Medical Account Solutions » healthcare benefits

Golfing, Networking and Support for Mitochondrial Disease

Bill Baylis — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:09:55 +0000

Zachary Foundation

Come join Michael Friedberg of HNLY, and other healthcare industry members in support of the Zachary Foundation on October 5, 2011 at the Barry L. Schiff Memorial Healthcare Classic golfing event.

The Zachary Foundation was founded by the parents and friends of Zachary Friedberg of Morganville, New Jersey who suffers from a rare form of Mitochondrial Disease.

Bring your golf game and come out.

MAS has been in many of The Zachary Foundation golf outings and they have always been a lot of fun. This year they are honoring three of the long time supporters Andrew Goold, VP of The Healthsearch Group, James Y. Lee, FACHE Executive VP and COO of Lawrence Hospital Center and Adam K. Weinstein, FACHE VP for Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Compliance New York Hospital Queens.

Michael Friedberg who has played an important role in healthcare through the years and deserves our industry’s full support, says “Throughout the years we have been privileged to have support from many people and organizations, it is the commitment of these three individuals that has been the driving force for our success. Their gift to Zachary and children like him who suffer from Mitochondrial Disease has been given not for recognition or personal gain but only due to each of their own selflessness. My family and the entire Mitochondrial Disease community are forever in their debt.”

Registration is still open! I look forward to seeing you there!

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Have You Checked In on Your SMART Goals This Summer?

Webmaster — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:00:19 +0000

One of our most popular posts of the year was our first blog Are You Setting SMART Goals for Your Medical Billing Office in 2011?. We talked about setting goals for 2011 that were SMART: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timely.

We’re more than half way through the year and for most businesses, the summer time is a slow period. Well we think it’s a good time to pull out your SMART goals and do some thinking.

This is our third blog on the subject because we believe that setting SMART Goals is key to business success. We’re not alone. Business coaching experts like entrepreneur mentor Ali Brown who teaches women around the world to grow a profitable business recently wrote a blog post about setting SMART goals

Look at the goals you set in the beginning of the year. How close have you come to hitting them? Did you lay out a clear action plan and are you working that plan?

If you’re year isn’t going the way you’d like, take a look at where you strayed from your plans. Don’t get discouraged. Regroup, and do what you can to get back on track.

If things are going according to plan, let’s look at how you want to close out the year. Read relevant articles, plan meetings for the Fall. Do what you can to end strong.

Now don’t stop there. This is also a good time to get a jump start on setting your goals for next year. What will 2012 hold for you? What are your plans when your current year SMART goals pay off?

Break through, Don’t let the lazy days of summer catch you in its haze.

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Are ACOs already in their Final chapter?

Webmaster — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:24:11 +0000

No sooner than it’s become a major buzz word in the industry, ACO has also become a hot button and trigger for a wide range of reactions.What once was touted as the salvation of the healthcare industry is already in jeopardy. (MAS discussed this in a recent blog)

It seems industry experts are also wondering the same thing. Recently, Karen M. Cheung, editor of the Fierce Healthcare wrote a blog post about “Why ACOs are still a hard sell.”

In the post, Karen shared that at the Second National Accountable Care Organization Summit held in June in Washington, D.C., “many were skeptical, unsure of how accountable care would work at their organization and community and whether the financial and time investment of participating would really produce worthwhile results.”

So MAS asks the question: Are ACOs already in their final chapter, even before they have really gotten started? If that’s the case, what does this mean for next year’e elections?

We’d love to know what you think. Please leave a comment to let us know.

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Get in on Something that’s Actually Working in Healthcare!

Webmaster — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:32:49 +0000

Every once in a while we like to blog about things that are actually working in healthcare. Today we’re spotlighting a great opportunity for those who don’t have health coverage or are in need of a more affordable option. I also love the employers can give this out as an incentive to their staff or even 1099 workers.

I’d like to introduce you to Transparent Health Network. THN provides its members contracted rates for products and services through our network of health care providers.

Right now they are offering an incentive-free membership to any one that joins in the month of June. It’s a great opportunity to take them for a test drive to see if it will work for you.

Just click on this link or the image below to learn more!

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Are You Still Working on Your SMART Goals?

