Technology

New Data Shows Small and Mid-sized Businesses are Turning to Alternative Business Financing for Growth Capital

2009-07-15T07:01:55-07:00

NEW ORLEANS -- As the nation’s small and mid-sized businesses continue to bear the brunt of the credit squeeze, many are turning to alternative sources of business financing. New data shows that quarter-over-quarter, more businesses across more industries are selling receivables to fund their growth of their business in these challenging economic times. Companies ranging from technology to manufacturing and media to construction are embracing receivables financing as a means of improving their cash flow. The Receivables Exchange’s new online marketplace has seen greater than 300% quarter-over-quarter growth as companies large and small turn to the Exchange to increase their liquidity.

The May 2009 study by the Credit Research Foundation (CRF) found that a growing number of companies have been forced to shift their focus from driving revenue and gaining market share to cash flow and profitability. More than 61% of businesses surveyed said their top priority is to expedite accounts receivable turnover to accelerate cash flow. As banks and other financial institutions continue to reduce Lines of Credit (LOC), shorten maturities and raise rates regardless of where companies fall in the credit spectrum, cash flow has become the leading concern for funding operations through 2009. As a result, more companies are relying on receivables financing which is becoming a mainstream funding source to improve liquidity, as evidenced by recent data from the Liquidity Desk of The Receivables Exchange.

The Receivables Exchange, the world's first online auction marketplace for real-time trading of accounts receivable, has seen an exponential increase in quarter-over-quarter trading volume as more businesses adopt receivables financing as a new standard in working capital management.

The Receivables Exchange Q2 Cash Flow Index

Quarter-Over-Quarter Growth in Receivables Sold        300%
Average Auction Size                                                   $65K
Average Length of Auction                                           1 day
Shortest Auction                                     Less than 1 minute
% Selling at Buyout Price*                                            85%
% Repeat Customers                                                    86%
Average Revenue of Sellers                                           $30M
A/R Inventory for Sale                                                  $9BN
A/R Buying Power                                                      $20BN
Industries Represented                                                  37

"Sellers have the option to specify a “Buyout Price,” which if bid by a single Buyer, will result in the instantaneous awarding of the auction, thereby closing all further bidding.

“Small and mid-sized businesses are the engine that drive this economy,” said Justin Brownhill, co-founder and chief executive officer of The Receivables Exchange. “Unfortunately, now more than ever they have fewer places to turn to fund their day-to-day operations. With nearly 60% of their working capital tied up in outstanding invoices, most companies can benefit from releasing the “cash” power of their receivables.”

A May 2009 study of U.S. businesses by the Credit Research Foundation reveals the struggle businesses continue to face as a result of tightening credit.

88% report that the economy has had a direct negative effect on their business, up from 77% in November 2008
70% report that they are experiencing a slow down in customer payments, up from 67% in November 2008
45% say the financial crisis is straining their availability of working capital, up from 33% in November 2008
82% say their customers are experiencing tightening of bank financing, up from 68% in November 2008
66% report that they have tightened collections of accounts receivable, down slightly from 68% in November 2008

Benefits of accounts receivables financing through The Receivables Exchange:

Increased Liquidity - Access to cash in as little as 24 hours rather than the current 50+ day payables process to fund operations
Complete Financing Control - Sellers set all auction parameters. If a bid does not meet the Seller’s parameters, the Seller is not required to sell
Lower Cost of Capital - Competitive real-time bidding by multiple Buyers drives down the cost of capital
Less Restrictive – No personal guarantee; traditional lending institutions have restrictive covenants and liens on collateral, which can limit a business’s spend flexibility
Key Financial Benefits – Decrease Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), increase liquidity ratios, enhance ROE

Every day more businesses are turning to The Receivables Exchange to increase liquidity. The Exchange provides a flexible and efficient capital marketplace for small and mid-sized businesses to finance growth and optimize their working capital management. Learn more about how to improve cash flow and finance accounts receivables.

About The Receivables Exchange
The Receivables Exchange (www.receivablesXchange.com) is the world’s first online marketplace for real-time trading of accounts receivable. Changing the landscape of small business financing, The Receivables Exchange provides a new dimension in working capital management. The Exchange connects a global network of accredited institutional investors (Buyers) to the nation’s millions of small and mid-sized businesses (Sellers) in search of capital to grow. Buyers get direct access to an $18 trillion new investable asset; Sellers gain access to a new competitive working capital management solution by having their receivables bid on in real-time by multiple Buyers.

