To help alleviate your concerns and to educate your customers about medical staffing invoice funding, consider the following:

Medical staffing factors only work with agencies who qualify for credit.

Similar to getting a bank loan, staffing agencies go through due diligence before an invoice funding company will agree to purchase their receivables. If your company is able to secure financing, it is a positive sign that you operate a stable, growing business. Moreover, the ability to factor is dependent on the creditworthiness of your customers, not your own.

Medical staffing invoice funding is beneficial for both you and your customers.

Your customers are most likely accustomed to taking 30, 60 or even 90 days to pay for your staffing funding services. By factoring, you can maintain a “business as usual” relationship – your customers can continue to utilize your medical personnel and have time to pay for their shifts. The only difference with medical staffing invoice funding is that your company benefits from having money today, in order to more readily satisfy current obligations, while still experiencing growth.

Factoring is a smart business move for growing medical staffing companies.

A business most often uses financing obtained through the sale of receivables to expand and take on larger contracts, without compromising the quality of their services. By getting money sooner than later, your staffing business has the resources to focus on critical success issues – sales, operations and growth – while still meeting its demand.

Many of your customers may already deal with factors and may not be aware of it.

Factoring is one of the oldest methods of providing working capital to help businesses solve their cash flow needs. Credit cards transactions are actually the most common form of factoring used every day. Many hospitals and physicians’ practices factor their medical receivables due from insurance companies and therefore are already familiar with how factoring works and why companies choose to do it.

Educating your customers about why you decided to obtain staffing funding services should eliminate many of their concerns, and invoice funding firms are available to help explain your new financial situation. For too long, factoring was only available to large, multi-billion dollar corporations. Now there are specific invoice funding firms that provide medical staffing funding services to companies like yours, so you can enjoy both the perception and the reality of being a growing, profitable company.

Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is an extraordinarily focused niche player in the medical staffing invoice funding market place. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides staffing business owners with the financial resources needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding http://www.prnfunding.com provides staffing companies with flexible and immediate access to capital.

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.

Banks are not approving loans like they used to and recurring cash flow challenges for medical supplies companies are not going away.

Medical supplies factoring has been evaluated in the past, but this alternative financing option is becoming a popular and convenient solution to cash flow problems.

Most medical supplies companies do not receive payments for their goods until weeks after they have been delivered. In fact, a common cycle occurs when companies need to order additional products to ship out to their customers before they have been paid by those same customers.

By factoring their receivables,these companies can improve their cash flow tremendously, giving them enough cash to buy new inventory regardless of when their customers pay.

Factoring is Not a Bank Loan

Factoring offers a huge advantage for companies because unlike a bank, the factor’s main concern is the credit rating of the customer who is responsible for paying the invoice. In addition, the only collateral used by the factor is the receivable, whereas a bank would often require personal collateral to secure a loan. Also, many of factoring firms do not require long-term commitment. Therefore, a company can factor its receivables for as long as it likes.

Factoring Promotes Business Growth

Another advantage of factoring is that it alleviates the hassles of the collections process. Once the company sells the receivable, the collection process can be handled by the factor. Medical supplies companies don’t have to worry about making collections calls, following up on skipped invoices or hunting down missing documents. This saves time and money and allows companies to allocate resources to more important day-to-day operations of the business.

Factoring is Easier to Find than a Bank Loan

There are thousands of factoring companies to choose from, so finding a company that will factor medical supplies accounts receivables is easier than ever. For example, type ‘medical supplies factoring’ into a search engine, and a slew of factoring companies will show up in the results. While there are many factoring companies to choose from, they differ on a large scale. Some may serve an array of industries, while other only factor invoices for a specific industry. Some operate nationally, while some focus their attention in one geographic region. Of course, there will also be many different advance rates and factoring fees amongst factoring firms.

With the current economic climate, it’s likely that more medical supplies companies will turn to factoring firms for financing. It allows start-up companies to develop and helps veteran companies continue to thrive.

Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is an extraordinarily focused niche player in the medical supplies factoring market place. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides business owners with the financial resources needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding provides medical supplies companies with flexible and immediate access to capital. We give you the freedom to factor what you want, when you want, whom you want, for as long as you want. Prior to founding PRN Funding, Mr. Cohen was an executive officer of The MRC Group, a national provider of Medical Transcription Services. Contact Philip Cohen at toll-free 866.776.5407 or via email at pcohen@prnfunding.com. Please visit PRN Funding, LLC on the web at http://www.prnfunding.com/

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.

What differentiates a factoring company from a bank?

First and foremost, since factoring is not a loan, there is no debt on your company’s balance sheet. Moreover, factoring firms have the ability to make a quick decision regarding your medical billing funding options, while banks may take weeks-even months-to approve a loan.

Furthermore, factors determine lines of credit based on the creditworthiness of your customers, while banks focus on your company’s financial history and cash flow. In other words, a funding agency looks to your company’s future while banks place emphasis on your company’s past.

How long does it take to be approved for factoring funding solutions?

In general, a funding agency will begin its due diligence process after receipt of a signed contract. This process can last anywhere between 1-5 business days, and money is moved at its conclusion. Thereafter, a company can receive funds in as little as 24 hours within verification. See our factoring process and learn our medical billing funding options can benefit your business.

What information does a business owner need to provide to a factor in order to begin the process of coming up with funding options?

Required paperwork varies among factors, however, there are a handful of documents that most all will expect. Most likely, the owner of a medical company will be asked to provide a copy of your company’s most recent accounts receivable and accounts payable aging reports, Articles of Incorporation or Organization filing, copy of owner’s driver’s license, voided copy of a check, a master customer list, a sample contract, and of course, invoices to factor.

What happens if my customers don’t pay an invoice?

This depends on whether your company entered into a non-recourse or recourse agreement with the factor. Within a non-recourse agreement, the funder assumes the credit-related loss. However, most medical billing solutions (factors) do not assume the risk of non-payment due to disputes regarding quality or timeliness of your company’s medical billing services. On the other hand, if you have a recourse agreement, your company will have to reimburse the factor for any unpaid invoices. This is usually accomplished by having the past due invoice deducted from the next advance or replacing it with another factored invoice.

Can a medical billing service qualify for funding if it’s a new business or has past credit problems (i.e. bankruptcy, IRS liens, and judgments)?

Yes. A reputable medical billing factoring company will still consider your application if you have credit problems or a recent bankruptcy because the credit decision is based primarily on the creditworthiness of your customers. However, tax problems are handled on a case-by-case basis, so be sure to let you funder know if you have any IRS issues.

Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is a focused player in the medical invoice funding marketplace. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides medical business owners with the financial resources needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding (http://www.prnfunding.com) provides medical companies with flexible and immediate access to capital.

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.

Defined as clinical healthcare professionals that assist physicians and nurses, allied health personnel are an important part of the healthcare system. Hospitals, nursing homes and clinics are beginning to feel the stress of the aging Baby Boomer population, as these institutions are seeing the allied workforce retiring in droves at the same time that patient intake is increasing. Given the circumstances, now seems like a perfect opportunity for savvy business owners to develop their staffing agency to meet the new demands.

However, growing a business takes money…

Allied health staffing agencies need cash to cover the costs of advertising, recruiting, and expanding offices. Unfortunately, right now is a bad time for businesses who are seeking ongoing financing because banks have tightened their lending criteria as a result of the national credit crunch. Moreover, the economic decline instigated a jump in small business credit card interest rates in addition to overly-obtrusive credit restrictions on small business owners.

This situation puts allied health staffing business owners in a conundrum. On the one hand, now is a prime opportunity for supplemental staffing agencies to expand, but on the other hand, no one seems to be lending to businesses these days.

Luckily, accounts receivable factoring companies are still lending.

What’s more, factoring firms do not have the same arduous loan criteria as their conventional counterparts. Here are a few ways that allied health staffing factoring differs from traditional bank loans:

Quick Funding Application Process

Factors generally do not require a history of profitability, personal financial statements, business plans or personal guarantees. Because there are fewer documents needed, allied health staffing companies can receive their first funding within 3-5 days of returning factoring documentation.

