession affected their cash flow like all other businesses which resulted in their stretching payables to vendors like First Select Medical Staffing.

AR Funding to survive, thrive, monetize
Factoring was a very good option for First Select, allowing Donnelly to grow the business without worrying about having the cash flow to meet payroll and tax obligations. Additionally, it allowed First Select to grow revenue and, in doing so increase the value of the company. PRN Funding gave Donnelly the flexibility to factor invoices when he wanted, without being locked into a contract.

“What was nice about it was that I’d send in my invoices and funds were always available, whether the amount I needed went up or down. I didn’t have to worry that the cash would be there to meet payroll and other obligations. I could focus on growing my company. I don’t think I would have been as successful without it. Like anything else there’s a price to it, but I found the cost very reasonable in order to have that security blanket.”

Value-add: trusted business counselor
Beyond a medical staffing payroll funding solution, Donnelly found a business advisor in Cohen with whom he could discuss business challenges both operational and financial, and rely on for impartial and educated advice.

“Phil was a great sounding board for me and that’s incredibly valuable when you’re in business for yourself. We’d meet for lunch periodically and he’d give me advice if I asked for it. He’s a very experienced businessman and he’s willing to share his knowledge. He would play devil’s advocate and that helped me make decisions. He was interested in my company’s growth, but I didn’t feel it was because he wanted me to factor more invoices. He was an advocate for my company and its growth, and helped where he could, to survive in such a harsh economic environment.”

“I felt the same comfort level with his people; he had obviously instilled a high work ethic in his employees.  My primary representative was excellent. When he was away and I worked with another representative, it seemed as if they had been handling me from day one. I really think it’s the organization Phil built around him that makes PRN Funding stand out.”

Finding a buyer: an unusual role
By 2009, First Select was more than doubling in size each year and Donnelly was working 24/7. Other interests caused him to think about selling the business and he turned to Phil for advice.

“He was very sincere about giving me information so that I would maximize my return on investment. He gave me his opinion on the value of my business, the earnings multiple that was appropriate for similarly sized companies in the medical staffing industry, and how to negotiate an earn-out provision from the sale. I found his advice very helpful in negotiations with several strategic and financial buyers. And I thought that was very impressive given that whoever bought the company might not use his services. He wasn’t worried about keeping First Select as a client, he was trying to help me with advice like he always has.”

In an unusual twist, it was Phil who found the buyer for First Select. “At PRN Funding we have a philosophy that is different than most, we don’t treat clients like we are the end game. Factoring is by definition a bridge to get from point A to point B. When a client comes to us and says I’m ready to move on, I think I can go to a bank, we’ll make the introductions and help them package their business whether for a bank, for sale, or self funding. It’s like sending your kids off to college – it’s gratifying to see them grow, but you know you’ll miss them.”

“Phil was sincere about helping me, I still feel that to this day,” Donnelly says. He has since gone on to start another business venture and has no hesitation in calling on PRN Funding again if needed.

“I still stay in touch because he just feels like a good friend. With PRN Funding, I not only gained a funder, I gained a business colleague in Phil. Whenever we met, I’d leave feeling that we’d had a good conversation and he’d offered good advice. When I was younger, you could go to your local bank and they knew you and you called your banker by their first name. If you needed a loan you’d sit down and talk about it, you had a relationship. Guess what? With PRN Funding I found someplace I can do that again.”

Check out Greg Donnelly’s YouTube interview about how allied health staffing factoring worked for his company:

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