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Amerinet Executive Briefing Offers Best Practices on Revenue Cycle Enhancement

Business Wire, July 27, 2010

ST. LOUIS — Amerinet Inc., a leading national healthcare group purchasing
organization, today released the executive briefing, Keeping the
Reimbursement Train on Track, which offers tips and best practices
aimed at ensuring hospitals and other healthcare providers are
collecting all the revenue they are due. A free
copy of the executive briefing is available on the Amerinet website.

The briefing by Kelley Blair, MA, vice president at Craneware
Professional Services, and Linda Corley, MBA, CPC, corporate compliance
officer for Revenue Cycle Solutions at Dell Services, examines how the
revenue cycle process touches all points of care from the moment the
patient walks in the door through final collection of payment and how
a breakdown at any stage can hurt profits.

The majority of hospitals are still not collecting all of the revenue
they are entitled to. Ninety-two percent of hospitals lost money on
outpatient services the fastest growing segment of hospital billable
services and medical necessity denials cost some hospitals more
dollars than they receive in collections, said Corley. This adds up to
lost revenue contributing to the negative margins experienced by nearly
one-third of hospitals.

Specifically, to start recapturing funds, healthcare executives need to:

• Determine whether the train is off the track and identify the
  problem points
• Start by cleaning up the chargemaster and implementing controls to
  ensure that it is well maintained and properly used
• Assess key stops in patient access, medical management and receivables
  management to identify and prioritize issues
• Involve all relevant teams, not just the chargemaster team or the
  billing office, to improve processes

In a market where available capital is shrinking, healthcare
organizations must look internally to increase cash flow. Like the
supply chain, the revenue cycle holds huge opportunities to generate
cash, said Blair.

Amerinet, Craneware and Dell Services, along with Unibased Systems
Architecture, have formed the Amerinet Alliance for Financial
Efficiency, which offers the most effective approach to end-to-end
revenue cycle management and financial performance improvement solutions.

From scheduling to remittance processing, from charge capture to
collections, from preregistration to AR management, the Amerinet
Alliance for Financial Efficiency offers healthcare organizations the
aligned solutions they need to reduce costs, generate revenue and
achieve the financial health needed to best serve their communities. To
learn more, click
here.

About AmerinetAs a leading national healthcare group
purchasing organization, Amerinet strategically partners with acute and
alternate care providers to reduce costs and improve quality through its
performance solutions
healthcare training

this group nose better

0 Comments | The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA, Jul 27, 2010 | by AMY SHIPLEY

By Amy Shipley

The Washington Post

ASHBURN

A short list of the greatest nose tackles in NFL history is sure to include four men who have several things in common with disgruntled Washington Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth:

Not one came out of college as a nose tackle.

All heard horror stories about the position.

None wanted the job.

Curley Culp, Fred Smerlas, Bob Baumhower and Ted Washington, who played in a combined 19 Pro Bowls as nose tackles over four decades, were shifted, moved or plugged into the position early in their careers against their will, better judgment and even sense of justice.

But unlike Haynesworth, who skipped mini-camp in defiance after he learned of his pending switch from defensive tackle to nose tackle, they didn’t believe they had any say in the matter.

“I was stuck over the nose, and that was it,” said Culp, who made four Pro Bowls after shifting to the position in his seventh season in 1974. “It was a struggle.”

Their advice to Haynesworth? First, stop whining.

“Should I get a napkin to wipe his fat tears?” Smerlas said. “The public does not sympathize with someone making $100 million.”

Second and most important, give the position a chance.

All agreed that, despite its high pain quotient and low glamour potential, the nose tackle spot became increasingly enjoyable as they learned its nuances and realized its critical importance to the defensive scheme.

Washington, who retired in 2007 after making four Pro Bowl squads during his 16 years, offered to tutor Haynesworth if Redskins owner Daniel Snyder were to summon him. Baumhower, a five-time Pro Bowler during his career with the Miami Dolphins from 1977-86, said he’d come out of retirement – or, at least he’d like to (he is 54) – if Haynesworth wouldn’t line up where he was told.

“There are several things you have to realize,” Washington said. “No. 1, you’re not going to be getting all the glory. No. 2, you’re going to be double- and triple-teamed at least 85 percent of the time.

“But it’s fun. When you get good at it, you can make it fun.”

In the beginning, the foursome agreed, it seemed like a cross between drudgery and torture. Lining up eyeball to eyeball with the opposing team’s center appeared to represent an end to the good times they’d had in college or early in their careers.

The transition to playing nose guard in a 3-4 defense meant they could no longer expect to blast unblocked into the backfield. No longer could they plan to swing around the outside or slip past a slow-footed guard to threaten the quarterback. It would be a struggle to make headlines and highlights.

Instead, they would face frequent double teams, brutal beatings, possibly meager statistics and obscurity, as the linebackers behind them made most of the tackles and reaped the glory.

“I’ve always been told being double-teamed was the highest form of flattery,” said Rubin Carter, a star nose tackle with the University of Miami and Denver Broncos (1975-86) who is also the father of Redskins defensive lineman Andre Carter. “I was probably brain-washed.”

The highest ranked NFL nose guard last year, based on tackles, was Baltimore’s Kelly Gregg, who placed 141st. No other nose tackle made the top 275.

Smerlas, who made five Pro Bowls with Buffalo from 1979-92, said he would “come out of a game and have no tackles and no assists and I’d be the Player of the Game. The press doesn’t understand that concept.

“If (Haynesworth) is used to being the hero and they’re going to put him at nose tackle, it’s going to be difficult for him.”

Smerlas admitted he didn’t understand the nose when Bills coach Chuck Knox forced him to play there after selecting him in the second round of the 1979 draft.

A few games into the season, Smerlas recalled, Knox called him out in the locker room in front of the entire team. Knox yelled that he had “wasted a draft pick!” and called him “a big, big, strong … piece of garbage.”

The tirade had a huge impact on Smerlas, who began spending hours in the film room , determined to master his job.

As time went on, Smerlas’ goal became to absorb as much punishment from as many linemen as he could to free up his linebackers . Current Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett was among them.

Smerlas still has plenty of mementos from his playing days; most are in the form of physical ailments. He’s had 18 surgeries
face lift reno

Loan firm is real enough but you owe it nothing

0 Comments | Mail on Sunday (London, England), The, June 20, 2010

Byline: Tony Hetherington

Mrs M. T. writes: I am sending you a copy of correspondence between myself and MEM Consumer Finance Limited about an overdue loan repayment of [pounds sterling]625.

The loan has nothing to do with me. I have not been in paid employment for over 50 years and my only income is the State pension, so it is unlikely I could even obtain a loan.

MEM Consumer Finance is a payday loan company, offering mainly short-term lending to tide people over until their next salary cheque arrives.

I know though, that you felt uneasy because you had never even heard of the company.

I can tell you that MEM is genuine and fully licensed by the Office of Fair Trading