No Long-Term Obligation

Many factoring firms will not require business owners to sign a long-term contract. In addition, once the staffing agency has been approved, it can stop or start factoring at any time.

Access to Unlimited Capital

With bank financing, once a company hits the credit limit, it cannot borrow more cash. Invoice factoring is the only source of business financing that grows with the company’s sales. As sales increase, more money becomes immediately available to the agency owner.

No Liability on the Company’s Balance Sheet

Because factoring is not a small business loan, there is no debt, and there are no monthly payments to ‘muddy up’ the company balance sheet.

Allied Health Staffing Industry Expertise

Banks work with all kinds of companies, so they might not be familiar with the intricacies of the industry. There are factoring companies out there who understand the ins and outs of the allied health staffing industry, so business owners won’t have to worry about teaching a factor about their business model.

The allied health workforce will continue to play an integral role in the healthcare system as the demand for their services continues to rise. This need presents a great opportunity that allied health staffing agencies can use to their advantage.

In order for these staffing agencies to acquire new customers, they will need to hire additional employees and possibly expand their infrastructure. Unfortunately, these staffing agencies also need to accomplish this growth during a time when it has become increasingly more difficult to obtain traditional financing. Fortunately, those allied health staffing agencies can use factoring as a flexible financing solution to the cash flow problems that can arise during periods of growth.

Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is an extraordinarily focused niche player in allied health staffing invoice funding. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides allied health staffing business owners with the financial resources needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding provides staffing companies with flexible and immediate access to capital. Contact Philip Cohen at toll-free 866.776.5407 or via email at pcohen@prnfunding.com. Please visit PRN Funding, LLC on the web at http://www.prnfunding.com.

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.

Oftentimes, factoring prospects annualize the percentage charged by factors, extrapolating three percent per month to an interest rate of 36 percent per year. In the world of healthcare staffing financing, this scenario is like comparing apples to oranges.

When comparing a bank loan with invoice factoring, it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

• A factor does not loan money like a bank does. Rather, a healthcare staffing accounts receivable factor purchases invoices at a discounted rate. Factoring is a form of short-term funding, so a discount rate should not be converted to an interest rate. For example, some firms offer a two percent discount (2% for net 10) for quick payment. In a year, there are roughly 36 10-day periods. Using the annualized percentage parallel, that comes out to 72% “interest.” Are these companies really paying 72% for quick payment? No, and healthcare staffing factoring companies don’t earn 36% interest either.

• Moreover, a factor is continuously advancing and collecting funds, compared to a bank that provides the money only one time, the day that the loan is received. An accounts receivable factor has the ability to grow as its clients grow. Once a company uses the funds from a bank loan or exceeds its credit limit, there’s little room for it to grow.

• Banks approve business loans or lines of credit based on a company’s historical operating and financial performance, a factor’s main criteria is the creditworthiness of a prospect’s customers. Banks tend to shy away from business owners who are just starting up, going through seasonal growth, have bad personal credit or have too much concentration of their sales with one or two customers. Many factors are able to look past the above criteria because their decisions are based off of a prospect’s customers’ ability to pay. So it’s very possible for a business that has creditworthy customers to work with a healthcare staffing factoring company even though they have been previously turned down for a traditional bank loan.

• The loan process with a bank is time-consuming and cumbersome, and it could take weeks or even months to receive the loan proceeds. Whereas a factoring firm’s application and approval process can take less than a week, and factors have an ongoing ability to approve additional lines of credit quickly.

• Oftentimes, a bank loan requires collateral in addition to a company’s accounts receivable. The only collateral that a factor requires is the company’s accounts receivable. A bank will most likely require business owners to personally guarantee the loan as well, and factoring companies won’t always require a personal guarantee to advance money.

• Taking out a business loan creates debt on a company’s balance sheet, and credit ratings go down because of loan limitations. On the other hand, healthcare staffing funding through a factor increases credit ratings by creating better cash flow and helping the company pay their bills promptly.

