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Cited: CNNMoney.com

According to a seasonally adjusted report by the Commerce Department, newly constructed home sales rose for the fifth straight month in August.  They inched up 0.7% from July, which is 3.4% lower than a year ago.  According to this seasonally adjusted annual rate, 429,000 more homes were sold and that is an increase from a downwardly reading of 426,000 in July.

August sales came in well below economists’ consensus estimate of 440,000, compiled by Briefing.com  New home sales were also 3.4% below August 2008, when the estimate stood at a 444,000 annual rate.  The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new home inventory at the end of August was 262,000, which represents a 7.3-month supply at the current sales rate.

“Price cuts and dramatic cutbacks in home construction are clearing out inventory in a big way,” said Mike Larson, analyst at Weiss Research, Inc., in a research note. “We now have the fewest new homes for sale in this country since November 1992.”

In fact, supply is almost at the point where prices “can be expected to be broadly stable,” said High Frequency Economics analyst Ian Shepherdson in a research note.

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In recent months, plunging mortgage rates have helped draw buyers into the market. Though rates have rebounded slightly to 5.36% for a 30-year fixed mortgage, levels are still well below last year’s rates, which stood at 6.32% in August 2008.  The housing market has also seen a boost from an $8,000 tax credit for qualified first-time home buyers. That credit is currently slated to expire December 1.

But it is not all good news in the housing market. In a separate report, the National Association of Realtors said that August sales of previously-owned homes fell 2.7% from July to 5.1 million units, well below analyst expectations of 5.35 million.

Where homes are selling?  Sales in the West jumped by 12.1% to 120,000 homes, from 107,000 in July. Activity in the South stayed flat at 224,000 units.  The Northeast saw new home sales plunge 16.3% to 36,000, from 43,000 the previous month. Midwestern sales also fell, by 5.8% to 49,000.

Median and average prices: The median sales price of new homes fell significantly, to $195,200, from a revised $215,600 in July. The average price sank to $256,800 in August from $273,100.

“With more first-time buyers in the market than usual, the published median price data will likely keep falling,” he said.

“The big question is, what happens after the first-time buyer tax credit expires?”

That is one of the top questions right now.  Many of the new homes being sold are smaller residences being sold first-time buyers in the median prices do not take into consideration this as Shepherdson noted.  However, as of this posting there is an effort to extend the first-time buyer tax credit into next year and this could have a drastic change on the median prices of newly constructed homes next year.

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My Take: I am utterly confused by this article.  However, it seems interesting at the same time.  I think it’s all the information it was thrown into something that I think could’ve been just said in a few words like “new home sales are on the rise”.  I think that is all the average person really wants to know, besides when the price is still low or not.

I guess it would not make any difference whether it was Kentucky or Houston real estate that the article were talking about as long as it indicates that new home sales are rising.  But, what about the foreclosures in Houston?  Are they reducing?  What about Kentucky?  What about the rest of the country?  I know you can get KY refinancing when you purchase a Kentucky home.  There is a company that has Louisville mortgage loan programs available to help people avoid foreclosure.

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Neighborhood Security

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Cited: Associated Press

An accused bomber scoured the web and visited beauty supply stores on a hunt for chemicals needed to build bombs for the Al-Qaida.  That accused bomber is Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi.  Authorities are calling the alleged plot one of the most significant terror threats in to the US since 9/11.  However, the 12 page memorandum that outlined the alleged conspiracy sent chills down backs of those reading it because the route a repeated phrase “and others” that gave evidence of a possible Al-Qaida cell plotting a homemade bomb attack on US soil once again

Zazi, a 24-year-old coffee cart owner in New York and Denver airport shuttle driver, was charged in New York with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. He was to appear in court in Denver on Friday.

Since he was arrested a week ago on a lesser count of lying to terrorist investigators, investigators have fanned out over New York City, going to beauty shops, home improvement stores and neighborhoods Zazi frequented looking for possible accomplices, while the government issued national terrorism warnings for sports complexes, hotels and transit systems.

Prosecutors said they have yet to establish exactly when and where the Zazi attacks were supposed to take place. But Attorney General Eric Holder said in Washington, “We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted.”

A law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Thursday that Zazi had associates in New York who were in on the plot. Court papers say that during the summer, Zazi and three unidentified associates bought “unusually large quantities” of hydrogen peroxide and acetone – a flammable solvent found in nail-polish remover – from beauty supply stores in the Denver area, products with names like Ion Sensitive Scalp Developer and Clairoxide.

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He searched a Queens home improvement store Web site for another ingredient needed to make a compound called TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide), the explosives used in the London bombings that killed over 50 people, prosecutors said.

Zazi has publicly denied being a terrorist since his arrest. He left the Denver court without commenting.  The government motion seeking to deny bail laid out a chronology of the alleged scheme, which prosecutors said had been in the works for over a year.

Zazi – a legal U.S. resident who immigrated in 1999 – began plotting as early as August 2008 to “use one or more weapons of mass destruction,” when he “and others” traveled from Newark, N.J., to receive explosives training in Pakistan, prosecutors said.

Within days of returning from Pakistan in early 2009, he moved to the Denver suburb of Aurora, where he used a computer to research homemade bomb ingredients and to look up beauty supply stores where he could buy them, according to prosecutors.

A second law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation said associates of Zazi visited Colorado from New York to help him buy the chemicals, using stolen credit cards to make the purchases before returning to New York.

