Wednesday, September 26, 2007
iPlace Revolutionizes Consumer Information Access by Delivering Personal Credit Scores Online; Consumer Credit Scores No Longer Inaccessible
"An individual's credit score plays an integral part when they apply for credit cards, mortgages and other types of credit. Unfortunately, consumers have never had direct access to their credit score," explained iPlace CEO Stu Siegel in making the announcement. "iPlace is on a mission to enable consumers to access information about themselves that they've not been able to easily access before."
Until now, the complex formula that synthesizes a consumer's credit report into a three-digit score has been kept secret and only made available to lenders. Credit score access has been a hotly contested issue between consumer advocacy groups, credit bureaus and Fair, Isaac and Co., whose FICO model is widely used by lending institutions.
Currently, there are three bills before Congress that would help enable the disclosure of credit-scoring information to consumers.
The new credit score access capability iPlace now offers through its QSpace.com site empowers consumers to learn their personal credit score and receive a detailed explanation of how the score was derived.
iPlace recently received a $5 million cash investment from Equifax (NYSE:EFX), the country's premier provider of consumer credit data. The companies have also entered into a multi-year strategic alliance to create and deliver the next generation of web-enabled credit products to businesses and consumers.
iPlace's groundbreaking credit score product is not the first time the Philadelphia-based company has enabled consumers to access their personal information. They were the first to give consumers web access to their credit reports and first to offer a web-based credit monitoring service.
About iPlace Inc.
iPlace, Inc. is a leading provider of personally-relevant information about credit, home, neighborhood and other personal assets. The company's services, data and technologies provide compelling information solutions, relationship building tools and transaction facilitation for more than 100,000 online and offline businesses.
Strategic relationships include Yahoo!, Microsoft, Intuit, Freddie Mac, Wells Fargo, Equifax, NextCard, E-Loan, Cendant, CBS Marketwatch, MemberWorks -- (Nasdaq:MBRS) which holds a significant equity stake -- among many others.
Through its family of Web products (iPlace.com, QSpace.com, ConsumerInfo.com, HomeRadar.com, eNeighborhoods.com and FreeCreditReport.com), iPlace receives approximately six million unique visitors per month.
Until now, the complex formula that synthesizes a consumer's credit report into a three-digit score has been kept secret and only made available to lenders. Credit score access has been a hotly contested issue between consumer advocacy groups, credit bureaus and Fair, Isaac and Co., whose FICO model is widely used by lending institutions.
Currently, there are three bills before Congress that would help enable the disclosure of credit-scoring information to consumers.
The new credit score access capability iPlace now offers through its QSpace.com site empowers consumers to learn their personal credit score and receive a detailed explanation of how the score was derived.
iPlace recently received a $5 million cash investment from Equifax (NYSE:EFX), the country's premier provider of consumer credit data. The companies have also entered into a multi-year strategic alliance to create and deliver the next generation of web-enabled credit products to businesses and consumers.
iPlace's groundbreaking credit score product is not the first time the Philadelphia-based company has enabled consumers to access their personal information. They were the first to give consumers web access to their credit reports and first to offer a web-based credit monitoring service.
About iPlace Inc.
iPlace, Inc. is a leading provider of personally-relevant information about credit, home, neighborhood and other personal assets. The company's services, data and technologies provide compelling information solutions, relationship building tools and transaction facilitation for more than 100,000 online and offline businesses.
Strategic relationships include Yahoo!, Microsoft, Intuit, Freddie Mac, Wells Fargo, Equifax, NextCard, E-Loan, Cendant, CBS Marketwatch, MemberWorks -- (Nasdaq:MBRS) which holds a significant equity stake -- among many others.
Through its family of Web products (iPlace.com, QSpace.com, ConsumerInfo.com, HomeRadar.com, eNeighborhoods.com and FreeCreditReport.com), iPlace receives approximately six million unique visitors per month.
# posted by Medical Information : 2:58 AM
The next generation of revenue cycle management: the revenue cycle universe is changing. Are your revenue cycle operations keeping up?
In healthcare financial management, as in most other fields, the only constant is change. Over the years, our changing operational and reimbursement environments have meant that our profession has had to constantly adapt to survive, much less prosper. One constant, however, has been that the most important changes have ultimately had some impact in the revenue cycle arena. Thus, the revenue cycle has required significant attention at all levels of the organization, from CFOs and finance committee members, to the leaders directly charged with delivering revenue cycle results.