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Joint ZirMed®/MedInformatix Revenue Solution Diagnoses Payment Bottlenecks For Large Colorado Imaging Practice

2009-07-14T07:08:36-07:00

LOUISVILLE, KY and LOS ANGELES, CA – July 14, 2009 – Advanced Medical Imaging (AMI) is a major part of the medical community in the metro Denver area, performing over 5,000 imaging exams each month. With such a high volume of patients, operational efficiency is critical—which is why the four-office practice uses the comprehensive MedInformatix Radiology Information System (RIS) software package to oversee its many functions.

“We began using the MedInformatix RIS software in 2003,” said Jyl Nieto, Advanced Medical Imaging’s Billing Manager. “MedInformatix handles virtually every aspect of our practice, from scheduling to billing and collections.”

The paperless, hands-free MedInformatix RIS (Radiology Information System) is one of healthcare’s leading EPM products. The Los Angeles company’s platform, built on a Microsoft SQL database, spans all major business and clinical workflows and departmental functions; as a standards-based package, it can also be integrated with third-party systems as needed.

While the use of the RIS has improved efficiency and productivity in many areas of AMI’s operations, particular benefits have come to the area of revenue management. Using the RIS billing and collections module, for example, Nieto and her staff of five can quickly run claim status reports and check on individual claims with the click of the mouse. Electronic rem ittances are also posted automatically, eliminating tedious and routine manual effort.

Things got even better in 2007, when AMI replaced the local claims clearinghouse it had been using with revenue cycle management company ZirMed. “ZirMed’s service was recommended to us as one that is tightly integrated with the MedInformatix RIS, and therefore could extend our hands-free environment,” Nieto recalled.

ZirMed, a Healthcare Informatics Top 100 company, is a leader in reducing cost and improving performance throughout the payment process. The company’s Internet-based services cover the spectrum from eligibility to online bill payment, check processing and even payment plans, saving staff time and

Joint ZirMed®/MedInformatix Revenue Solution Diagnoses Payment Bottlenecks For Large Colorado Imaging Practice—Page 2
money. The company’s services have also been shown to shorten accounts receivable days, speed payments, and significantly reduce the amount of time lost to insurance claim errors.

“As soon as we began with ZirMed, we discovered instances where our claims processing had been lacking,” Nieto stated. “A number of rejected claims suddenly became visible. The prior clearinghouse had no error correction capability or acknowledgments, so we didn’t know the claims weren’t going through. In the past we had to call the insurance company if we thought a claim was late.”

In addition to instant claim scrubbing and up-to-date status reports on submitted claims, ZirMed’s link to the MedInformatix RIS billing module gives Nieto’s staff the ability to receive instant explanation of benefits for individual claims. “We can highlight a line item in our status reports, click on the “EOB from ZirMed” button, and we’re taken to the relevant screen. It certainly helps us in analyzing and resolving problems,” she commented.

Since signing on with ZirMed, AMI has added the company’s Z-Pay service to manage all of AMI’s front desk and auto-payment functions. With Z-Pay, Nieto’s department can receive daily reports from all locations on cash and check payments.

“We have the Auto Clearing House that allows the front desk person to scan and receive payments for personal checks. That, plus credit and debit cards and the direct payment option, gives our patients a number of ways to pay for services,” she noted.

As a joint solution, MedInformatix and ZirMed have given Advanced Medical Imaging far better control over its full range of payment methods. Nieto states that the practice has realized a 25-30% decrease in accounts receivable days over the past two years.

“We like to run a very tight ship in our billing department. We’re very particular about submitting clean claims, so ZirMed/MedInformatix has been great for identifying errors and reducing the number of claim rejections,” she said. “When you add in our better front desk options, plus the reporting and productivity features in MedInformatix, we feel we’re pretty much state of the art.”

About ZirMed:
Founded in 1999, ZirMed is a nationally recognized leader in delivering revenue cycle management solutions to healthcare providers. ZirMed enables healthcare providers to leverage the power of
technology to cure administrative burdens and increase cash flow. ZirMed solutions include eligibility verification, credit/debit card processing, check processing, claims management, coding compliancy and reimbursement management, electronic remittance advice, patient statements, patient e-commerce solutions, provider credentialing, and lock box services. ZirMed solutions are designed to complement provider workflow and to provide innovative, creative and flexible solutions for healthcare’s most pressing administrative challenges. For more information about ZirMed, visit www.zirmed.com/pr.