Webmaster — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:25:27 +0000

When we wrote our blog Are You Setting SMART Goals for Your Medical Billing Office in 2011? we asked if you had set your goals for 2011 and gave you some guidelines for setting SMART goals that are (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timely).

We had no idea that it would be one of our most popular blogs, but we think we figured out why.

Most of us start the year off with the best of intentions. We set goals and create lists of all the things we intend to do, but somewhere along February, we fall off and forget what we planned.

So we’re checking in with you to see how you’re doing. We want to expand this beyond the medical billing profession and ask ALL of our business readers to let us know you you’re doing.

Have you taken a look at your profitability to see where your best leads and sales are coming from?
Are you doing what you can to improve the collection rates of your receivables?
Do you stay current with changes in your industry. (For us we’re learning constantly about ICD-10 and ACOs) What’s the buzz in your industry?
How are you doing at streamlining and reducing waste?
Have you given Outsourcing a thought?
What goals can you check off your list?

We’re celebrating our 25th year so we’re turning things upside down and answering these questions ourselves. How about you? Chime in and let us know how you’re doing on your SMART goals!

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Would YOU Take a Pay 4 Performance Job?

Webmaster — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:31:21 +0000

People in sales understand the concept of being paid for their performance. Most sales positions are commission or bonus based positions. The sales person gets paid when they meet preset sales goals. If a sales person doesn’t perform well they don’t get paid.

If you’ve never worked a sales position, then you pretty much got paid just for showing up to work, even if you don’t perform your best. Imagine if the amount of money you earned was directly tied into your level of performance on the job? Most people avoid sales positions because they need the guarantee of steady income and don’t want to be judged on the job.

Lately, a lot of industries are using a pay for performance strategy, including healthcare. Pay for performance can impact the state of the industry by affecting the cost and quality of healthcare. We like to see the healthcare industry is taking a page out of the business handbook.

At MAS, we love the concept and practice it with our Pay 4 Performance guarantee. Our medical billing clients don’t pay us until they get paid. We love accepting the challenge of hitting account receivables and collections goals for our clients.

We see “pay 4 performance” as an incentive produce. We know when we work hard we’ll get paid for the results. Here’s a question for you. Would you “work for performance”? Let us know what you think about the pay for performance concept.

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MAS Wonders if ACOs are Already in Jeopardy?

Webmaster — Mon, 16 May 2011 14:24:37 +0000

In the world of healthcare, ACOs or Accountable Care Organization have only recently been creating a huge buzz. Are they already in jeopardy?

ACO’s may already be at risk, due to recent budget cutting measures passed by the House of Representatives that would restructure Medicare and Medicaid. If the Ryan budget is fully passed, it will likely start the countdown to the end of Accountable Care Organizations, which were created under the Obamacare law.

Currently Medicare is a “fee for service system” where healthcare providers are paid for each service rendered. At it’s current rate of reimbursement government spending on Medicare increases 7.2 percent each year and is projected to consume every dollar produced in the United States in only a few years. To try and prevent this, the Ryan budget begins a slow transition away from the current fee for service system to a voucher program that would allow seniors to buy private insurance free of charge.

This move is expected to save billions of dollars in Medicare spending and will guarantee coverage for seniors who otherwise will find themselves exposed when the program runs out of money, while still leaving coverage for those currently on Medicare or nearing retirement unchanged.

As ACOs are currently structured, providers in ACOs receive a portion of every dollar they are able to save Medicare in the form of a bonus. Under the proposed plan however Medicare would only be buying insurance for people not paying doctors directly, removing the main draw of an ACO for doctors and hospitals ultimately rendering ACOs a thing of the past.

So are ACOs almost a thing of the past before they even become reality? Chime in and let us know what think–post a comment below or on our Facebook page.

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Don’t you agree that Pay 4 Performance Just Makes Dollars and Cents?

Webmaster — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:28:12 +0000

Can you imagine paying someone for a job not done? Unfortunately sometimes when we hire employees, consultants or service professionals we end up paying them for a job half done. We feel obligated to honor contracts even if we don’t agree with the quality of the work performed.

We know that’s a tough pill to swallow. That’s why at MAS we believe strongly that clients shouldn’t pay unless we deliver. That’s the reasoning behind our Pay 4 Performance guarantee- we don’t get paid unless our clients get paid.

