Thursday, July 23, 2009

Chiropractic Billing Software - How it Improve Collections and Patient Retention

If you purchase and implement the right chiropractic billing and practice management software, the software can dramatically improve your collections, billing, and patient retention. That's because the software methodically tracks and reports on all collections activities from a summary to the lowest transaction level and also because they software keeps complete and accurate records of patient visitors and related activities.
One key to success in any practice is for the doctor to be freed up from routine activities such as record keeping so that he can focus on caring for patients and generating profits for the practice. Bottom line, collections and patient retention will dramatically improve with the right system.
Following is a list of key features a chiropractic billing system should have to improve collections and patient retention:
For collections, features you should look for include:
· Automatic flagging of money owed by the patient upon check in for a new office visit so that this can be discussed at the front desk
· Aged report of amounts due for collection
· Ability to sort outstanding amounts by patients and to mail those patients overdue collections notice on a triggered automatic basis
· Extensive reporting of unpaid claims by insurance companies so that outstanding amounts in collections can be efficiently followed up on.
For patient retention, features you should look for include:
· List of patients who missed visits
· Automatic scheduling of phone calls to patients who missed visits. In fact, some systems provide for automatic dialing of reminder calls to patients who have missed visits
· Generation of postcards for mailing to remind patients of upcoming visits
· Generation of a list of patients with scheduled appointments for reminder phone calls. In fact, some systems make the calls automatically and provide a recorded message reminding the patient of the call
· List of patients who are out of compliance with their care plan.
· Coding of reasons for missed patient appointments
A chiropractic billing and practice management system can quickly pay for itself strictly from a collections and patient retention perspective if a good system is corrected and implemented correctly.
Just consider the example of patient retention. Patient retention is about patients not missing appointments and continuing to rely on you (as opposed to another medical practitioner) for their health and the treatments you provide.
For patient retention, if the average treatment plan for a patient was twenty visits, if you handle two thousand patients a year, and if your patients missed ten percent of their appointments, the lost revenue would be substantial since in total your practice would have lost revenue from four thousand missed visits. If you valued the income from one visit at thirty dollars, your practice would have lost $120,000 in potential revenue. Not only that- since some of these patients were probably not complying with their treatment plan because of missed appointments, their health would be less than optimal and they might not recommend others in need of services to you.
Billing Precision, LLC, is a leading-edge chiropractic office profitability management solution. Its all-in-one Internet-based system includes accountable and transparent billing service, state-of-art touch-screen SOAP notes, advanced patient scheduling, and real-time monitoring for compliance and audit exposure. Billing Precision's unique value stems from its ability to level the playing field with payers and get chiropractors paid in full and on time by capitalizing on modern Internet technology and billing network effect

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Real Estate - Make the Most of a Down Economy

Most people get scared when the market goes down. They stop buying things and save up, fearing that things may even get worse. But, those with a little more optimism will base their financial decisions more on the idea that things would eventually get better. For these people, a down market can be a great time to seal an amazing real estate deal on a vacation or retiree home.
Make The Most Of The Opportunities
If you are one such optimist, and you have relatively good credit and some cash saved up for a down payment, you can make the most of a down economy by going for a smart purchase. While some people may see this as profiting from others' hard times, it is simply being fiscally prudent.
Prices are lowest in down markets and home sellers are at their most lenient when it comes to negotiation. Smart investors will take advantage of these times to build up their real estate portfolios or buy their dream retirement homes.
Choose A Desirable Location
When you start looking for good bargains be sure that you limit your search to areas where you would actually want to vacation or live during your later years. You may be able to score a rock-bottom deal on a house in rural South Dakota. But, if that is not your ideal place to spend some significant time, the purchase will be of no use.
Choose an area that has all the activities and events that you enjoy, whether that be going to the beach, hiking in the mountains, or enjoying a robust nightlife. A down market can still provide you with great real estate deals in even desirable locations.
Shop Around For Funding
Once you have located the area where you would like to buy some real estate, the next step is to secure some funding. The best method is to start with a broad search of lenders and their offered interest rates.
If you have good credit you will have plenty of room to make your deal a smart one. Even if your credit is not stellar, you should shop around to find the very best mortgage loan available to you.
Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate
Since you are buying a second house, you are not in a frantic search to find a piece of property immediately. This, along with the fact that most sellers are desperate in a down market, gives you extreme bargaining power.
There will be plenty of sellers hoping to catch your bid, so you will be able to ask more of each seller in terms of upgradation of the home and discounts on the price or other fees. Do not be afraid to buy real estate in a down market. This might be the very best time possible to get the second home you have been wanting!