Security video and receipts show that some of the purchases were made near a Colorado hotel, according to court papers. On Sept. 6 and 7, Zazi checked into a suite at the hotel with a kitchen and a stove, the papers say, and tried to contact an unidentified associate “seeking to correct mixtures of ingredients to make explosives.”

“Zazi repeatedly emphasized in the communications that he needed the answers right away,” the papers said. “Each communication” was “more urgent than the last.”  FBI explosives testing later found residue in the vent above the stove, authorities said.

On Sept. 8, court papers say, Zazi searched the Internet for home improvement stores in Queens before driving a rental car for a two-day trip to the city. The visit triggered a series of searches in Denver and New York City over the past two weeks, and netted backpacks, cell phones and a scale at a home where Zazi spent the night.

A law enforcement official said Thursday that authorities had been especially worried about Zazi’s Sept. 10 visit to the city because it coincided with a visit by President Barack Obama, and considered arresting him right away. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation continues.

Beauty supply store employees in New York and the Denver suburbs said authorities had been there recently asking whether anyone had come in buying a lot of hydrogen peroxide or acetone.  At Beauty Supply Warehouse in suburban Denver, Paul Phillips said a co-worker told investigators he had sold chemicals to Zazi. Company president Karan Hoss said the firm turned over security video of a man matching Zazi’s description to the FBI. A check of sales found that someone bought a dozen 32-ounce bottles of a hydrogen peroxide product in July. More was purchased in late August, Hoss said.

A Perry in court because they lied to investigators were Zazi’s father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, and a New York City imam, Ahmad Wais Afzali.  Receiving a hearing for October 9 in Denver Mohammed Zazi, 53, was ordered freed under court.  Afzali was released in New York on $1.5 million bail.  He was accused of tipping off the Zazis that the feds were investigating them in a tapped telephone call,.  Afzali’s attorney, Ron Kuby, denied his client knew anything about a plot.

“Obviously, the government would not be consenting to bail if it thought he was involved in a terrorism conspiracy,” he said.

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My Take: The thing I do not understand is why did we make him a citizen in the first place?  That seems a little unusual to me.  I am sorry, but I do not think we should be making anybody else citizens of this country if they are from Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan because of people like this.

“Send us your tired, your poor, your huddle masses,” does it mean we need to take in every person who’s dissatisfied from another country.  It is time that big brother put his foot down on the throat of all immigrants.  I apologize is just that this type of thing really makes me angry.  I do not like the rules of Homeland security has, yet they are necessary and sometimes I agree with them.  I know, I am contradicting myself.

Our country has been one that has accepted everybody into it.  Maybe it’s time that would put a stop to it for a while.  Not because of the threat of terrorism, but because we are beginning to get just a little bit overcrowded.  We can barely feed the people or own country let alone those of another.

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Cited: Time

You expect your friends and even some colleagues to talk about you in various ways.  Many may talk about you on FaceBook and other in social networking sites, which are a treasure trove of inappropriate and embarrassing photos and even breaches of confidentiality.  However, we do expect to find anything about yourself from your doctor?  The answer is quite simple — NO!

A new survey of medical-school deans finds that unprofessional conduct on blogs and social-networking sites is increasing among medical students. Although med students fully understand patient-confidentiality laws and are indoctrinated in the high ethical standards to which their white-coated profession is he or ld, many of them still use FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and other sites to depict and discuss lewd behavior and sexual misconduct, make discriminatory statements and discuss patient cases in violation of confidentiality laws, according to the survey, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Of the 80 medical-school deans questioned, 60% reported incidents involving unprofessional postings and 13% admitted to incidents that violated patient privacy.

“I didn’t expect to find so many incidents of unprofessional conduct,” says Dr. Katherine Chretien, medicine-clerkship director at the Washington, D.C., Veterans Administration hospital and the lead author of the study. As a physician responsible for counseling medical students and residents, Chretien says she assumed that students were “educated about professional conduct online and used better judgment.”

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But medical students, it seems, are no different from the rest of us when it comes to posting drunken party pictures online or tweeting about their daily comings, goings and musings — however inappropriate they may be. Many students feel they are entitled to post what they wish on their personal profiles, maintaining that the information is in fact personal and not subject to the same policies and guidelines that govern their professional behavior on campus. Though medical students would agree that physicians — and other professionals, like teachers — should be held to a higher standard of integrity by society, the new study suggests that they’re confused by how rules apply, especially in cyberspace, once the white coat comes off. “They view their Facebook pages as their Internet persona,” says Dr. Neil Parker, senior associate dean for student affairs for graduate medical education at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. “They think it’s something only for their friends, even though it’s not private.”

That attitude is largely dictated by age, says Parker. In focus groups involving students, faculty, administrators and staff, the school has found a clear generational divide between those who tend to blur the line between their personal and professional lives and those who don’t. Younger students were more likely than older staff members to believe that their thoughts and opinions were valid to post online, regardless of their potentially damaging or discriminatory impact on others.

The issue is especially relevant when it comes to discussing patient cases. Laws prohibit doctors from talking about patients using individually identifiable information. However, as Chretien notes, sharing patient-care experiences can be a useful and powerful learning tool for medical students that encourages “reflection, empathy and understanding,” she writes in the paper. Although discussing their experiences online may be allowed, students must be made aware that identifying information is not limited to patients’ names and that divulging other characteristics and details often violates patient-privacy laws.

