The Affordable Care Act will give an unprecedented number of previously uninsured consumers access to affordable health coverage and care. This has a number of implications for the temporary staffing industry, and will create opportunities for the savvy factoring professional to expand their business.
Companies looking to minimize their healthcare costs, or avoid the employer mandate entirely, will need to manage their employees’ hours to stay below the 30-hours-per-week benchmark or reduce their full-time staff below 50. Temporary staffing allows companies in this situation to fill talent gaps without compromising their position, which is both boon and burden to the staffing agency.
Factoring for temporary staffing provides solutions to several elements of the ACA implementation.
Rapid growth
Staffing agencies may need to recruit additional talent to meet rising demand. Staffing factoring can put the funding in place for agencies to cover recruitment costs, as well as the costs associated with placing and paying new employees.
Cash flow concerns
The full impact of the ACA remains to be seen in terms of how payers will settle open accounts with medical providers. Backlogs are possible as insurers scramble to process a high number of new enrollments, and any delays in subsidy payments could in turn delay insurance payments to healthcare facilities. Factoring can keep healthcare staffing agencies’ cash flow consistent through any growing pains.
Agencies’ ACA liability
Swelling employee numbers may have the unintended consequence of shifting the healthcare burden to staffing agencies. While rules have not been finalized for assessing “variable hours” status, temporary employees who put in 120 hours of work during a given monitoring month may still be eligible for healthcare. A staffing agency may then be required to offer ACA-compliant coverage or risk an IRS penalty.
Factoring may be most useful to staffing agencies for this reason. In many professional settings it is unrealistic to expect anything less than a full-time schedule, and agencies should be financially prepared to address these situations as they arise.
Medicaid expansion may also prove beneficial to staffing agencies. Twenty-five states plan to move forward with Medicaid expansion, including seventeen that have already passed the necessary legislation. Since temporary staffing positions often have lower pay rates, many temporary employees in these states will qualify for free coverage under the expanded Medicaid eligibility requirements.
In addition, Medicaid will provide superior coverage to the limited plans available to staffing agencies.
There is no better time to sell factoring to the staffing industry. Agencies will be looking for fast cash, and a factor that is prepared to meet their needs will be well-positioned to thrive.
Philip Cohen is the founder and president of PRN Funding, LLC, which is an extraordinarily focused niche factor in the healthcare funding market place.
Visit the PRN Funding website at www.prnfunding.com for more factoring and brokering information.
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