Privity of Contract Insurance

If you are the landlord or tenant of a commercial let property, you may well be familiar with the law of Privity.
The law basically says that a third party cannot be held responsible under the terms of a contract drawn up between two other parties. The reality of this can be best described in the following example:
A landlord agrees a 25 lease with a new tenant for a high street shop.
The shop owner tenant trades successfully for a number of years before he decides to retire and sell the shop.
A purchaser is found and the new owners take over the existing lease and start paying the rent for the balance of the 25 years.
A year or so later, the new shop owner starts to struggle with the business, default on their rent payments and ultimately go bust.
The commercial landlord approaches his original tenant and holds him to the terms of the original lease. The first tenant, now retired, suddenly has to find rental payments for the rest of the 25 years, unless of course, he can find someone else to take on the lease.
This is not a pleasant outcome for the first tenant, but what the landlord may be unaware, is that the same law can also come back to bite him in reverse:
A landlord agrees a 25 lease with a new tenant for a high street shop.
The shop owner tenant starts trading successfully
After a few years, the landlord spots another property that gives a higher yield and decides to sell this building to release the capital.
The new landlord takes over the balance of the 25 year lease. Unfortunately he neglects to insure the building, which is later destroyed in a fire. His lenders foreclose and he is made bankrupt.
The shop tenant was making a good income from this location and demands his original landlord to make good on the lease and reinstate the building. The first landlord has of course already cancelled his old policy and suddenly has to re-build a property that he sold some time before.
Whilst this second situation is very rare, it has happened and even some large professional property investment firms have been caught out. If you buy and sell on a portfolio of properties, speak to your insurance advisor today. Assuming you are paying already paying a large premium, many insurers will throw this cover in for a token charge, or sometimes even for free.

Residential Landlords Insurance

Once upon a time, arranging insurance for a rented property used to be extremely time consuming. Only a few years ago, if you rang your home insurer for a quote for your new investment, they would usually react as if you had just asked them a question in Esperanto and then be heard in a muffled whisper saying to a colleague, “ Oi., Cheryl! Got some sort nutter here who wants a business quote or something – what do I say to them?” After a few minutes of enduring Greensleeves, they eventually suggest you go to a specialist, “I er, think Lloyds do them....?”
Fortunately the massive boom in the buy-to-let market over the past decade made underwriters think about their stance and it’s now readily available from pretty much any insurer you have ever heard of. While most major underwriters’ home insurance policies are quite comprehensive as standard, unfortunately there can be huge differences between them when choosing a buy-to-let policy.
These differences are of course often reflected in the price, and even the big names can let themselves down.
The good things to check are:
Perils: Is the policy ‘standard’ or ‘all risks’? All risks extends the cover to include accidental damage, usually for about 10% extra on the price
Property owner’s liability. This should be a standard inclusion for even the most basic property policy, to protect you against the ‘blame and claim’ brigade. Surprisingly one or two of the big names decide to only include it as an option.
Loss of rent. This covers you for lost rental income should the property be unusable following a claim. (Rent guarantee cover is different and will cover your income if the tenant fails to pay for other reasons. This is usually only arranged separately and with a specialist underwriter.)
Policy excess. Generally expect a £100 excess, although many are now £250, increasing to £1,000 for subsidence claims.
Damage by tenants. This is a problem to some underwriters and claims for tenant damage can be difficult to assess and expensive to repair. Insurers now often exclude damage by ‘persons legally on the premises’ altogether, whilst some will have a large excess or small limit. There are a few quality underwriters out there that don’t have any restriction for this and if you find one, they are definitely worth paying a little extra for.
As a guide price, most buy to let premiums come in at around £200 for £100,000 of buildings cover. Some insurer’s premiums can be as low as half this, but invariably the cover is ‘no frills’ at best, so be careful when accepting a quote that is suspiciously cheap.

Take Corrective Action Immediately If You Meet With an Accident!