According to Chretien, medical schools need to change their curriculum to include a better explanation of what is and what is not covered under patient-privacy laws.  As well as making sure that all medical students are aware of privacy settings on social-networking sites.  A task force, that includes students, has the task of creating guidelines for students to follow to help them decide what to post and what to keep to themselves was created at UCLA by Parker. “It’s going to be difficult,” he says. “Most students want us to provide them with education and guidelines, but not policies. It is a different culture; we always say we have to be culture-sensitive to our patients, but we have to be culture-sensitive to our students as well.”

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My Take: In the education of medical professionals, this should be a priority!  A class that emphasizes patient privacy should include what a medical professional can discuss on any patient, anywhere including FaceBook or Twitter.  I do not think they should be discussing in detail or any other way what is wrong with a patient on any social-networking service.

I am sure that any of the interns would not appreciate another medical professional talking about their Fort Walton Beach hair replacement surgeon and how that doctor changed his looks or how a female intern went to a surgeon for Destin Florida breast implants to improve her parents.  In fact, they would probably be the first ones to complain about it.  Then they should stop to think how the patients must feel.

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Cited: Associated Press

Students are a lot more vulnerable to the swine flu virus because it easily spreads in classrooms.  Because it takes a heavier toll on children and young adults, schools are desperate in many districts for school nurses.  Many districts have few or no nurses to handle or respond to a swine flu outbreak.

The shortage of school nurses could lead to more students falling ill from the H1N1 virus, which can be particularly dangerous for children with weakened immune systems or respiratory conditions such as asthma, experts say.

“It’s really irresponsible of the school district to not really provide medical oversight while kids are in school,” said Jamie Hintzke, who has two kids in Northern California’s Pleasanton Unified School District, including a son with severe food allergies. The district has one nurse for 15 schools and almost 15,000 students. “I’m playing Russian roulette every single day he goes to school.”

When the swine flu emerged last spring, it was a school nurse in New York City – Mary Pappas at St. Francis Preparatory School – who helped identify and curtail the country’s first major outbreak after she noticed large numbers of students complaining of high fevers and sore throats.  But many schools around the country don’t have a medical professional who can quickly diagnose students and detect outbreaks.

A 2008 survey by the National Association of School Nurses found that only 45% of public schools have their own full-time nurse, another 30% have a part-time nurse, and a quarter don’t have any nurses at all.

The average nurse-to-student ratio nationwide was one nurse for every 1,151 students, but in 14 states there was only one nurse for more than 2,000 students, according to the nurses association. States with the highest ratios include Oregon with one nurse for every 3,142 students, Michigan with one for every 4,204, and Utah with one for every 4,893.

Only 12 states, mostly in the Northeast, met the 1-to-750 ratio recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the association found.  In Michigan, severe financial problems prompted the Pontiac School District to lay off five of its six nurses, who played a key role in the district’s response to swine flu last spring.

“If H1N1 is anything like the prediction, schools without school nurses will be missing their front line of defense,” said Susan Zacharski, the district’s only remaining nurse. She now works in a center for special needs students who are legally entitled to a nurse, but there are no nurses to serve the district’s other 7,200 students.

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With swine flu cases rising with the new school year, districts are depending on teachers, principals and secretaries with little medical training to identify, isolate and send home sick children, as well as monitor absences and illnesses for signs of a wider outbreak.

“We’re asking so much more of untrained staff as far as providing medical management,” said Nina Fekaris, a nurse in the Oregon’s Beaverton School District who is responsible for four schools with 4,300 students. “It’s putting our kids at risk.”  Some teachers complain they haven’t received guidance or training on how to deal with swine flu.

“We really don’t know what symptoms to look for, how to caution our kids or how to protect ourselves,” said Robert Ellis, a first grade teacher at Washington Elementary School in Richmond, Calif. “I’m really concerned about it spreading in the classroom, how many kids will be impacted and the loss of educational time.”

Since it was first identified in April, the swine flu has infected more than 1 million Americans and killed nearly 600, the CDC estimates.  So far swine flu does not appear to be more dangerous than seasonal flu, which kills an estimated 36,000 Americans each year, but it appears to be more contagious and health officials are concerned that it could mutate and become deadlier.

Federal health officials are urging parents to have their kids vaccinated, but the H1N1 vaccine will not be ready until October.  In districts that have them, school nurses are developing plans to screen and quarantine sick students, teaching students proper classroom hygiene, urging parents to keep ill children at home, organizing vaccination campaigns and instructing teachers and school staff how to identify sick students.  In Utah’s Granite School District near Salt Lake City, officials have prepared a pandemic response plan, but the district only has 10 nurses for 89 schools with 68,000 students.

“It would be great to have a school nurse in each school. Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury,” said district spokesman Ben Horsley.

In California, where there was one nurse for every 2,240 students last year, roughly half of the state’s 1,000 school districts do not have any nurses at all.  Among them is the Berkeley Unified School District, which has 17 schools with 9,000 students. The district has a partnership with the city health department to deal with school health issues, but has not had its own nurses for many years, said spokesman Mark Coplan.

“Parents have called to say, ‘Is there a new policy to deal with H1N1? We say, ‘No, it’s exactly the same as seasonal flu,’” Coplan said. “We really want to treat this as a normal situation.”

“What I’m concerned about is anyone thinking this won’t happen here,” Green said. “If there’s no plan in place and people are just acting in an ad hoc way, that’s risky.”

The problem is, there are only 19 states where a specific nurse–student ratio and very few states set money aside to pay for those nurses according to the nurses association.  The director for school health programs for the National School Boards Association, Brenda Green, has been urging school districts to partner with local health agencies, hospitals and nursing schools to prepare for the swine flu in their school districts.