The environment of revenue cycle management has, however, changed over the past two years. For one thing, the chief revenue officer (CRO) organizational model has become more prevalent. Thus, leaders are now responsible for functional areas that were not covered by the original group of KPIs, including physician practice management and managed care contracting. Additionally, consumer-directed health care and pay for performance have become part of the landscape, and best-practice KPIs have had to change in response. With the greater financial risk to which these financing arrangements expose providers, hospitals and group practices are "turning their revenue cycles upside down." This means an increased emphasis on upstream and midstream functions of scheduling, patient access (especially preregistration), insurance verification and authorization, financial counseling, point-of-service collections, and health information management. Performance expectations for these functions, in turn, have become tighter and more demanding, in response to the increased financial pressure.
Although they may appear similar, there are considerable differences between the new generation of KPIs and those that appeared in the July 2005 issue of hfm. In particular, three entirely new sections are included here:
* Physician practice management
* Managed care contracting
* Pay for performance: clinical decision support/finance
These sections appear because many CROs have assumed responsibility for these functions, and because without a comprehensive view of all revenue cycle functions, it is difficult to obtain optimal results. Further, many of the suggested practice standards (the numeric indicators) have evolved to reflect changes since 2005, particularly technology's positive impact on worker productivity. The previous article also could not include the suggested practice processes checklist due to space limitations. Used with the numeric standards, the checklist constitutes a powerful and effective assessment tool for hospital and ambulatory care revenue cycle leaders and their CFO colleagues. If financial managers are able to answer yes to most of the questions, and the numeric indicators look good, they can have a high level of assurance that their revenue cycle operations are in good shape.
The data were drawn from a variety of authoritative sources, including:
* HFMA publications, forums, and web site
* American Health Information Management Association publications and web site
* Big-four accounting firms internal standards and client data
* McKesson internal standards and client data
* Hospital Accounts Receivable Analysis report standards
All of these standards are being met or exceeded by best-practice providers nationwide, although of course, not all at the same time.
The concluding paragraph from the July 2005 article is still relevant today: "Certainly, having the numbers alone is not enough. When coupled with a good understanding of industry standards and the process management skills needed to help achieve them, your numbers can tell a story of financial wellness, complete with key indicators trended across time. Remember: How do you know where you're going if you don't know where you've been?"
AT A GLANCE
The revenue cycle management environment is dynamic. Revenue cycle leaders are now responsible for additional functional areas and have to deal with new financing arrangements that expose the organization to greater financial risk. Financial managers can use key performance indicators and the suggested practice processes checklist to determine whether their revenue cycle operations are in good shape or need shaping up.
The environment of revenue cycle management has, however, changed over the past two years. For one thing, the chief revenue officer (CRO) organizational model has become more prevalent. Thus, leaders are now responsible for functional areas that were not covered by the original group of KPIs, including physician practice management and managed care contracting. Additionally, consumer-directed health care and pay for performance have become part of the landscape, and best-practice KPIs have had to change in response. With the greater financial risk to which these financing arrangements expose providers, hospitals and group practices are "turning their revenue cycles upside down." This means an increased emphasis on upstream and midstream functions of scheduling, patient access (especially preregistration), insurance verification and authorization, financial counseling, point-of-service collections, and health information management. Performance expectations for these functions, in turn, have become tighter and more demanding, in response to the increased financial pressure.
Although they may appear similar, there are considerable differences between the new generation of KPIs and those that appeared in the July 2005 issue of hfm. In particular, three entirely new sections are included here:
* Physician practice management
* Managed care contracting
* Pay for performance: clinical decision support/finance
These sections appear because many CROs have assumed responsibility for these functions, and because without a comprehensive view of all revenue cycle functions, it is difficult to obtain optimal results. Further, many of the suggested practice standards (the numeric indicators) have evolved to reflect changes since 2005, particularly technology's positive impact on worker productivity. The previous article also could not include the suggested practice processes checklist due to space limitations. Used with the numeric standards, the checklist constitutes a powerful and effective assessment tool for hospital and ambulatory care revenue cycle leaders and their CFO colleagues. If financial managers are able to answer yes to most of the questions, and the numeric indicators look good, they can have a high level of assurance that their revenue cycle operations are in good shape.
The data were drawn from a variety of authoritative sources, including:
* HFMA publications, forums, and web site
* American Health Information Management Association publications and web site
* Big-four accounting firms internal standards and client data
* McKesson internal standards and client data
* Hospital Accounts Receivable Analysis report standards
All of these standards are being met or exceeded by best-practice providers nationwide, although of course, not all at the same time.
The concluding paragraph from the July 2005 article is still relevant today: "Certainly, having the numbers alone is not enough. When coupled with a good understanding of industry standards and the process management skills needed to help achieve them, your numbers can tell a story of financial wellness, complete with key indicators trended across time. Remember: How do you know where you're going if you don't know where you've been?"