Accidents at workplace are not an uncommon thing. There may be various reasons for this. Unsafe working environment and improper training can put the life of an employee at risk. It can indeed affect the life of a worker. In an office premise, it is the duty of an employer to provide adequate safety measures. They must ensure all the employees are given appropriate training to handle equipments and machinery.
Employer must never put the life of employees at risk. They must ensure they take adequate precaution and provide a safe working environment. To ensure productivity, employers must exercise utmost precaution.
If you or anyone known to you has been injured at the workplace, you can make a claim. This will help get compensation quickly. Taking timely action is extremely important. The situation must not be ignored. You must report the occurrence of the incident immediately without wasting much of the time. It must be done to avoid complications at a later stage. Any delay in reporting the incident can affect your case adversely. It can stand against you. It is advisable you seek help from accident claims specialists who can guide you get compensation quickly. You are eligible for any kind of injuries that result in loss of earnings, medical treatment and recovery time.
You can make an accident at work claim and get compensation in a short period of time. It can also provide compensation for any long-term suffering you may be experiencing. It can affect you adversely. It is the duty of the employees to provide best working environment that is free from all kinds of hassles. Every employee deserves the right to work in a safe and free environment. If you can prove while making a claim that an employer has acted negligently when you suffered an injury, you can make a claim. You need not suffer due to lack of attention and care.
Only a specialist can help you analyze the situation. They can help you get compensation in a short period of time. If there are any bodily injuries that you may have suffered, you can get compensation for the same. You need not compromise with your safety. It is best to seek help from a physician rather than suffer for the fault of someone.

Unoccupied Buildings Insurance

Insurance for empty buildings is a specialised area of the building insurance market, most standard home insurance underwriters are not prepared to accept the risks involved. Unoccupied buildings are often unattractive to insurers in view of the increased chances of theft and malicious damage and without adequate heating in place the threat of burst pipes increases as well.

Empty properties fall in to several classes, some are domestic dwelling houses, on the market awaiting sale, often unoccupied property insurance is only required for a short period of time, short term insurance is not particularly attractive to insurers because of the relatively small premiums involved in return for the cover offered. Mostly though, properties are unoccupied whilst undergoing repair or renovation and cover is available with the perils offered, ranging from insurer to insurer.

Many But to Let buildings are unoccupied when first acquired. Often letting agents will not place properties on their books until such time as they are ready for habitation. Many need cosmetic works, such as new bathrooms and kitchens ect.

When selecting an insurer for unoccupied building insurance is important to disclose all material facts, always tell them exactly why the property is unoccupied and provide them with an exact schedule of any works you intend to carry out at the property.

With unoccupied property insurance, it is absolutely essential that you study the "key facts" document and policy wording. This type of cover will almost certainly come with a range of restrictions and conditions. Typical restriction on an unoccupied building include the following;
-Insect the property on a regular basis - usually every 14 days
-You will have to keep the property tidy and prevent any build up of post or paper - some insurance companies will require you to seal up the letter box.
-You will have to keep the building free from wastes materials
-Drain down all the water systems and turn off your stop cock
-Switch off all electrics

Holiday Home Owners May Be Taking Unnecessary Risks!

Letting a holiday home commercially has many benefits; however, there are also risks – such as not having the right insurance cover to protect your valuable investment. Independent Insurance Intermediary, Boshers Ltd, gives its top tips on ensuring the correct insurance is in place to prevent that cottage in Cornwall from becoming a calamity or the rustic farmhouse in Filey a financial farce, if the unexpected occurs.

Mark Lavington, Director of Boshers, says: “Many holiday home owners may unwittingly be relying on normal home insurance or worse have no cover at all. If you let your holiday home you should make sure your insurer is aware, and that all the necessary covers are agreed.”

He advises: “Your policy must cover property owners liability of at least £2million for injury to individuals – such as your tenants, visitors and guests and £10million for injury to employees. In this litigious society, anyone who owns a business can easily find themselves on the wrong side of a compensation claim that can seriously damage their wealth. Whether you let the property yourself or let through an agent, it is equally important that you have liability cover. However Insurance is no substitute for good quality risk management. It is therefore vital that you carry out a full risk assessment of your holiday home and it’s garden and meet relevant legislation.”
Read Boshers free Guide To Holiday Home Insurance entitled – Owners May Be Taking Unnecessary Risks!
Holiday Home Winter Maintenance Checklist. Boshers advises UK holiday home owners to use quieter periods, such as the Winter months to carry out essential maintenance checks so their properties are protected from inclement weather and in tip top order for the following letting season.
Mark Lavington, says: “Many weather related claims could be avoided if holiday home owners were to give their holiday letting properties a winter health check before the worst of the weather hits”. Furthermore there’s a `duty of care’ for owners to ensure that their guests’ safety has been considered