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My Take: When I was in grade school there was always a school nurse at the school.  What is changed in the last 35 years?  Oh, I know, they would rather put the money into highways and government official pay raises.  I can remember in junior high and high school there was a nurse only so many days a week.  At that time, I never thought anything of it.

However, schools need to have a nurse on duty every day school is in!  A teacher cannot be expected to know everything about their students for health purposes.  Teachers have a hard enough job as it is with overcrowding in their classrooms.  As it is, I do not think teachers get paid enough to do the job they are doing!

And I know that many teachers do not like to hear it put this way, but, they are the babysitters for our children as well as their educators.  The funny thing of it is, parents pay their babysitters better than they do their teachers.  What does that say about our society?

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Cited: Daily News

A girl who is a former “Hooters” girl says she has the right assets, but the wrong accent.  This busty beauty says a Times Square Jingle joint refused to hire her for being too ‘ghetto’.  She says “I didn’t have the ‘white’ stuff.”  She is now suing the Hawaiian Tropic Zone for not allowing her to accomplish her dream by working as one of its bikini-clad beauties.

Melody Morales said she was rejected for a job by a manager at the Times Square restaurant who griped, “You don’t speak white” and “you are ghetto.”  The 21-year-old Latina lovely is the latest woman to sue over working conditions at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, where employees in skimpy beachwear parade nightly before diners.

“Not to brag, but I look good in a bikini,” Morales said yesterday. “I could have done a perfect job there.”

The suit says Morales went with her mother to the restaurant last March in search of a job. It claims a manager told her to get lost, saying, “I am not going to ruin my business with your Latin accent.”  Morales, who said her dream job is to pour drinks while strutting her stuff in a bikini, returned to the Hawaiian Tropic Zone months later still in pursuit of a position.  Her suits says another manager instantly rejected her, telling her, “We will not hire you because you have a speech problem,” and “You have a Latin accent.”

“It is 100% illegal to discriminate because of where you’re from or because you have an accent,” said her lawyer, Derek Smith. “Melody certainly has the assets for this job.”

Morales, who sports an ample 34-D cup size, said she was appalled.  “They never even looked at me in a bikini,” she whimpered.

A lawyer for the Riese Organization, which operates the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, said the suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, is “without merit.”

“We are proud of the many Latino and Latina employees in our diverse workforce,” said James Rosenzweig.  The restaurant that bills itself as “The Hottest Place on Earth” is facing a $600 million federal lawsuit from four former female workers accusing an ex-boss of sickening sexual antics.

“I believe everything they’re saying,” Morales said.  Morales, who is of mixed Dominican and Puerto Rican background, works at a bikini bar in Westchester County.

“It was kind of like my dream to work at the [Hawaiian Tropic Zone],” she said. “It’s the bikini, I guess.”

The restaurant is spread across three floors and 16,000 square feet. It features a two-story waterfall, a setting that “tantalizes the senses” and menu items such as hung barbecue ribs and crispy chicken lollipops.

On its Web site, the restaurant features pictures of several of its sexy staff, which include a go-go dancer from Russia, a hostess from Nigeria and a bartender from Puerto Rico.  But Morales said the place has no room for someone with her accent.

“I guess they want their girls to speak white,” she said.

UPDATE

Is Melody Morales ‘ too ghetto’ for Hawaiian Tropic Zone? Judge will let the jury decide and the Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner green lighted the discrimination lawsuit by Melody Morales, who charged that she was denied her dream job because she didn’t “speak white.”

A luscious Latina who sued the Hawaiian Tropic Zone will leave it to a jury to decide whether she’s “too ghetto” to sling drinks in a bikini at the infamous eatery.

“I don’t think accent should play any role in service at a restaurant where the waitresses serve drinks and meals in bikinis,” said Derek Smith, a lawyer for the top-heavy former Hooters girl.

Morales, 22, filed the lawsuit against the Times Square restaurant in January after she was twice rejected for a job by managers who did not much care for her “Latin accent.”

“They’re going to see that she speaks very well,” Smith said. “And I intend to depose all of the waitresses who work there because I am interested to see how well they speak.”

Lawyers for the recently reopened Hawaiian Tropic Zone had tried to have Morales’ suit tossed – and they strongly hinted that she was a hooker after her photos appeared on what they called “very filthy” Web sites.

Smith insisted that Morales is no call girl – merely a busty beauty who fantasized about working in a skimpy swimsuit. Morales has boasted that she would have done a “perfect job” because of her ample assets that look good in a bikini.

James Rosenzweig, a lawyer for the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, declined to comment.  The restaurant in the past has touted its “diverse workforce,” saying 40% of its workers are Hispanic.

“It’s apparent that the real reason that a person would go to the Hawaiian Tropic Zone is similar to why someone would go to Hooters,” he said.

It is obvious why patrons go to the restaurant and it is not to listen to the lovely way to speak.  It is to look at the lovelies and sexy swimsuits and to admire them according to Smith.

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My Take: When I first read the original article, I could not believe that somebody would team soon or speech discrimination.  However, I suppose it is possible that I did not think it be possible for an accent.  The scenario I could see it being involved in is for someone who is deaf who has learned to speak without hearing.  They sound as if they do have a speech impediment, but that is not a reason to discriminate against them.

I definitely agree with this young woman on getting a NYC discrimination lawyer.  Any time that an employer discriminates against employee or even a potential employee, they should be brought to the mat for it.  Then they should contact the NYC attorney for employee rights to get what is due them.  Otherwise, that same employer could do the same thing to somebody else, which is not right.