Joint ZirMed®/MedInformatix Revenue Solution Diagnoses Payment Bottlenecks For Large Colorado Imaging Practice—Page 3

About MedInformatix:
MedInformatix, Inc. (www.medinformatix.com) is a leading national provider of fully integrated Electronic Health Records. The products have been built around MedInformatix 25 years of workflow expertise. The product suite is designed on a single database using Microsoft SQL. Whether the installation is a single physician who went live in 1994, a national cardiology practice, the busiest radiology practice in Manhattan, or one of 15 other specialties they service, they accommodate their needs. See why so many practices from various specialties choose to use their award winning products: 13 Microsoft nominations in 8 years. MedInformatix can turn the dream of a paperless, integrated practice into a reality.

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DebtGoal.com Helps Consumers Tackle $800 Million of Consumer Debt

2009-07-13T08:03:46-07:00

San Francisco, CA - GoalSpring, a leading provider of online solutions for consumer debt reduction, today announced that its flagship product, DebtGoal.com, is now being used by 14,000 consumers to manage $800 million of debt. DebtGoal (http://www.debtgoal.com) is an online platform that helps consumers get out of debt (http://www.debtgoal.com) in a proven, healthy and sustainable way. DebtGoal also announced plans to raise additional capital in the coming months.

Debt reduction is a top priority for a majority of Americans - the average household's debt-to-income ratio is more than 130%, with perhaps as much as $2 trillion of excessive debt in American households. "DebtGoal.com's rapid growth speaks to the seriousness of the problem we are solving for our users," said Scott Crawford, CEO and co-founder of GoalSpring. "Getting out of debt is a complex endeavor for which there has been no do-it-yourself solution, but the DebtGoal platform now makes it simple and easy for consumers to systematically manage and reduce their debt. We're excited to be helping our members reach their financial goals."

One user summarizes her experience with DebtGoal by saying "I understood I needed to pay down debt, and I had a basic understanding of interest rates, payment schedules, and terms for each of my credit cards but I had difficulty making real progress…DebtGoal has given me a manageable plan and great suggestions to help me accelerate it."

DebtGoal.com also announced several product improvements, including AccountLink -- the ability for users to automatically download their latest financial information into the DebtGoal platform.

"This helps our users easily keep their information up-to-date and understand their current status, progress, and next steps with a single glance," says Crawford.

Crawford added, "The current economic crisis has demonstrated how unsustainable our debt levels are at an individual and macro level. Deleveraging at the individual level is going to be part of the economic landscape for years to come. We're capitalizing on this market need and are looking forward to rolling out additional features that make paying down debt easier and more efficient for the nearly 50 million American households who have a debt problem."

About GoalSpring
GoalSpring was founded on the premise that although there are many financial products, there are actually very few solutions that directly tie to consumers' goals. GoalSpring's first product, DebtGoal, is an online platform that helps consumers get out of debt in a proven, healthy and sustainable way. The company received funding from NewCycle Capital, who work with entrepreneurs to address unmet needs and affect positive change. Reducing debt was the #1 personal goal for 2008 and 2009, according to CNN and Franklin Covey. http://www.debtgoal.com

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Cognizant Launches Comprehensive Platform to Foster Innovation in Testing

2009-07-10T07:31:19-07:00

TEANECK, N.J., and CHENNAI, India: Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH), a leading provider of information technology, consulting and business process outsourcing services, today announced the launch of a unique and comprehensive platform that will foster innovation and enable the company to deliver greater value in the area of testing. The platform was inaugurated by Mohammad Zahoor, IT Director, PEMCO Insurance, a Cognizant client.

Developed by Cognizant’s Testing practice, the platform will facilitate ideation, catalyze knowledge sharing, and showcase testing innovations that help reduce testing effort, time, and cost, while improving quality. It will also enable statistical validation of the significance and adaptability of innovations to testing projects. Cognizant has also established an innovation council comprising technology and business experts to evaluate and provide further direction to ideas emerging from this platform.

“We congratulate Cognizant on the launch of this innovation platform,” said Mohammad Zahoor. “We are happy to have partnered with Cognizant’s Testing practice in setting up PEMCO’s testing center, which won Computerworld magazine’s Laureate Award for the year 2009. Even in the face of a tight release schedule, Cognizant proactively volunteered to reduce testing cycle-time, applied the Lean Six Sigma methodology, optimized testing efforts at PEMCO, and supported us in completing the overall test cycle on schedule.”

