Symbio Solutions Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

According to a post that appeared on Staffing Industry Analysts North American Daily News, “Symbio Solutions, which operates a healthcare vendor management system, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week.”

Proceeds from the sale will go to 100-plus creditors, however, creditors that are entitled to receive funds may not get 100% of what is owed.

Plans call for an auction of the company later this month, and for the sale to close in February, Shifflette said.

Interesting enough, the post reported that Symbio first  ran into payment difficulties last summer after an issue rose with its former factoring company, Sun Capital.

Click here to read the entire post: VMS files bankruptcy, plans sale.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Increases Given Bad Economy

According to data taken from the National Bankruptcy Research Center and printed in the Wall Street Journal, personal bankruptcy filings hit 1.41 million in 2009, which was a 32% increase since 2008.

Analysts blame  job losses and the crumbling housing market. In the past, people who earned $40,000-$80,000 were the ones filing for bankruptcy, but the poor economy has pushed people earning as much as $300,000 annually to file.

The article even highlighted an entrepreneur, who had to file bankruptcy when his contracting business started going down hill. Unfortunately, for business owners whose personal credit is less-than-perfect, securing a credit line via a bank has become extremely difficult in these times.

However, factoring firms are still able to look past a personal bankruptcy  because a factor is mainly concerned with the creditworthiness of a business owner’s customers. It’s important for business owners to keep invoice factoring in mind if and when their traditional lenders cut back.

Click here to read the entire WSJ article: Personal Bankruptcy Filing Rise Fast.

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

Start-Ups Will Keep Struggling in 2010

According to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, entrepreneurs looking to start a new business in 2010 will continue to struggle to find a traditional lending source.

It seems as though the economy has affected every lending option out there…Business owners have seen their personal savings dry up, at the same time that contributions from friends and family seem to be significantly lower. Meanwhile, banks are still incredibly stringent with their lending criteria, angel investors are investing less and SBA-backed loans are shrinking.

The good news is that SBA loans are projected to increase as the government “provides more incentives for financial institutions…to provide financing to small businesses.” However, industry experts predict that it will be incredibly difficult for start-ups to tap into bank financing.

The article failed to draw attention an alternative funding option for start-ups–Accounts receivable factoring. Contrary to their traditional lending partners, invoice funding firms don’t have nearly as many requirements for business owners to qualify for funding. In fact, many factoring firms can work with start-up companies. For example, PRN Funding is comfortable purchasing a healthcare vendor’s very first invoice provided that the debtor is creditworthy.

Click here to learn more about PRN Funding’s factoring services.

Click here to read the entire article: Start-Ups will Keep Struggling in 2010.

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.

First Comprehensive Treastise on Factoring Law Now Available

Last week, BNA Books announced a new publication: American Factoring Law, the first comprehensive treatise on factoring law in America. According to the BNA Books’ press release,  the new book offers a practical analysis and extensive annotations of the legal and business issues faced by factors, their clients, account debtors, guarantors, third-party lenders, and taxation authorities.

American Factoring Law is authored by David B. Tatge (shareholder of Epstein, Becker and Green, P.C.), David Flaxman (General Counsel of Rosenthal & Rosenthal, Inc.) and Jeremy B. Tatge (Customer Service Representative for Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.).

American Factoring Law is available on bnabooks.com for a 10% discount.

Click here to read the entire PRNewswire press release: BNA Books’ Announces “American Factoring Law”.

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.

Flu Season Presents Opportunities for Medical Temp Agencies

It’s normal this time of year for flu-related absences to pop up in the workplace. Add in the recent H1N1 outbreak , and employers across the nation are sure to suffer even more employee absences. Add in the rush of the holiday season, and the stage is set. Medical facilities especially will need to find ways to fill the staffing gaps.

Supplying allied health professionals and/or temporary nurses to hospitals, nursing homes and medical clinics now is a great way for small medical staffing agencies to get their foot in the door. Savvy business owners will take advantage of this opportunity.

What’s more…Agency owners who utilize nurse staffing factoring can rest easy if their clients take longer to pay during the fourth quarter. Factoring medical staffing invoices gives agency owners cash upfront so they have enough liquid capital to meet payroll and pay taxes.

Click here to learn more about medical staffing invoice factoring.

Recap of Decision Health’s Private Duty Conference

Only a week has gone by since PRN Funding’s home care factoring experts exhibited at the 12th Annual Private Duty Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we already miss it!

As a whole, the two-day national private duty conference was a good one. We saw a lot of traffic at our booth, so we had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with many home care agency business owners. The high-caliber attendees were eager to engage with our home care funding specialists, asking a multitude of questions about PRN Funding’s private duty factoring services.

In addition, there were over 100 private duty business owners who entered PRN Funding’s drawing for a free Apple iTouch. Congrats to our lucky winner, Richard Daum of Caring Senior Service.

Ohio Among Top Three States in Need of Nurses

Ohio’s nursing shortage is projected to reach 23,000 by 2020, which is 29 percent of the projected national nurse shortage of 300,000.

Currently, Ohio reports only a 5 percent vacancy rate for RNs, which is below the national averages. This most likely due to the fact that Ohio nursing schools have been focusing on increasing their nurse graduates at the same time that older nurses are putting off retirement, but these trends won’t last long.

According to a report released this month by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, nurses and nurse educators said longer hours, increasing case loads and greater physical demands are all straining the current nurse supply. Not to mention, more than 600 beds are slated to be added to central Ohio’s area hospitals in the coming years, which will increase nurses’ workloads in the area.

Nurse educators are needed as well. Ohio’s nurse faculty shortage is expected to hit 3,600 over the next 10 years. In 2009, The Ohio State University’s nursing school turned away three and a half qualified applicants for every one admitted, and three instructors left for higher paying jobs at the OSU Medical Center.

Looks like the state of Ohio is a good place to be if you’re a nurse staffing agency owner looking for new business!

Click here to read the entire article: Nursing stocked, but not for long.