AT A GLANCE
The revenue cycle management environment is dynamic. Revenue cycle leaders are now responsible for additional functional areas and have to deal with new financing arrangements that expose the organization to greater financial risk. Financial managers can use key performance indicators and the suggested practice processes checklist to determine whether their revenue cycle operations are in good shape or need shaping up.
# posted by Medical Information : 2:56 AM
Total E-Commerce: Awkward Attempt at Creating Online Stores
Total E-Commerce is Boomerang Software's solution for filling online store-creation gaps in FrontPage 2000. Microsoft designed its Web site creation and management tool, FrontPage 2000, for small-business and home-office users, but did not include advanced e-commerce features. Thus, third-party vendors have created plug-ins for FrontPage that make it easy to build and maintain catalogues, shopping carts, and credit-card transactions. A dozen such tools are listed on Microsoft's Web site, and most are priced at $250 and up. Total E-Commerce for FrontPage 2000 ($149.95 list) may cost less, but this doesn't make up for its inadequacies.
Total E-Commerce consists of three templates: On-line with Credit Card allows you to create a store that supports real-time credit card transactions; Off-line with Credit Card accepts credit card information so that orders can be processed offline; and On-line without Credit Card lets you send invoices by mail or e-mail rather than deal with credit cards. The installation program adds these templates to the ones that come with FrontPage. Then FrontPage automatically builds a sample store based on the template you choose. You can replace the sample text and graphics with your own text and images. Total E-Commerce also includes a secure instant-messaging client and a file-transfer program.
Once your store is created, it must be uploaded to a Web-hosting service that supports Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) to ensure that your pages will be dynamically created in response to user input. The store can be accessed via a password-protected administration menu. Here you can make additions and changes to your online catalog, modify the list of shipping methods, and apply for a merchant account so you can process credit card transactions online. Expert users can save time by downloading their catalog, modifying it in Microsoft Access, and uploading it again.
Unfortunately, Total E-Commerce is lacking in the help department. You will probably have to consult the full 70-page manual to perform even basic tasks, and there is no online assistance. In fact, we couldn't get past the log-in menu illustrated on page 6-3 until we read the note about passwords on page 7-3. And the manual doesn't always steer you in the right direction; the structure of your catalog database can't be modified to add or remove fields unless you make changes in the ASP pages that the manual warns you not to alter.
We also found that Netscape users who visit your store will encounter multiple problems, including nonfunctional drop-down menus for choosing an item's size and color. When questioned, the company acknowledged these problems (although they were not aware of them) and promised that they will be addressed in future versions. Boomerang Software also claims that the sizing problem is a known Netscape-FrontPage problem and that Total E-Commerce was in turn a victim of this. Microsoft representatives, however, say that there are compatibility features designed to thwart such problems in both Netscape and Internet Explorer. Your stores will function correctly in Internet Explorer, but the supplied graphic designs are awkward and unattractive.
Total E-Commerce consists of three templates: On-line with Credit Card allows you to create a store that supports real-time credit card transactions; Off-line with Credit Card accepts credit card information so that orders can be processed offline; and On-line without Credit Card lets you send invoices by mail or e-mail rather than deal with credit cards. The installation program adds these templates to the ones that come with FrontPage. Then FrontPage automatically builds a sample store based on the template you choose. You can replace the sample text and graphics with your own text and images. Total E-Commerce also includes a secure instant-messaging client and a file-transfer program.
Once your store is created, it must be uploaded to a Web-hosting service that supports Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) to ensure that your pages will be dynamically created in response to user input. The store can be accessed via a password-protected administration menu. Here you can make additions and changes to your online catalog, modify the list of shipping methods, and apply for a merchant account so you can process credit card transactions online. Expert users can save time by downloading their catalog, modifying it in Microsoft Access, and uploading it again.
Unfortunately, Total E-Commerce is lacking in the help department. You will probably have to consult the full 70-page manual to perform even basic tasks, and there is no online assistance. In fact, we couldn't get past the log-in menu illustrated on page 6-3 until we read the note about passwords on page 7-3. And the manual doesn't always steer you in the right direction; the structure of your catalog database can't be modified to add or remove fields unless you make changes in the ASP pages that the manual warns you not to alter.
We also found that Netscape users who visit your store will encounter multiple problems, including nonfunctional drop-down menus for choosing an item's size and color. When questioned, the company acknowledged these problems (although they were not aware of them) and promised that they will be addressed in future versions. Boomerang Software also claims that the sizing problem is a known Netscape-FrontPage problem and that Total E-Commerce was in turn a victim of this. Microsoft representatives, however, say that there are compatibility features designed to thwart such problems in both Netscape and Internet Explorer. Your stores will function correctly in Internet Explorer, but the supplied graphic designs are awkward and unattractive.
# posted by Medical Information : 2:51 AM
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