“In times of significant structural changes in the economy, business, IT, and quality assurance have become synergized value platforms to build competitive advantage for businesses,” said R Chandrasekaran, President and Managing Director, Global Delivery, Cognizant. “Be it integrating disparate platforms, reducing the time-to-market or enhancing customer experience of applications, organizations are increasingly looking at testing to address value gaps for increasing productivity, optimizing effort, and reducing cost.”

“At Cognizant, we continuously strive to deliver superior value to our clients and enable business readiness through cost optimization, predictable quality, and improved speed,” he added. “Cognizant’s broad range of services, deep domain experience, Centers of Excellence, and focus on innovation have helped us position ourselves as thought leaders in the testing arena. This innovation platform marks a milestone in the growth of our Testing practice.”

About Cognizant’s Testing Practice
Cognizant’s Testing practice is an independent business unit within Cognizant, focused on verification and validation of applications. With the establishment of this business unit in 2001, Cognizant pioneered the concept of an independent Testing practice. Since then Cognizant’s Testing practice has grown organically to more than 9,000 career testers, testing code written by Cognizant as well as by third parties, including clients and competitors. Over 75 percent of the code tested by Cognizant is developed by clients or third-party vendors. Cognizant’s Testing practice is organized by areas of industry specialization—such as financial services, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing/retail, and telecommunication, media and entertainment. This alignment helps leverage Cognizant’s domain expertise and provide domain-aligned testing, a critical success factor for independent software testing.

About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services. Cognizant’s single-minded passion is to dedicate our global technology and innovation know-how, our industry expertise and worldwide resources to working together with clients to make their businesses stronger. With more than 50 global delivery centers and approximately 63,700 employees as of March 31, 2009, we combine a unique onsite/offshore delivery model infused by a distinct culture of customer satisfaction. A member of the NASDAQ-100 Index and S&P 500 Index, Cognizant is a Forbes Global 2000 company and a member of the Fortune 1000 and is ranked among the top information technology companies in BusinessWeek’s Hot Growth and Top 50 Performers listings. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com.

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TCN Analyzes Agent Login and Predictive Dialing Vendor Performance

2009-07-09T07:11:23-07:00

St. George, UT -- Picking a dialing vendor is a lot like interviewing potential best friends (à la Paris Hilton) or vetting Supreme Court candidates: there is no shortage of relevant variables or people clamoring that their perspective is best. In the case of dialing technology, a plethora of variables, competing claims, different pricing models, and different terms for the same thing confuse the analyst. Business 101 classes attempt to pound home the conventional wisdom, the secret formula, the question that will cause the crystal ball to reveal the truth: ROI, Return on Investment. But can it be so simple? The hard sciences have heeded Occam's Razor for hundreds of years, and in the words of a sage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." ROI is always and everywhere the key to such analysis.

"Sure," you may be thinking, "this from a dialing company." Akin to listening to the horse trader about how to judge horseflesh? Maybe. But TCN believes that there is a relatively simple and very defensible method for determining ROI. And our own criteria can be used against us; we will not plead the Fifth. Follow these three simple steps to determine a standardized ROI that will allow you to judge between horses and camels, turning all your potential vendors into comparable apples:

1. Cost per Right Party Connect. If your collection software is incapable of providing you the number of actual Right Party Connects (RPCs) (not just live contacts, linkbacks, or connectbacks), be sure your vendor can. Simply divide the total cost of the test campaign by the number of RPCs to determine the Cost per RPC.

Cost per RPC is so important because it is the metric that instructs how much bang you get for your buck. Agencies use dialing technology only to locate and converse with debtors; this goal should be accomplished with as little cost as possible. If some fancy but expensive functionality gets you one or two more RPCs per campaign but doubles the Cost per RPC, be unimpressed.

2. Cost per Agent Minute. With the data provided by your vendor, tally the total number of agent minutes during the test campaign. This is the number of minutes an agent was actually speaking with a debtor (or with a live party, if RPC information is not available). Then use this number and divide it into the total cost of the test campaign.

