CollaborateMD Launches New Medical Billing Software Release

CollaborateMD, a leading provider of hybrid SaaS practice management and medical billing software for physician offices and third-party billing services, today announced that the official 8.3 beta release is now available to all customers. Until today, only select customers were offered the beta software update. These customers included those who engaged with CollaborateMD via social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook, subscribed to the Company's blog, or attended the first annual CollaborateMD user conference this past May.

Patrick Mann, vice president of engineering, had this to say about the initial beta customer invitation process: "The phased approach we've implemented is essential to the success of this update. This process ensures our development and quality assurance teams have sufficient time for testing and modifications, while affording customer support and sales teams a longer runway with which to provide live training webinars and on-demand support during migration."

Unlike with traditional Software as a Service (SaaS) models which often centrally control upgrades without regard to customer readiness, CollaborateMD's hybrid SaaS software allows customers to control version updates in order to maintain operational stability. Upon installing the newest version, which is available at no additional cost, customers can easily migrate their operations from one version to the next with minimal interruption to their daily workflow.

The 8.3 update contains significant upgrades to existing service offerings and will include key features such as review services with high-level claim scrubbing, custom labels and superbills, enhanced scheduler tools, appointment confirmation, and the CollaborateMD User Portal.

The portal serves as an integrated web-based platform comprised of a suite of tools intended to augment the CollaborateMD practice management and medical billing software package. One such tool -- enhanced reporting -- provides a more flexible and scalable medium for business intelligence and reporting, allowing for users to build, export, and share rich content reports in a wide variety of formats. CollaborateMD forums, another feature set inside the portal, allow users to gather together, share ideas, collaborate on issues, promote product innovation, and increase awareness and understanding of product features. Additional tools including NPI registry and the 3M code viewer are useful for improving data integrity, resulting in fewer rejected claims and increased revenue.

"At the core of our Company vision is the promise to help customers optimize clinical and financial workflow for net profit improvement and enhanced patient care," commented Douglas Kegler, CollaborateMD founder and CEO. "The features in this release will provide the necessary tools our customers need to do exactly that, and serves as further assurance that we won't stop working until every customer is fully optimized for success."

About CollaborateMD

CollaborateMD has been helping medical practices and billing services optimize clinical and financial workflow for increased revenue and net profit improvement since 1999. Serving thousands of providers nationwide, CollaborateMD offers the healthcare industry a HIPAA-compliant, 100% Java, hybrid SaaS practice management and medical billing software application, which easily integrates with several leading EHR and laboratory solutions, and offers ePrescribing and secure patient-to-provider communications. For more information, visit CollaborateMD.com , Blog.CollaborateMD.com , or call 888.348.8457.

Medical Billing Software Users Boost CollaborateMD Philanthropic Contributions

CollaborateMD, a leading provider of hybrid SaaS practice management and medical billing software for physician offices and third-party billing services, has recommitted to their "Plant a Tree by Going ASP" program. The program is being conducted in cooperation with American Forests, the nation's oldest nonprofit citizen's conservation organization.

CollaborateMD kicked off the program in March 2008 by donating the funds needed to purchase 3,000 trees -- one for each active user on its system at the time -- to American Forests. This year, as contributions remain contingent on the Company's new customer acquisitions, 3,500 trees will be purchased to help offset their estimated carbon dioxide output per annum.

"Our Internet-based, hybrid SaaS solution helps to reduce carbon emissions by offering an environmentally safe alternative to server-based applications," commented Douglas Kegler, CollaborateMD president and CEO. "Planting trees to provide an effective means for absorbing and storing the carbon we emit is the next logical step in protecting and preserving our environment for future generations."

Since 1875, American Forests has been working to protect, restore and enhance the natural resource of trees and forests, planting trees in over 500 projects that span every state in the U.S. as well as 21 countries worldwide. Every dollar donated will pay to plant one tree in one of the many projects American Forests has underway and will help the organization reach its goal to plant 100 million trees by 2020. For more information on American Forests or to donate, visit www.americanforests.org .