I hope that this young lady wins her lawsuit, especially after they tried to frame her by saying that she was a hooker.  As far as I have been able to find out, there is no evidence of that and it definitely leaves them open for defamation of character lawsuit.  She might get pretty darn close to the millions she is suing for.

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Beauty is Skin Deep

One cosmetic company is committed to providing its customers with the best in organic and natural skin care, beauty and aromatherapy products.  They carefully select brands for quality ingredients, efficacy, and ethical considerations for products such as organic facial cleansers.  They personally test each and every product ourselves and scrutinize every ingredient listed.  They also ask about manufacturing processes. So you can be assured that their products not only help you feel and look your best, but also help the environment.

Cosmetics Manufacturing

One manufacturer provides providing custom cosmetics manufacturing and distribution services to the global cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries and is fast-becoming a leading global beauty and skin care products manufacturer for private label cosmetics companies as well as serving a growing number of pharmaceutical companies here in the US and abroad.

Cited: Insurance.com

Getting married is an important step in anybody’s life.  It is not only the union of souls but of lives as well.  When two lives become one, their financial responsibilities do the same.  This means that insurance needs are going to change when you get married.  This is when you need to review your policies and make sure you are getting the most out of your insurance.  It has become an important part of protecting your new life together.

Car Insurance

Make sure to inform your auto insurance company or agent that you are married, because many auto insurance companies offer discounted rates for married couples. You may want to get quotes from both of your companies—and maybe some new ones when you’re ready to merge your coverage. A multi-car policy could start saving you money right away—and check for other discounts like a low-mileage discount, if you carpool. Lastly, if you and your spouse will be driving each other’s cars before you combine your coverage onto one policy, makes sure there’s coverage for each of you as a permissive operator. You agent can help with that one.

Life Insurance

Life insurance might be the next thing to consider as you start your life together. Life insurance helps your spouse financially in the event of your death by covering debts you may have incurred, and is equally important to have if you are considering having children or even buying a new home. Discuss how much life insurance you need as a couple today and make sure to regularly review your needs. Even if buying a life policy isn’t in this year’s budget, you can learn about the different types of life insurance for the future.

For those who are looking for life insurance quotes . . . One insurance agency is doing for the Life Insurance Industry what Expedia has done for the travel industry.  Their life insurance specialists whole life insurance quotes that will help you find the best coverage for your family while saving you thousands of dollars on your life insurance premiums.  They are a nationwide brokerage firm licensed in all 50 states.  They do not work for any one insurance company, THEY WORK FOR YOU.  They can also provide you do with a universal, term or traditional life insurance quote.

Health Insurance

Evaluate your health insurance plans, and decide if it’s going to be better to keep individual plans, or make a change. For example, if you have a good employer-sponsored health insurance plan, it may be more cost effective to move your spouse over to your plan (or vice versa). You’ll need to consider long-term plans as well as your immediate needs, if you’re planning on starting a family. If you’re a student, there are often health plans available on campus. And, if you have no coverage at all, you may want to consider a high deductible plan—just to have coverage for a major event.

Additional Homeowners Coverage

If you’ve just moved in together, or bought a new house, you’ll quickly discover that you have a lot more stuff than before—and that doesn’t even include wedding gifts, new furniture or wedding rings. Make sure that all your belongings are covered under your homeowners policy, and if you need to get additional coverage, don’t delay too long.

It’s important to note that homeowners insurance and renter’s insurance, though they do protect the physical structure of your home and its possessions, they don’t always cover jewelry or other expensive “one-off” items. Your homeowners insurance agent or insurance company, will be able to determine what kind of insurance coverage is best for your valuables, and may determine if a rider is needed on your homeowners policy to cover your valuables, such as jewelry.

Another factor you should discuss with your homeowners insurance agent when applying for your rider policy is whether the extension provides “actual cash value” or “replacement cost coverage.” Though replacement cost coverage is more expensive than actual cash value, it provides more coverage because actual cash value factors in depreciation for the item. This means you will only be paid back what the item was worth at the time it was stolen or damaged, not the price you initially paid for it.

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My Take: I know, insurance is not one of the things that newlyweds are thinking about after the wedding.  But they should begin thinking about it fairly soon.  The insurance that they carry not only for life, but medical and vehicle insurance needs to be updated to include the spouse.  It is just like having to let the Social Security Department know that you are now married.  It is something that you just have to do.

Having all of your insurance up to date and correct after you get married in shores the everything will be taking care of if something bad should happen one or both of you.  You would not be very happy if six months after you got married one of you ended up disabled and unable to work and had no insurance coverage.  Worst case scenario, you have children and one of you dies, what happens then?  The surviving spouse now is a single parent and there is only one income.

You need to decide early what is going to happen later in life.  It would be great if we all knew what the future held for us, but we do not.  That is why we must plan ahead!  So the best thing any newlywed couple can do is to plan ahead as soon as possible and then they can get on with enjoying their new life together.

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Other Resources

Drivers Education

The largest academy driving school NY, in the metropolitan area, was founded on the principal of safety in 1968.  They train you on all types of vehicles such as Cars, Motorcycles, Buses, Trucks, Tractor Trailers, and Fork Lift.  That means you can take a motorcycle driving course NY and be able to ride that motorcycle safely.  They are even approved by the NY DMV and that can reduce your insurance premiums.  In fact, they even have an online defensive driving course that offers one of the most trusted and effective defensive driving course options available, providing students with a fully approved safety course designed to help their graduates keep their insurance rates low and protect their driving record.  You could even call it a NY insurance rate reduction course.