Cost per Agent Minute is important to consider separately from Cost per RPC because this metric tells you even more about what's "under the hood," technology speaking. If a vendor is competitive in the Cost per RPC metric but is behind in Cost per Agent Minute, it suggests that answering machine detection, for example, may be inferior. Cost per Agent Minute is also the most vital part of standardizing pricing models across companies: whatever each company's philosophy, the actual Cost to the agency per Agent Minute will eliminate ambiguities. The number of lines needed to keep agents busy (i.e. the quality of the dialing product) will also be reflected in this metric.

3. Operation Costs. This metric is more subjective, but is just as important as the first two. For example: if a vendor is competitive in metrics one and two, but their interface and product operation are slow; if adding new agents or conducting other administrative tasks in onerous; if the operation of the dialer requires more personnel resources than others; if upload time is long; if campaign speed throttling is opaque or non-existent; these are actual costs that come out of the agency's revenue.

Computing this metric is typically more of a self-survey than a math problem. Several test campaigns will be sufficient for the analyst and the operator(s) to discern where the Operation Cost of a vendor stacks up against the competition.

These three steps standardize the results from a testing experience and put the agency in the driver seat, enabling informed decision making. With this simple process, the agency need not attempt to normalize different pricing models with different minimums, different prices per minute, and different linkback costs. This process is like finding the common denominator among many different fractions to more easily compare numerators.

Finally, be sure that all test campaigns are conducted while holding as many variables as possible constant between vendors: randomly-assigned accounts; same time of day; same mix of accounts; same number of collectors of comparable ability; etc.

For more information, for a demonstration and for a free, no-obligation trial, please call 1.888.235.3149 or visit www.tcnp3.com.

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Industry Friendly CollectOne Stimulus Plan Announced

2009-07-09T07:11:22-07:00

Simi Valley, CA – Leading collection software solutions provider CDS Software announced its CollectOne Stimulus Plan today. The Plan is designed around assisting debt collection organizations with efficiencies and recovery rates in the challenging economy. The CollectOne Stimulus Plan includes industry friendly offers such as no obligation efficiency analysis, credit for existing software, free data conversions, and deferred and no interest payment options.

“In our almost 40 years in the debt collection industry we’ve brought a number of timely solutions to market and we believe the CollectOne Stimulus Plan to be another,” said Mark Bergmann, Vice President, Sales and Marketing. “The proper debt collection software is at the heart of an efficient, well run collections organization. CollectOne is a proven solution and our clients have had broad based success in effectively leveraging CollectOne to navigate the current environment. With that being said, our CollectOne Stimulus Plan offer makes CollectOne even more so the solution of choice,” said Bergmann.

CDS Software projects recovery rates to continue to improve as we move closer to 2010 and encourages collections organizations to properly position themselves now. “With the historical levels of debt, slowed recovery rates and unprecedented changes in the global economy that we’re facing, collection organizations that are proactively leveraging industry best practices and a strong technology mix will lead the way. We hope our CollectOne Stimulus Plan offer makes these important decisions even easier,” said Bergmann.

About CDS Software
A proven leader in collection software solutions, CDS Software has been an innovator in the accounts receivable management industry for almost 40 years. Developing the industry’s first collection software solution in 1970, it revolutionized the way accounts were managed. Its award winning CollectOne software is a single source debt collection solution that provides the flexibility to manage multiple debt categories and the scalability to eliminate the necessity of upgrading software applications to meet growing business needs. To learn more about CDS Software, CollectOne or our Stimulus Plan offer visit www.collectone.com or call 888-816-3333.

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LiveVox Study Reveals Unattended Messaging is an Inefficient By-Product of Agency Dialer Line Starvation

2009-07-09T07:11:22-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO — LiveVox Inc., the leading provider of hosted-dialer solutions, today announced an analysis of collection industry clients has revealed that the use of unattended broadcast messaging during late-stage collections is a symptom of dialer line constraints.

Discussions with LiveVox clients uncovered that agencies have adapted unattended “message blasting” strategies because they lack the dialing capacity needed for agents to contact growing account volumes comprised of increasingly difficult to reach consumers. This is consistent with previous findings from LiveVox showing 7 to 9 lines are needed to keep agents busy. Record low liquidation rates further compound the problem. Agencies have to maximize agent productivity to mitigate this.

“Unattended messaging fails to leverage the power of analytics and work-flow prioritization in outbound call strategies. It’s really the exact opposite of skills-based routing,” said Michael Chamberlain, President and Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management Outsourcing Inc., a Norcross, GA-based receivables management firm. “Agencies best positioned to weather the recession will be those that take full advantage of every precious contact. Cutting-edge technology like LiveVox can provide the flexibility and scalability needed to protect operating margins and improve client service.”