PPJ Enterprise Acquires Medical Billing Service

PPJ Enterprise (PPJ) (PINKSHEETS: PPJE), a leader in proprietary automated healthcare multi-specialty provider reimbursement cycle technology and EHR development/information management digital system software for health care providers. PPJ Enterprises has focused all of its resources currently on the strategic business development of the medical billing firm PBS. The short term goals for PBS include increasing the number of clients and development of health information systems to provide cost effective support for medical record management and billing processes. PBS will utilize the expertise of PPJ Enterprise executives to attract future clients in the Anesthesia, Pain Management and/or Ambulatory Surgical Center fields.

The first marketing opportunity for PBS comes September 23 to 27, 2009 near Kansas City, Kansas. This Pain Management Training Conference is sponsored by The Society for Pain Practice Management (SPPM); PBS is confident that prospective Pain Management practice clients will attend. The SPPM Meeting Program states that not only will Pain Management Professionals be in attendance, but also invited are their office staff and medical billing decision makers. Attendance statistics are unknown, but SPPM is one of the well known and the oldest Pain Management Professional Association in the United States. There are only a handful of pain management medical billing specialists in the industry, so by addressing this target market, PBS will generate significant interest by attending this trade show.

The website is vital to online marketing and to generate prospective client interest. So PPJ Enterprises has been working with a contracted web developer to put together an interactive website for PBS prior to attendance at the SPPM conference. The PBS website will provide prospective clients information about their medical billing services, and examples of actual reimbursements for various anesthesia, pain management and ambulatory surgery center payments. In the future, this website will also allow established clients to view their medical billing accounts securely from the internet.

PPJ Enterprises has retained an RHIT consultant. Mrs. P. Madero (Madero), MBA, a registered health information technologist (RHIT), has over 9 years of medical billing and coding experience. An RHIT professional ensures the quality of medical records by ensuring completeness and accuracy of data entry, reviews and develops health information systems to analyze patient data, and is trained in coding diagnosis and procedures for medical insurance reimbursement. Madero's expertise will be valuable in effectively coding for new PBS clients, but will also be retained for further development of PPJ Enterprises' medical practice management system, Automated Biller.

PPJ Enterprise is currently trading under the symbol PPJE.PK

For more information please contact: PPJ Enterprise Management at (775) 348-5735, website: www.ppjenterprise.com , email: pm@ppjenterprise.com

Forward-Looking Statements

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains or may contain forward-looking statements such as statements regarding the Company's growth and profitability, growth strategy, liquidity and access to public markets, operating expense reduction, and trends in the industry in which the Company operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to other risk and uncertainties, including those more fully described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forwarding looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in risks, uncertainties or assumptions underlying or affecting such statements, or for prospective events that may have a retroactive effect."

At the Company: P. Madero Investor Relations Consultant PPJ Enterprise (775) 348-5735 Fax (888) 213-5031 Email: pm@ppjenterprise.com http://www.ppjenterprise.com

Work at Home and Make Big Money? Let the Wise Be Wary

MOST of us think we’re far too savvy to be taken in by some advertisement promoting a work-at-home opportunity that promises great income with minimal work. That’s for those rubes who also fall prey to Nigerian e-mail messages promising untold riches or who believe that a pill a day will melt fat away.

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The Better Business Bureau says that Web sites, especially social networking ones, are fertile ground for ads promising to show customers how to make thousands of dollars working from home, with little training or investment.

Uh, well, no. A friend (and yes, it is really a friend, not me) who considered herself a sophisticated consumer recently signed up for one of those work-at-home offers.

Like many of us, my friend (who, understandably, doesn’t want to be named because she is somewhat embarrassed about this), is worried about finances and was, therefore, receptive when she came across an article online in The “Miami Gazette” about opportunities to work at home. She doesn’t even remember how it popped up on her computer.