Final Preparations

With numerous unique burial urns and memorial urns to choose from, one retailer has the most distinguished cremation urn collection on the web. With affordable pricing and high standards of treating clients with the utmost priority, they have the experience and prestige to make a difficult experience simple and worry-free. Cremation of a loved one or a beloved pet can be a difficult and painful experience.  That is why they are dedicated to give your loved one the respect and thought they deserve. With various urns to choose from, you are sure to find a personal urn for a memorial keepsake.  They specialize in personalized cremation urns, keepsake urns, pendants, burial urns, garden memorials and personalized pet urns.

Another Family Decision

Insurance policies are not the only item new couples need to make a decision on especially after they have bought their first home.  The couple may wish to add a room, change a door or even put in new granite countertops in the kitchen and bathroom.  One thing that will make a new kitchen even brighter is tile countertops.  They last forever and increase the value of the home.  So sit down, look over the samples and choose your new countertop now.

Cited: ApparelNews.net

According to a recent study by Merchants Payments Coalition, merchants and American consumers pay more for credit card fees or interchange fees than in other industrialized economies.  These fees charged by credit card companies are a crucial cost that is becoming increasingly under the scrutiny of retailers who want to trim every cost of business from their mortgages to their utilities.

Two laws currently making their way through Congress were drafted to assist businesses renegotiate those fees.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D–Mich.) introduced HR 2695, the “Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2009.” The proposed legislation was written to create a system in which merchants can collectively negotiate with banks over interchange fees. Sen. Dick Durbin (D–Ill.) introduced “The Credit Card Fair Fee Act,” S1212, which also intends to create a structure for merchants to bargain with banks.

The Electronic Payments Coalition is a Washington, D.C. based group that represents banks and credit card companies. It said interchange fees are merely a cost of doing business and that an average American interchange rate is 1.6%.

But according to the MPC study, released Sept. 14, interchange fees in the United States cost 2% of every transaction, compared with 0.5% charged per transaction in Australia and a 0.3% fee in the European Union.  The study claims banks and credit card companies made $48 billion from American fees in 2008, which is triple what they made from these fees in 2001. The Washington, D.C. based MPC is supported by retail trade groups such as the National Retail Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association and California Retailers Association.

California boutique owners are watching the fight over interchange fees with interest, and they renegotiate their interchange fees with varying degrees of success.

Fred Levine is co-owner of the M.Fredric chain of boutiques, based in Agoura Hills, Calif.  He said renegotiating interchange fees is a crucial part of doing business. “It’s kept our rates low,” Levine said. M.Fredric has done business with Wells Fargo for more than a decade. He fields calls daily from other financial institutions that promise lower rates. Requesting his bank compete against other offers has helped keep rates low. But the success of his company has created better terms for processing fees.

“We pay a fraction of what we paid in the 1980s,” he said. “We used to pay 4.5% for American Express cards and 2% and 3% for Visa and MasterCard will. Our rates have gone down significantly based on the volume of the business and the average size of the ticket.” He did not divulge what the interchange rates were for his store.

Alison Muh is owner of Surly Girl, a Los Angeles boutique and accessories brand. She said lowering transaction fees by 1% meant great savings for her business. However, she said it was a hassle negotiating with processing companies. “The fine print in your contract often has hidden or misleading terms and cancellation fees,” she said.

Diane Merrick is the owner of the Diane Merrick boutique in Los Angeles. She said her processing fees were fair and the various offers to negotiate bank fees never seemed to result in important savings for her one-store boutique business. “It’s major, major work to change, and it ends up with very little change in monthly fees,” she said of renegotiating fees. “This is an important thing for big, big guys. For the little guys, it’s not a big deal.”

The Halloween season is upon us and one merchant is ready for it . . . The hottest Halloween costumes are meant for serious grown-up fun. Steal the show at Halloween, parties, carnivals and other special events with detail-rich hot halloween costumes that turn any celebration into a true party.  This retailer carries competitively priced 2009 hottest Halloween costumes in every style and size.  For fun you will never outgrow of, check out their large selection before Halloween gets here!

Bringing in negotiators

There are better ways to cut fees than going through tough negotiations with finance companies, said James Van Dyke, president of Javelin Strategies, a Pleasanton, Calif. based research firm and consultancy that specializes in the financial-services industry.

He suggested retailers restrict consumer choice to payment methods with cheaper interchange fees. He said the PayPal payment systems and Arco service stations often nudge their customers to make purchases from debit cards or payment options cheaper than the higher-cost credit cards.

The nudging often means offering lower prices to those using preferred-payment systems. Other times, it takes nothing more than a simple request, he said. “A high-end retailer might post a sign in elegantly scripted gold lettering saying: ‘For convenience and safety, [this boutique] respectfully recommends that our valued customers use “XYZ” card,’” he said. Shoppers often take note of the sign and comply.

Reuven Cypers said he believes many retailers, large and small, need consultants to help guide them through the fine print of negotiating processing fees. Since 2001, his Los Angeles–based Associated Merchant Services, a division of Rocky Mountain ATM, has helped retailers find savings from several hundred dollars per month to $300,000 annually by knocking down processing fees.

One basic way to cut processing costs is to not lease credit card transaction machines from fee-processing companies. Cypers said buying machines often can be more reasonable than leasing. Buying a machine can cost $300, compared with leasing a machine, which can be $50 for a common period of 48 months. Like Van Dyke, he recommended nudging customers to use debit cards rather than higher-cost credit cards.