Because LiveVox provides unlimited capacity, unattended messaging has become an insufficient and unnecessary approach to the great majority of collection efforts. Unattended may have limited use for early stage, self cure accounts, but not for late stage collections where agencies need to find ways to always optimize agent productivity.

“The more I speak with agencies the more I realize that nearly every premised dialer process is shaped by constraints, not best practices,” said John McNamara, Chief Marketing Officer, LiveVox. “Why would an operator not want an agent to speak with a willing consumer? Unattended campaigns are a relic of the past when not enough lines meant high agent wait times.”

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Collection Agency Shifts to Site-Premised Dialer After Succeeding With IAT Hosted Predictive Dialing

2009-07-09T07:11:22-07:00

Salt Lake City — After consistently increasing revenue with IAT’s hosted predictive dialing, Medi-Comm Services of Lubbock, TX, has chosen to purchase IAT’s site-premised product, CT Center.

Medi-Comm Services, a full-service collection agency with eight agents, concentrates mainly on medical debt. The company started using hosted dialing technology in March 2008 to combat a revenue downturn that began in 2007.

“Since we implemented dialing technology, we’ve increased our business every month compared to before using it,” Kyle Touchstone, Medi-Comm Services President, said. “I don’t think it’s totally coincidental.”

IAT, a Utah-based company founded in 1986, specializes in dialing technology for the collection industry and provides both site-premised dialers and hosted solutions, with predictive dialing and IVR Messaging (broadcast messaging) capabilities. CT Center, IAT’s site-premised product, combines predictive dialing and IVR messaging on a single Windows®-based platform. Touchstone expects using both functions together will work nicely in his collection agency.

Initially, Medi-Comm Services used a hosted broadcast messaging service, but switched to IAT’s hosted predictive dialing a few months later. “I’m really impressed with IAT’s dialing technology knowledge and the product’s good quality,” said Touchstone.

With IAT hosted services, agencies are charged per month based on how much they use the service. Touchstone determined it would be most cost-effective to purchase a system, based on the number of accounts his agency contacts each month. And, he figures he can pay the system off in one year.

“Agencies who make a lot of contacts each month frequently benefit most from having a site-premised system,” Ray Fowler, IAT National Sales Manager, said. “IAT provides both site-premised products and hosted services, so we can give agencies the right solution for their needs. We’re excited for Medi-Comm Services to transition to using CT Center and enjoy the benefits of having the system in-house.”

About IAT
IAT provides predictive dialing and interactive communications contacting solutions for the collection industry and related markets. Their products are installed in hundreds of organizations throughout the U.S., Canada, and South Africa. Using their cutting-edge product offering, CT Center, their Predictive Dialer and Outbound/Inbound Interactive (IVR) Communications systems can operate simultaneously on a single Windows platform. In addition to site-premised systems, CT Impact, IAT’s Hosted Broadcast Messaging and Predictive Dialer service, increases debt recovery without an initial capital investment and no setup fees. By developing innovative and reliable products and services, and providing outstanding customer service and support, IAT helps customers become significantly more productive and profitable. Founded in 1986, IAT is a privately held company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. To learn more about IAT, CT Center, and CT Impact, visit www.iat-cti.com, send an email to info@iat-cti.com, or call 800-574-8801

About Medi-Comm Services
Medi-Comm Services is a full-service medical collection and billing service company located in Lubbock, Texas. Founded April 1990, the agency has eight collectors with a combined experience of more than 160 years. Medi-Comm Services focuses on helping medical practices in Texas and New Mexico recover bad debt. The agency is a member of both ACA International and ACA of Texas. For more information about Medi-Comm Services, contact 800.658.2688 or visit them online at www.medi-comm.com.

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PredictiveMetrics and CDS Software Announce Strategic Partnership for CollectOne

2009-07-09T07:11:22-07:00

Tinton Falls, NJ –– PredictiveMetrics, Inc. (PMI) a leading provider of statistical-based predictive scoring and analytical solutions and CDS Software, the leading collection software solutions in the accounts receivable management industry announced the integration of PMI’s suite of collection scoring models within its system. This partnership allows CollectOne’s customers to significantly improve the collections process by driving faster, more efficient and profitable results utilizing UltraCollectionScore, MedicalCollectionScore, CardCollectionScore, LegalCollectionScore, and/or DebtBuyerScore.