When I checked out the Web site, I have to admit, it looked legitimate — except that The Miami Gazette does not exist. It apparently was a paper in the 19th century. The article begins with general thoughts about the economic situation and how online jobs from home may be the next big thing. Then it zeroes in on, and praises “Easy Google Profit,” which offers people work from home posting links on Web sites using text advertising applications.

The “Reader Response” also seemed genuine, complete with misspellings: “Mikey” says, “Thanks for the info, just started 3 weeks ago. I’ve gotten 2 checks for a total of $1900, pretty cooll.” Other readers chimed in with their success stories.

But you need to be wary. Every link in the story sends you to “Easy Google Profit.” And in tiny type right below the newspaper logo, there’s this line: “This publication is an article advertisement for Easy Google Profit.” Oh, and you want to send in a reader comment? Comments are “closed due to abusive spam (back soon).”

My friend didn’t notice the warning signs. Once you know they are there, they appear obvious, but otherwise your eye just bounces over them. She signed up with her debit card, but quickly realized when she had trouble linking back to the original site that something was awry. So she figured at worst, she was out the $2 that she spent for a kit telling her how to start up this business at home.

But it turns out that according to the fine print in the terms and conditions, which she never saw, she had unknowingly authorized this company to charge $72 to her debit card every month until she called to cancel.

Fortunately, her bank picked up that something was not right and alerted her to a possible fraud. Of course, the phone number she was given for the company did not answer. In the end, to avoid any possible charges, she did what some consumer experts advise when you’re caught in a similar scheme — cancel your credit or debit card and get a new one.

I e-mailed the company through its contact information, but never received a response. There is no phone number on the Web site.

“I can’t believe I fell for this,” my friend said. And she is not alone. The Better Business Bureau received 3,539 complains last year about work-at-home companies, and that number was actually down from 3,662 in 2007. But Allison Southwick, a spokeswoman for the bureau, says that her agency is “very concerned about seeing a rise in instances of fraud targeting job hunters this year in light of the increase in the unemployment rate.

“Scammers,” she added, “read the headlines and anytime people are vulnerable, they’ll take advantage.”

Social networking sites like Facebook are fertile ground for these types of ads, according to the Better Business Bureau. The ads link to blogs that were supposedly created by real people who breathlessly tell you how they’re making thousands a month through this or that company — and then conveniently link you to the great offer.

The Federal Trade Commission, which gives tips to consumers about spotting and avoiding work-at-home schemes on its Web site, notes that such schemes generally fall into these three categories:

¶Setting up a medical billing business: The claim is that there is a great need for billing services in the health care system, and that you can earn substantial money doing billing, accounts receivable and electronic insurance claim processing at home. No experience is necessary, the ads promise, and the initial investment is a mere $2,000 to $8,000 for software training and technical support.

The reality, however, is that it’s very difficult to find clients, start a business and generate revenue, let alone cover the initial investment.

¶Envelope stuffing: The pitch usually states that for a small fee, you will get information on how to earn money at home stuffing envelopes. Later, it often turns out that the promoter never had any employment opportunities and that the only way you’ll make any money is to place similar ads in a newspaper advertising envelope stuffing. So you’ll earn money scamming other people.

California Attorney General files charges in Medi-Cal fraud against the dead

As part of his relentless effort to put the brakes on Medi-Cal fraud (California’s Medicaid program), Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has filed criminal charges against more than two dozen in-home healthcare workers who "shamelessly bilked" Medi-Cal by billing for services in the names of program recipients who were in fact dead, hospitalized or incarcerated.

This program is easy pickings for fraudsters: under Medi-Cal's In-Home Supportive Services program, workers who perform non-medical services for qualified Medi-Cal recipients may submit timesheets for housekeeping, grocery shopping and meal preparation that are signed by the recipients. In-Home Supportive Services costs the taxpayer $2 billion per years; twice as many Californians received these kinds of services as did in 1999. It was a 2008 audit revealing that many payment requests had been performed for individuals who were dead, in prison, or hospitalized that caused Brown and the California Department of Health Services to initiate an investigation into possible fraud. There is also an investigation to determine the role physicians might have played in this scam.