Associated Merchant Services consults with 2,500 merchants, and Cypers said business is growing. “When the economy is doing well, many merchants were not as concerned,” Cypers said about processing fees. “With the economy tightened so dramatically, everybody is concerned with how to save money and help the bottom line.”

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My Take: From a consumer’s point of view, I think they should reduce those damn fees because the merchant usually passes those fees on to the customer by raising their prices.  In never see merchants lowering their prices unless they’re trying to get rid of an overstock item or they are going out of business.  It would be nice to see one merchant who has the courage to follow one economic system.

That system is one that they teach in every economics class.  I believe they call it the “turnover” process.  (But do not quote me on this.)  The idea is very simple.  If you normally sell 20 widgets in a week at $5 a widget, that means you make $100 a week on widgets.  Let us say that the widget only cost you $2.50.  That means that your markup is 50% and you are making $50 profit every week.

How would you like to make $100 profit every week on the same widgets?  It is simple to do!  Usually when items are purchased in bulk, the larger the order, the smaller the cost.  If you normally purchased 20 widgets at a cost to you of $2.50 each, it is possible to order 40 widgets at $1.25, spending only $50.  This means that you could sell your widgets at $3.75, 75% of the price of your competitors, and make $100 in profit.

As you can see, you have doubled your profit and are now able to order and utilize those promotional bags to help increase your business.  This type of profit allows you to expand not only your business, but your advertising potential as well.  You might even be able use those recyclable poly bags and advertise your business as a “Green” business.

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Retailer with Invitations

The goal of this retailer is to make ordering personalized party invites quick, easy and providing friendly service and advice, if you need it. You can reach them by phone or email at just about any hour. Baby Shower Invitations, Birthday Party Invitations and Bridal Shower Invitations are there specialty!

A Fashion Retailer

The hottest and best selling denim skirt in America!  Bleach faded and distressed, and the low rise skirt, as well as the low rise jeans, are available in two colors in medium and dark blue and are guaranteed to make you the center of attention and scream rock and roll style. Looks amazing with boots, and a simple beater.  This retailer is the only place to get them.  While you are checking out their website, take a look at their sexy stretch jeans!

A T-Shirt Retailer

There are plenty of imitation T Shirt Companies floating around the internet, but only one T Shirts Company is the real deal for funny t shirts.  It is the greatest online T Shirt Shop in the history of online T shirt shops.  It has the best deals on hilarious tee shirts.  Whatever style you prefer, rude offensive tees or just an offensive T-shirt, they are bound to have something to your taste. Check out the funny muscle tees and tanks, so you can show off your guns.  The tank tops and muscle shirts have the coolest designs for the lowest prices.  They even have vintage tee shirts in stock.

What is Prom Night?

Did you know that “prom” stands for promenade?  In the US and Canada a prom is a formal or black-tie dance for high school students.  It is typically held at the end of junior and/or senior year.  At which time, every girl in the school will want prom dresses! In the United Kingdom, the term is more widely understood to be in reference to a season of classical concerts, or “proms,” which have been held between the months of July and September since 1895 and now broadcast on the BBC and people are usually where formal or evening dresses.

Cited: Reuters

An indication of a slower pace of the economic recovery is a reduction in the sales of previously owned homes in the United States that was unexpected in four months as of August.  However, this was overshadowed by David indicating a pall in the number of new jobless benefit claims in the US in September.  At the same time, sector banks in Europe and the US scaled-back their massive injections of dollars into the banking system as a markets stabilize after the worst global financial crisis since the “Great Depression”

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said sales of existing U.S. homes fell 2.7% to an annual rate of 5.10 million units, disappointing market expectations for a rise to a 5.35 million unit pace. That was the first fall since April.

Another report from the U.S. Labor Department showed new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 530,000 last week. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected initial claims to rise to 550,000.

The housing report did little to change views that the economy is recovering from its worst recession in 70 years but raised doubts about how long the rebound will last.

“Everyone knows the third quarter (economic growth) is going to be very good, the question is how sustainable is this recovery and will the housing market be able to fly on its own once the emergency government aid is removed,” said Zach Pandl, an economist at Nomura Securities International in New York.

The Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, on September 23 acknowledged activity had picked up and noted the improvement in the housing sector when it left its key overnight lending rate near zero.

A top White House economic adviser, Christina Romer, said on September 24 the U.S. economy was “back from the brink”, but warned policy-makers against removing fiscal and monetary stimulus too quickly.

For those looking for a home in the Nyack New York area . . . The premier Nyack NY real estate agency on the west bank of the Hudson River, in the lower Hudson Valley is at your service.  They specialize in marketing and selling extraordinary properties primarily in Rockland County’s gold coast, its Hudson River hamlets of the Nyacks, Piermont, Grandviews, Nyack riverfront property of Snedens Landing/Palisades.  They offer the finest in luxury real estate in the Nyacks and its surrounding areas.

Stocks on Wall Street dropped on the homes report and worries that authorities might be curbing stimulus too soon. Government bond yields fell as the data strengthened perceptions the economic recovery could falter once stimulus from government spending fades.  Leaders of the G20 group of rich and developing nations were gathering in Pittsburgh to discuss ways of rebalancing the world economy to prevent another banking crisis and recession.

SELF-SUSTAINING RECOVERY SOUGHT

U.S. home sales have been boosted in recent months by an $8,000 government tax credit for first-time buyers and an improving economic picture as well as the lowest prices and mortgage rates in decades.  The tax credit expires at the end of November and NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said the industry group was lobbying to have it extended into next year to avoid what he called a double-dip recession for the housing market.