• Whereas banks only loan money, there are a multitude of services that factoring companies provide their clients in addition to ongoing funding. Some of these supplementary services include: posting payments, dispersing reports, handling collections and reviewing credit for their customers’ clients.

When looking at the big picture, entrepreneurs have to weigh the costs of factoring against not having immediate cash. More often than not, the decision comes down to either selling the accounts receivable or putting up with crippling cash flow problems and missed sales opportunities.

Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is an extraordinarily focused niche player in the healthcare staffing funding marketplace. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides business owners with the financial resources needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding provides healthcare staffing agencies with flexible and immediate access to capital. We give you the freedom to factor what you want, when you want, whom you want, for as long as you want. Prior to founding PRN Funding, Mr. Cohen was an executive officer of The MRC Group, a national provider of Medical Transcription Services. Contact Philip Cohen at toll-free 866.776.5407 or via email at pcohen@prnfunding.com. Please visit PRN Funding, LLC on the web at http://www.prnfunding.com/

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.

Outsourced medical billing providers are just one type of business that is being affected by the “double credit crunch.” On the one hand, banks have tightened up on their lending criteria, and most are slashing credit lines instead of extending them, which means the likelihood of a medical billing provider securing bank funding is slim-to-none. On the other hand, even though an outsourced company’s main job is to bill insurance companies correctly so physicians (their customers) get paid quicker, those same physicians are oftentimes notorious for stretching out their payables.

Fortunately, there is an alternative financing option that can help speed up the payables process.

Medical billing accounts receivable factoring is the conversion of receivables into cash by selling outstanding invoices to a factor. A viable option for medical billing companies in the early stages of business development and /or during rapid growth, accounts receivable factoring is a financial solution that gives medical billers immediate cash to manage operations more efficiently. Here are some additional key concepts about this practical financing alternative.

Medical Billing Accounts Receivable Factoring is:

• A way to fill the gap between when your company provides outsourced billing services and when the physicians pay. Simply put, medical billing invoice factoring can turn weeks into hours or days.

• Based on your customers’ credit history, not yours. If your company is providing billing services to a creditworthy physician’s office or medical facility, then your business is a good candidate for accounts receivable factoring.

• A simple, fast method to sustain your “business as usual” relationship with your customers. Your company can continue to provide medical billing services to your customers with a set-term payment; but with accounts receivable factoring, you no longer have to wait to be paid. By working with a factoring firm, your company can easily obtain cash advances of 80% of the invoiced amount. Cash can be obtained within hours and as often as needed.

• One of the oldest methods of providing working capital. Dating back 4,000 years, receivables factoring has long been used as a feasible and easy way for businesses to obtain cash flow in order to cover expenses while experiencing growth.

• A chance to obtain cash without providing personal collateral or increasing interest expense. Invoice factoring is not a loan and does not “muddy up” your medical billing company’s balance sheet. You do not accrue interest or penalties. The medical billing factoring fee is clear and objective; it is based on the size of the invoice, the length of time it takes to collect the payment, and the creditworthiness of your customers.

• An opportunity to build your outsourced medical billing company’s credit: With adequate cash flow, you can use money from accounts receivable factoring to clean up your debts as well as pay overhead, salaries and invoices. This will improve your credit history and make it easier to obtain credit from vendors and other financial institutions in the future.

By working with an accounts receivable factoring company, your company’s cash flow problems can be solved. In most cases, a medical billing company can receive the majority of what’s owed to them within hours of selling their invoices to a factor. Factoring for your medical billing company will help you avoid falling prey to today’s “double credit crunch” that so many other small businesses are enduring as a result of the current economic climate.

Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is an extraordinarily focused niche player in the medical billing accounts receivable funding market place. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides healthcare service business owners with the financial resources needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding ( http://www.prnfunding.com ) provides health service providers with flexible and immediate access to capital.

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.

Throw in the current economic climate, and the chance of an entrepreneur obtaining a conventional bank loan is slim to none. When loans are no longer an option, business owners have to find a short-term funding option to keep them from dipping into their personal savings accounts or having to rely on friends and family for operating cash.