Today's charges are part of Brown's larger effort to investigate and prosecute those who would defraud Medi-Cal, which receives approximately $20 billion in state funding every year. Over the past two years, Brown has filed legal action against 31 pharmaceutical companies, 7 medical laboratories and dozens of healthcare providers and workers, resulting in criminal charges against 204 individuals and the recovery of $225 million to the state.

The $40 billion Medi-Cal program receives 50 percent of its funding from the state and 50 percent from the federal government.

US Health Care Debate - Single Payer System or Favor the Big Insurance Corporation's Survival

[Best Syndication News] It is terrible that a civilized country such as the United States has put profit over the health of individuals. Catering to corporate interests and making sure that a health insurance company will survive because politicians are bought off in Washington D.C. is a rather disgusting thought. President Obama is making steps towards trying to improve our nations health care, but in the midst of this, the committees are favoring the corporate health insurance companies.

While many people could care less about the health industry it has caused financial disaster for so many families across the country. It has prevented people from getting care that they need. Sometimes health insurance was to blame for these deaths for the pure sake of profit.

Health insurance policies are legal contracts that are unbelievable in nature because they can renegotiate what they will offer a person, while the person buying the policy has no choice but to go along with it if they have a medical condition. A pre-existing condition is the worst nightmare for anyone, so don't get one. If you haven't got insurance and you got a condition, you can't get insurance and if you have insurance and get a condition, you can never lose that insurance. If you work for a company, you might get coverage, but you may have a hard time keeping your job if your rates are too high. While it is against the law to discriminate, you might have to deal with a lot of difficulties with keeping a job.

So why would we want to keep health insurance companies in the loop? What do we need a middle man that has offered mediocre coverage and stripped out benefits year after year? Doctors get pushed into low ball pricing by the insurance company, which makes them have to keep there offices full and visits short. President Obama hopefully is planning in time to shift over to a single payer system.

I laughed when politicians say that we can shop for our health care. I don't see a price chart at the hospital saying how much its going to cost. You just know that after you come out a few months down the road you will have a bill and it is time to scrimp so you might be able to pay for it, that is even with insurance. Without insurance, well, chances are your going to end up filing bankruptcy. One night in ICU could be as much as a brand new car.

Billing nightmares abound because there are too many plans, and insurance companies out there. Doctors spend a good portion paying for medical billing services and staff to get there claims processed. Why not simplify and optimize the medical system?

It is terrible to think that if you kid gets sick that maybe you'll wait and see before going to the doctor or hospital because you know you don't have the money to pay for it. It doesn't make that person a bad person, it's our medical system that is messed up, and this is the time to make the ethical and correct choices that represent the people, and not the corporations.

Politicians need to consider all their options, including single payer healthcare system.

Health record identity theft a growing concern among medical providers

Medical identity theft can cause a victim’s medical record to get corrupted with the thief’s, potentially compromise their medical care and lead to false billing.

In this era when health insurance is gold, the fortunate need to be aware.

Taking the theft one step further, corrupted medical records can lead to denied coverage down the road.

The potential harm can be as far-reaching as the more common identity theft for monetary purposes, but attention to medical identity theft has been scant in comparison, according to a January report done for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

That could change May 1 when new rules kick in, requiring hospitals, doctor’s offices and clinics to have policies in place to detect and deal with medical identity theft.

The healthcare industry isn’t the sole target of the upcoming Red Flags Rule; , the intent is to cover all industries that provide “credit” to consumers and guard against all forms of identity theft.

The new rule is a consequence of the 2003 Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act signed by President Bush to protect consumers. Folding in protection against medical identity theft signified a commitment to broad consumer protections by the federal government.

The new rule was intended to take effect Nov. 1, 2008, but the federal government agreed to a delay after the American Medical Association (AMA) said doctors weren’t sufficiently informed the rule would apply to them.