CDS Software’s CollectOne is a single source debt collection solution. By integrating with PMI’s collection scoring solutions, customers have access to industry specific decision models for medical, credit and charge cards, legal, other debt, and value added debt buyer scores. All of PMI’s models leverage the customer’s internal placement data, which is proven to be the most predictive data available in these types of models, it’s readily available, and it’s free. No bureau data or personable identifiable information is required to produce accurate scores.

"We are very excited about the benefits the PredictiveMetrics and CollectOne partnership brings to our joint customers and the collections marketplace," said Michael Banasiak, president and CEO of PredictiveMetrics. “With access to leading collection scores combined with a superior collection system customers will optimize time, money, and collection effectiveness, which are very valuable to profitability.”

"By integrating PredictiveMetrics’ advanced scoring solutions into our CollectOne system customers now have the ability to predict payers and expected dollar amounts along with the progressive reporting providing a comprehensive means of developing prioritization strategies based on cost, effort, and liquidation, while expending collection resources and personnel most effectively.” said Jeff Hieber, Strategic Partner Manager, CDS Software. “This strategic partnership generates bottom-line results for collections operations.”

PMI’s statistical collection and debt buying models are based on the largest pool of observations and blended with socio-economic data, and demographic data supplied by PMI. Since the pool of observations used to validate the models is so vast, collectors also have the ability to segment based upon debt type and placement status. PMI provides extensive reporting including but not limited to age, balance, segmentation, and profitability / return on investment simulations.

To demonstrate the effectiveness of PMI’s scores, PMI offers a free retrospective analysis (back test) to prospective clients. This analysis takes historical placement data from the client’s own portfolio to prove how well the collection predicts payments and amounts. As a means of evaluating scoring, this analysis also allows the client to compare results with any other scoring method that it may currently have in place.

About PredictiveMetrics
Established in 1995, PredictiveMetrics, Inc. (www.predictivemetrics.com) is the leading provider of statistical-based predictive scoring and analytical decision solutions for collections, debt buying, accounts receivable risk management, and underwriting spanning many industries. PredictiveMetrics’ customer focus is to work with clients to create a strategic relationship ensuring their resources are optimally utilized to make automated, knowledge-based, profitable decisions that are proven accurate through statistical validation. PredictiveMetrics utilizes proprietary software and state-of-the-art hardware, designed specifically to conduct vigorous and sophisticated analytics coupled with innovative, advanced statistical techniques. Applying customers’ business expertise together with PredictiveMetrics’ data, modeling, and resource capabilities allows PredictiveMetrics to provide decision support systems to companies worldwide. PredictiveMetrics is headquartered in Tinton Falls, NJ. For more information, please visit www.predictivemetrics.com or call 732-530-9303.

About CollectOne
A proven leader in collection software solutions, CDS Software has been an innovator in the accounts receivable management industry for almost 40 years. Developing the industry’s first collection software solution in 1970, it revolutionized the way accounts were managed. Its award winning CollectOne software is a single source debt collection solution that provides the flexibility to manage multiple debt categories and the scalability to eliminate the necessity of upgrading software applications to meet growing business needs. To learn more about CDS Software, CollectOne or our Stimulus Plan offer visit www.collectone.com or call 888-816-3333.

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Executive Change: Aspect Appoints Mike Sheridan to Executive VP of Worldwide Sales

2009-07-09T07:11:22-07:00

CHELMSFORD, Mass.– Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced that Mike Sheridan has been named executive vice president of worldwide sales reporting directly to chief executive officer, Jim Foy. In this new role, Sheridan will be responsible for providing executive leadership for all sales teams across North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia Pacific, and the Latin America regions. Previously, he served as the company’s senior vice president of strategy and marketing, driving unified communications initiatives across product management and marketing.

“Unified communications has the potential to bring significant value to organizations,” said Sheridan. “In this new role, my efforts will be focused on bringing that value proposition to our customers and prospects around the world, as well as ensuring the entire global sales organization has the tools and capabilities they need to help companies maximize their technology investments, manage costs effectively and bring the highest level of service to their own customers.”

In his previous position, Sheridan was also the executive liaison with the unified communications teams at Microsoft. This responsibility transitions to Andy Bezaitis, senior vice president of corporate development at Aspect.