Over the past decade, the main fallback has been small business credit cards. During better times, credit card companies actively pursued the small business market. Entrepreneurs were enticed with low introductory interest rates and high credit limits. In addition, banks started offering small credit lines to entrepreneurs who didn’t meet conventional loan requirements, and vendors started relying on the efficiency of credit card payments.

Needless to say, the small business credit card caught on like rapid fire. Today, nearly 60% of the nation’s small businesses rely on credit cards to help fund their daily operations, according to the National Small Business Association.

Yet as the economy worsens, entrepreneurs are seeing their interest rates going up and their credit limits going down. With credit card delinquency as high as 12 percent among small business owners, bankers and credit card companies say the only way to decrease the risk in their portfolios is to make some changes with their small business accounts. As a result, nearly three-quarters of small businesses have seen a large cut in their credit limits over the last six months.

Now that access to both bank loans and credit cards is hard to come by, where can the nation’s 27 million small business owners turn for funding?

Enter factoring…

Now more than ever, entrepreneurs across the nation are in desperate need of a factoring company that understands the intricacies of today’s funding marketplace.

If you think about it, the process of factoring receivables is very similar to using a credit card. For example, many small business owners use a credit card to purchase additional inventory and then pay down that bill as their customers pay them. With factoring, a business owner could just as easily sell his/her invoices to an invoice factoring firm and receive cash immediately on those invoices. In turn, they can use the cash to purchase additional inventory. In both instances, the business owner has readily available cash to purchase more supplies. In fact, the two funding mechanisms sound almost exactly the same.

However, there is one very important difference. When credit card companies and banks define a credit line and interest rate for a small business credit card, it’s based on the financial strength of the small business or its owner. During an economic recession, credit card companies view the normal ups and downs of a struggling small business as too risky.

However, with factoring, the credit decision is not based on the business’ credit at all. Rather, the lending decision is based on the creditworthiness of the company’s customers. Keep in mind that small businesses routinely sell to larger, more established companies. Because these companies are financially sound, they have the ability to continue paying their vendors, even during an economic decline. So in other words, when business owners use factoring, they can literally leverage the creditworthiness of their customers, which leads to lower fees and higher credit limits.

Now as I previously stated, there are 27 million small business owners in America right now who could be looking for another form of invoice funding because of the current state of the economy. Factoring is the perfect funding solution for those entrepreneurs who are unable to qualify for a traditional line of credit or are having difficulty negotiating reasonable rates on a small business credit card.

Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is an extraordinarily focused niche player in the healthcare factoring market place. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides financial resources for suppliers of services and products to healthcare institutions that are needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding (http://www.prnfunding.com) provides medical business owners with flexible and immediate access to capital.

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.

Cash flow especially becomes a problem in industries where it’s typical for completed work to go unpaid for 30, 60, or even 90 days after issuing the invoice. Thus, when growing companies start experiencing growth pains, they first try to apply for small business loans.

However, conventional borrowing increases business expenses and normally requires additional collateral. Some companies, especially smaller ones, are turned down by banks because of loan underwriting criteria. Some companies will also explore the option of equity financing, but this form of funding is generally harder to find than debt financing. And once found, it takes longer to arrange.

The Accounts Receivable Factoring Solution…

Accounts receivable factoring, on the other hand, is a viable funding option for companies experiencing cash flow challenges. In a nutshell, factoring is the process of converting the accounts receivable of a business into cash by selling outstanding invoices to a ‘factor’ for a discount.

With factoring, instead of depending on the applicant’s financial statements, the factoring company focuses on the strength of the client’s accounts receivable. In other words, because factoring companies are paid by the applicant’s customers (account debtors), factors are most concerned with the creditworthiness of the applicant’s customers. If the applicant’s company has a product or service that it provides to a creditworthy customer, then the business is a good candidate for invoice factoring.

It’s important to note that invoice funding does not create debt or require additional collateral. It is very simple to use. What could take weeks or months to be approved for funding from a more traditional lender, takes 3-5 business days in the world of factoring. Cash advances from 80% of the invoiced amount, depending on the customers and the business volume, can normally be obtained in 24 hours or less on an ongoing basis. In addition, funding occurs as long as a business has outstanding invoices and needs more cash, and as long as the business is selling to credit-worthy account debtors.