In the end, the AMA didn’t prevail. The federal government set the May 1 deadline and is offering a six-month grace period before enforcing.

Moreover, the AMA contended healthcare organizations were not “creditors” in the true sense. The AMA also said healthcare providers already were in compliance because of privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Compliance involves extra training of patient registration personnel in spotting fake IDs from real identification cards and verifying information against existing internal records.

Southwest Florida hospitals say they don’t take issue with the new rule.

At the same time, hospital officials say thieves can always find a way to get what they want. The emergency rooms are the most vulnerable when treatment first, identify yourself later, is often the case because of life-threatening injuries.

Most of the hospitals have purchased extra computer application that can do additional patient verification checks, but that measure wasn’t necessarily prompted by the Red Flags rule.

“People come in and know how to use the process,” said Todd Lupton, chief financial officer of the Physicians Regional Health Care technique in Collier County.

“A lot of people on Medicaid are passing around their Medicaid card,” said Stanley Padfield, director of health information management and the privacy officer for the Lee Memorial Health technique in Lee County. “They keep it in the relatives. Things like that happen. The Red Flags Rule is not prepared to deal with it.”

One agency’s survey nationwide found that 4.5 percent of the 8.3 million victims of identity theft also experienced some degree of medical identity theft.

From a numbers standpoint, agencies grasp at how often medical identity theft occurs.

“That is the risk in any organization,” said Kelly Daly, director of internal audits/compliance and the privacy officer for the NCH Healthcare technique in Collier County.

Theft of patient information by employees is another scope of the problem, though hospital officials say that's a tough one to deal with.

A safeguard technique at NCH is audit application that tracks employees who have opened a patient’s medical record.

The problem of internal theft hit home in Southwest Florida in September 2006, when a front table clerk of Cleveland Clinic in Weston was indicted and accused of stealing personal information, including Medicare and Social Security numbers, of over 1,100 patients of the then- Cleveland Clinic in North Naples off Pine Ridge Road. The employee, a 22-year-old woman, sold the information to her cousin for false Medicare billing.

The theft occurred sometime between May 2005 when the woman was hired and before her indictment in September 2006. seven months before her indictment, the Naples hospital was sold to Naples-based Health Management Associates, which later changed the hospital’s name to Physicians Regional.

The Red Flags rule is prompting additional training to patient registration personnel for spotting suspicious identification or fake cards, said Lupton, of Physicians Regional. At the same time, the hospitals at Pine Ridge and Collier Boulevard have yet to see fake passports or driver’s licenses, they said.

A breakdown in the technique is possible when the application technique is down or when there isn’t patient history in the process, they said.

If employees are presented with suspicious identification or given questionable information, a supervisor is called and the patient will be questioned. The hospitals have ways to verify data from previously obtained information and to check out insurance cards, said Shari Boyer, executive director of patient financial services for Physicians Regional.

At the Lee Memorial System’s one hospitals, the patient database has 1.2 million names and identifying information. When information a patient has given doesn’t match up with what is on file, a new patient record will be created until there is a resolution, Padfield said. The purpose is to avoid corrupting an existing patient’s medical record.

“You cannot stop the care no matter what. You treat them but they are not put in the database as they say who they are,” they said.

In general, the suspicious person’s care turns into bad debt because they didn’t actually steal services, they said.

What people are seeking with medical identity theft is free health care but theft doesn’t occur when a suspicious patient’s information is kept out of a legitimate patient’s file, they said.

At the NCH process, which operates Downtown Naples and North Naples hospitals, patient registration staff are undergoing more training for the Red Flags rule, said Sandy Wood, operations director of revenue cycle.

In addition, NCH is working with a vendor to potentially subscribe to a database technique that's used by the federal government to determine phone records and addresses, Daly said.

“It can tell us if a number is a phone booth or if an address is a vacant lot,” they said, adding that the decision hasn’t been made yet whether to buy the program, which goes beyond the requirements of the Red Flags rule.