If you like the sound of it, click here to learn more about our Pay 4 Performance program.

Even if you’re not one of our medical billing clients, it might give you food for thought the next time you enter into a service contract!

Don’t forget to comment on this post or on our Facebook page to let us know what you think!

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Help MAS and TSINY send a Special Olympian to Greece

Webmaster — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:11:33 +0000

Please join us for a special fundraiser six years in making. MAS is proud to support Transitional Services for New York, Inc. (TSINY) in their efforts to send “Lenny” a Special Olympic hopeful to Greece. TSINY is a not for profit multi-faceted mental health corporation that seeks to enrich the lives of the mentally ill.

Lenny Wilkens, our athlete came to TSINY unable to complete basic, daily functions. She was so wild that her own family rejected her. The TSINY staff worked persistently with Lenny at Hope House, their residence in Queens Village, and offered her the opportunity to exercise, where they noted our athlete’s propensity to excel at Power Lifting and began helping her.

Lenny began participating in the Special Olympics six years ago and has now been chosen to represent the United States in Greece. She will compete in power lifting, a strength sport that includes bench press, squat and the dead lift. Our athlete has enjoyed competing and making friends. We know her life has been enhanced by her participation.

It costs nearly $9,000 to send Lenny to Greece and she must be accompanied by a TSINY staff member. To this end, we are trying to raise $20,000 and greatly appreciate your support. Donations are also being accepted.

Come out and support our efforts to send this great athlete to the Special Olympics. Join us at the TSINY fundraiser luncheon on Thursday, May 12 at the Douglaston Club, Douglaston, NY.

Guest speakers include Dean Mercado of Online Marketing Muscle, who will be presenting a seminar on mastering social networking and Wendi Caplan-Carroll, Regional Director of Constant Contact who will be presenting on using Constant Contact to promote your business or organization.

We look forward to your support and seeing you there. Click here to register for this fundraiser event now or contact Terry LoPiano directly to purchase tickets or make a donation via phone (718) 746-6647 ext 11 or email at tlopiano@tsiny.org

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Two Sides of HealthCare Reform. Business vs Obamacare?

Bill Baylis — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:31:54 +0000

I love to see healthcare take a page from business, so the other day I was feeling pretty good after I read a post from Becker’s Hospital Review written by Rachel Fields entitled New Jersey Hospitals Advertise Wait Times to Draw Patient.

The post talks about how several New Jersey hospitals are touting low wait times in an effort to attract patients to their Emergency Departments, according to a Wall Street Journal report (how entrepreneurial !!)

It reads Bayonne (N.J.) Medical Center recently unveiled two billboards in Jersey City that advertise the hospital’s emergency room wait times. The billboards are updated with current wait times several times a day. While Christ Hospital in Jersey City plans to display its wait times on its website.

I am proud of these healthcare institutions for acting on the need in the market to better serve patients (i.e. customers) by streamlining their ED operations, then creating a product to market in an advertising campaign. I am sure a smart phone application is on the way!

Well to the contrary, I had to go and read Branwen Jeffreys’ blog in the BBC health news Kings Fund: Waiting times in England at three-year high. The King’s Fund is an English charity that seeks to understand how the health system in England can be improved. The Kings Fund statistics for February show 15% of patients waited over 18 weeks for treatment, the longest time since April 2008. It argues the shift is due to the financial pressures on the NHS.

So now, I am wondering if Obamacare could stifle the competitive spirit. And could long wait times become a trend in the U.S one day?

Kings Fund chief economist Professor John Appleby said the health service was now operating in a different climate.

“In the past the two things that kept waiting down were targets and extra money. Managers got sacked for not meeting targets. And of course in the future there won’t be the same amount of extra money.”

The official waiting figures are only part of the picture. As the BBC recently found, some parts of the NHS in England have introduced new restrictions on treatment or put routine operations on hold for several months. None of this appears in the statistics as it occurs before the clock starts.

For me this is the frustration of healthcare reform, there is still not enough firm information out there to get our arms around to understand what direction we need to focus on. What I do believe is that solid business ideals are going to make it shine!

I just hope there won’t be too many rules around it to prevent it from doing what is intended to do. Cut costs and deliver excellence in healthcare. What’s your take?

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