Maintaining a healthy cash flow via accounts receivable factoring provides a growing business with the working capital it needs to pay salaries, reduce debt, improve vendor relations and focus on critical success factors-operations, sales and growth.

PRN Funding, LLC, is an extraordinarily focused niche player in the accounts receivable factoring marketplace. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides business owners with the financial resources needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding provides healthcare companies with flexible and immediate access to capital. We give you the freedom to factor what you want, when you want, whom you want, for as long as you want. Prior to founding PRN Funding, Mr. Cohen was an executive officer of The MRC Group, a national provider of Medical Transcription Services. Contact Philip Cohen at toll-free 866.776.5407 or visit http://www.prnfunding.com online.

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.

To a bank looking at a loan application, neither situation is attractive. On the contrary, to some factors both of these situations might sound very appealing, and this article explains why.

When a nurse staffing business is just starting out, it lacks two vital attributes for a bank to consider it as a good loan candidate. First of all, a startup staffing company does not have any tangible assets with which to secure a loan. In fact, the company’s primary asset is its accounts receivables, which unfortunately is not concrete enough for a bank because those can disappear quickly and without notice.

Banks look for assets that are more tangible such as real estate, machinery or equipment-something physical that they can place a lien on wherever it goes so that in the event of default, the bank can still lay claim to and liquidate that collateral.

On the other hand, there are some nurse staffing factoring firms that are willing and able to work with startup companies. Rather than loaning money, factors provide cash based on the quality and liquidity of a staffing agency’s assets, specifically their accounts receivable. In the event that a staffing agency was to go out of business, a factor can continue to collect on invoices that were issued previous to their closing up shop.

The second area that could prevent a new staffing agency from obtaining a business loan is that banks provide loans on the basis of a company’s historical financial performance rather than its potential for success. Temporary nurse staffing companies who are just starting out have no financial history, which is viewed by a bank as just as risky as having a bad one. Moreover, banks traditionally will not consider loaning money or extending credit to companies who have been in business for fewer than three years because of the high failure rate for new businesses.

Once again, some nurse staffing factoring companies have a different approach to funding new businesses and are not so easily swayed by the fact that they are just opening their doors. For starters, factors consider the quality of a company’s accounts (the credit-worthiness of their customers and the validity of their invoices) which allow them to provide funding even when the company is new. Nurse staffing factoring firms see a different picture when investigating the credit-worthiness of their clients’ customers. As long as the client is staffing nurses in good paying medical facilities, and the factor is comfortable that they will get paid for the invoices that they buy, the actual agency’s credit becomes a minute detail in the grand scheme of things.

As I said previously, another time when nurse staffing agencies find themselves in need of cash is during a rapid growth period. For example, a temporary staffing company may have landed a contract with the area’s biggest hospital, and they need to hire and staff an additional 20 nurses immediately. The agency might have enough money to recruit nurses to fill the demand, but it might not have enough readily available cash to pay their nurses once they have completed their shifts. This situation is quite common in the nurse staffing world because business owners are expected to invoice and make payroll on a weekly basis while the medical facilities they staff regularly can take up to three months to pay for those shifts.

Now let’s analyze this situation from a banker’s perspective. Banks consider a company’s ability to repay a loan based on its historic earnings cash flow. Unfortunately for our growing temporary staffing company, its previous income and cash flow is much smaller in comparison to its increasing need for financing. Sometimes a nurse staffing company’s previous year’s income is enough to secure a bank loan, that is to say, if the staffing agency wanted to stay at its same operating size. More often than not, a staffing company goes to a bank looking for a larger loan than what last year’s earnings could justify because they intend to use the loan to double or triple last year’s revenues. Unfortunately, a bank wouldn’t feel comfortable loaning money to a company based solely on its potential to grow. Once again, banks look at the agency’s profitable operating history to justify lending. So the bank lending process eventually turns into a never-ending cycle-the nurse staffing company needs money to grow, but the bank needs to see a history of growth to give out money.