“Mike has played an instrumental role in cementing the company’s UC vision and product strategy, and as a result, it was a natural progression for him to lead our global sales organization to continue to raise awareness of Aspect’s offerings in both software and services,” said Jim Foy, chief executive officer, Aspect. “He brings a deep understanding of our customers’ needs from his expertise in enterprise and contact center business processes and I am confident that his direction and guidance will continue to demonstrate Aspect’s leadership in the unified communications space.”

Sheridan brings more than 20 years of experience in communications and technology to his new role. He has been with Aspect for more than eight years in various marketing and product strategy roles. Prior to Aspect, he held a number of positions in sales and information technology at leading companies like Hewlett-Packard.

Sheridan earned a master’s degree in computer science and telecommunications from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and technology from Bradley University. He currently resides in Chicago.

About Aspect
Aspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center. Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.

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Unpaid Medical Bills and Health Care Initiatives Increasing Demand for ARM Help

2009-07-09T07:11:22-07:00

A recent survey of hospital financial executives showed that the vast majority of medical business leaders believe implementing information technology and outsourcing more of their receivables management is the best strategy to reduce their administrative costs. Even better news for revenue cycle managers is that most health care providers surveyed expect to do so in the coming year.

Hospital financial executives are turning to outside help because of the growing number of patients who are unable to pay their medical bills, according to a survey by Louisville-based revenue cycle management firm MedAssist, Inc. And with the national unemployment rate near 10 percent, these executives say securing payments from uninsured or underinsured patients is their greatest challenge.

Hospitals executives have had to deal with lower revenues during tough economic times before. But many see the escalating costs of health care and anticipated changes from health care reform as a challenge that will require expertise offered by ARM professionals, said Brenda Snow, MedAssist’s executive vice president of strategic planning and analysis.

“Right now providers are seeing things as a threat of the unknown,” she said. “Many in healthcare are just seeking answers to what’s going on.”

HFMA Spokesman Richard Gundling told insideARM that while health care providers are hopeful that health care reform will secure coverage for all Americans, they fear it will bring lower reimbursements from public and private insurers.

“They are not opposed to new legislation, but they fear the details,” Gundling said. “Greater coverage for everyone is good. But if we cover everyone and pay below cost, that’s a big challenge for hospitals.”

To help mitigate the impact of lower reimbursements in the future, hospitals and the Obama Administration Wednesday announced a deal for hospitals to accept $155 billion less in Medicare and Medicaid payments over the next 10 years to help fund healthcare reform. In exchange hospitals were promised that if legislation includes a public health insurance plan, it will reimburse hospitals at rates higher than what Medicare and Medicaid pays.



Regardless of whether federal lawmakers pass health care reform legislation, lower payments remain a possibility because public and private insurers are beginning to tie reimbursement to patient care outcomes.

“Medicare is driving ‘no pay for never events’ and requiring quality reporting too,” said Lauren Coste, a Fitch Ratings director covering For-Profit Health Care Facilities. “(Insurers) are starting down that road and that’s clearly where they want to end up. It won’t be overnight, but it will happen eventually and gradually.”

That trend has more health care providers focusing their attention on prevention and quality programs that will position them for higher reimbursements, Coste said. At the same time, falling revenue and staff cuts have left many hospitals with inadequate resources to ensure claims are properly submitted and received in a timely manner, creating new revenue cycle opportunities for ARM professionals, Snow said.

“Just to be able to get paid is going to become harder,” Snow said.

Falling revenues is why more than 80 percent of survey respondents say they’ll also turn to technology to help reduce administrative costs.

Jim Lacy, CFO and general counsel of ZirMed, a Louisville-based revenue cycle firm, said the company is benefitting from a renewed focus by health care providers to use technology to become more efficient. He said technology firms, however, should not expect hospitals to invest in software they can’t afford or that does not address their industry specific needs.

“Many hospitals have made the point that there is no (capital expenditure) budget this year,” he said, adding that hospitals may want everything, but will have to make a commitment to find solutions that most fit their needs. Likewise, hospitals must realize to maximize revenue they need to utilize the same tools regular retail merchants use to collect payment, including self check-out terminals and on-line bill payment options.

“Most hospitals don’t give you the ability to pay online,” he said. “With more high deductible accounts most patients have to pay with a credit card for their Health Savings Account to cover the bill.”