Enter a nurse staffing factor. Though a factor will look into a growing nurse staffing business’s operating history, it’s not a deal killer if the company doesn’t have a track record of high earnings because a factor is generally more concerned with the future of the business. A good rule of thumb to remember: banks look to a company’s past to justify approving a loan, while factors look at a company’s future growth potential to justify advancing cash on their invoices. Going back to our example, the fact that the staffing agency just signed a contract with one of the biggest and fastest paying hospitals in the area means nothing to a bank, but it is great news for a nurse staffing factoring firm.

I hope that the factoring information that I’ve shared with you in this article have helped you realize how hard it is for a new or growing nurse staffing company to be approved for a bank loan. Fortunately, there is another good alternative business financing option-nurse staffing invoice factoring. Selling their invoices to a nurse staffing factoring firm is a much more lucrative option for agencies who are just opening their doors or who are going through a period of rapid growth.

Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is an extraordinarily focused niche player in the temporary nurse staffing financing market place. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides temporary nurse staffing business owners with the financial resources needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding (www.prnfunding.com) provides healthcare service providers with flexible and immediate access to capital.

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.

According to the National Coalition on Health Care, the U.S. spent approximately 17% of its GDP in 2008 on health care costs. That percentage is expected to jump to 20% by 2017.

Doctors’ offices will soon be flooded by 78 million baby boomers as they become eligible for retirement. To handle this sudden influx, physicians will have little time for the day-to-day business operations of their practices and must focus primarily on patient care. As a result, medical billing companies are seeing increased demand for their services.

More and more doctors are outsourcing services to subcontractors, and these companies are reaping the benefits. However, due to the slow pace at which insurance companies approve patient claims, it takes a while for doctors to be paid, and in turn it takes even longer for them to pay their vendors, especially medical billing companies. According to the American Medical Billing Association, it takes an average of 90 days for paper claims to be reimbursed. Granted the advent of an electronic claims system has lowered reimbursement times, it is still problematic for companies to wait to be paid.

For example, an insured patient goes in to see a doctor. The cost of the visit is $100. Because the patient is covered for this visit, the doctor must make a claim to the insurance company and wait an indefinite amount of time for the claim to be approved. If the claim is not approved, the doctor must send more details of the visit. This increased lag creates a problem for doctors who would rather spend their time with patients than following up on claims. Therefore, doctors turn to experts and subcontract medical billing companies to handle these issues.

Whether they are start-ups trying to gain a market share of this ever-increasing business, or a veteran company trying to beat the slow-payments system of insurance companies and doctors, a viable and flexible option exists for companies called medical billing factoring.

Medical billing factoring is converting the accounts receivable of a business into cash by selling outstanding invoices to a ‘factor’ for a discount. Accounts receivable factoring gives the medical billing business immediate access to cash so that it can manage its operations more efficiently.

Instead of waiting months to be paid by doctors’ offices, medical billing companies can use factoring services to get cash now to pay for their employees and ongoing business expenses. They can also use the money to expand their businesses, such as hiring and training new employees or purchasing new equipment, in a time when the healthcare industry demands these companies more than ever.

Doctors need all the time they can get to provide care for their increased number of patients. While the amount of work has increased and the payments remain slow, outsourcing medical billing duties gives doctors more time with patients. By factoring their receivables, companies do not have to wait to be paid and can continue expanding their businesses in a market that is favorable towards this niche.

Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is an extraordinarily focused niche player in the medical billing invoice financing market place. Through a process known as factoring, PRN Funding provides business owners with the financial resources needed to grow and effectively compete in the industry. With no minimums or fixed terms, PRN Funding provides medical billing companies with flexible and immediate access to capital. We give you the freedom to factor what you want, when you want, whom you want, for as long as you want. Prior to founding PRN Funding, Mr. Cohen was an executive officer of The MRC Group, a national provider of Medical Transcription Services. Contact Philip Cohen at toll-free 866.776.5407 or via email at pcohen@prnfunding.com. Please visit PRN Funding, LLC on the web at http://www.prnfunding.com/

Article reprinted with permission by PRN Funding, LLC.