A housing sector collapse was the main force behind the recession, which started in December 2007.

“The housing market is close to reaching a point of self-sustaining recovery. We are pushing for the extension of the tax credit so that we achieve this,” Yun told reporters.

The decline in August sales was a minor retreat after a strong rise in July, Yun said, and issues related to appraising home values could have led to delays or cancellations of contracts to buy homes. Pending sales contracts rose in July.  Despite the monthly decline, Augusts’ sales pace was the second-highest in 23 months, and sales of previously owned homes rose 3.4% compared to August last year.

The August national median home price of $177,700, off 12.5% from August last year, continued to be weighed down by distressed properties, which accounted for 31% of sales last month.

The inventory of existing homes for sale in August fell 10.8% to 3.62 million units from July, the NAR said. Augusts’ sales pace left the supply of previously owned homes on the market at 8.5 months from 9.3 months’ worth in July.

“Supply is getting close to the level of 7.5 months that has historically been consistent with stable house prices,” said Paul Dales, U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

“That said, home sales remain 30% below their peak and the fall back in August illustrates that the recovery is going to be gradual and patchy rather than quick and firm.”

Stubbornly high unemployment continues to cast a pall over the strength of the economic recovery, which many economists agree is already under way.  While fewer workers submitted applications for unemployment benefits last week, analysts said initial claims had to fall below 500,000 to signal a recovery in the labor market.

“The labor market is stabilizing. We’re not quite down to the level that would signal that the economy is creating more jobs than it is losing, but we could reach that point later this year or early next year,” said Gary Thayer, a strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis, Missouri.

What is considered a better gauge of the labor market trends is the four-week moving average of new claims, which has dipped to 553,500 the lowest since January according to the Labor Department.  After the initial week of benefits, the number workers drawing unemployment after the first week of benefits fell 123,000 to 6.138 million in the week ending September 12.  Ace any decline in jobless claims on a weekly basis bodes well for September’s US nonfarm payrolls report that is due out October 2.

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My Take: Well, some good news comes out of Washington DC.  It would be nice if they extended the tax break for first-time homebuyers.  It might give those that are only dreaming about owning a house a chance to fulfill that dream.

That would mean that people who are utilizing suburban property management companies to maintain the houses they own would be able to sell one if they wanted to and get the money they are worth.  The recession has caused house prices to go down so many people have even turned to Maple Grove home rental services just to pay the mortgage on their first house because they could not sell it.

Another people seem to be going back to work, they will also be able to board the house that they have.  Everything gets me about unemployment is affected many people will not take the “shit” jobs because they do not pay enough.  The jobs I’m talking about or like McDonald’s or Burger King.  The idea is to have income and be able to put food on the table for your family, not the shame of having to take such a job.

Places like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell also need to stop and think about who they are hiring.  I have seen many of these types of companies not hire someone because they are overqualified just to hire a teenager instead.  Yes, the overqualified person may not be there long, but you at least know that at the get-go.  A teenager, you never know how long they are going to stay and if they will even be able to do the work as directed.  I am sorry, I would rather hire 10 overqualified people then 3 teenagers.

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Small Business Finance

One financial company’s business model was engineered from the very beginning to provide small business financing to merchants at the lowest possible cost with no “fine print.”  They are the only financing company in the industry to disclose full financing information right on their web site.  They have been providing small business owners with an alternative to traditional bank financing, which is very difficult to obtain and out of reach for most merchants.  They understand that as a small business owner, traditional bank financing may simply not be an option.  That is why they offer an alternative, small business fast cash to merchants in need.

Arizona Foreclosures

If you have gotten a foreclosure notice, taking immediate action is the worst thing you can do. You are about to make one of the most important life decisions regarding your financial future. You absolutely must slow down the process and get the facts!  One team of experts has contacts in all areas of the real estate business, from contractors, title companies, and lenders.  There technology and systematic approach has allowed them to become a leader in the Phoenix Arizona foreclosures arena.

Cited: Reuters

On September 22 the US Food and Drug Administration took the first steps in reining in the tobacco industry implementing a ban on candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes.  This ban required a law be passed earlier this year, gives the FDA more power over tobacco products in the hopes of preventing children and teenagers are starting to smoke.

“Candy and fruit flavored cigarettes are a gateway for many children and young adults to become regular tobacco users,” Dr. Lawrence Deyton, head of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, told reporters in a conference call.

In June, President Barack Obama signed legislation allowing the FDA to oversee the manufacturing and marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products, including regulating ingredients and limiting advertising. The agency must also approve any new tobacco products.

Still, the bill excludes any immediate action on menthol, or mint, flavored cigarettes that are used by as many as 12 million Americans, including most African-American smokers. Lawmakers instead called on the FDA to study the issue.  It is not immediately clear how effective the ban will be or what impact it will have on smoking habits.

“Although it will take time for it to have a 100 percent effect … it will have a dramatic effect on children and young women who are most likely to smoke these products,” said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families.

Children who already smoke may switch to regular cigarettes, but many will be reluctant try smoking if products don’t taste good, she said. “I think it does make it harder for companies to try to get away with anything,” she added.

The ban in unlikely to affect U.S. tobacco companies such as Altria Group Inc’s Philip Morris unit and Lorillard Inc’s Lorillard Tobacco Co, which do not make flavored cigarettes.  But some advocates have already expressed concern that smaller companies will simply shift their attention to cigars, snuff and other tobacco products not covered by the ban.

For those who live with a smoker and do not like the smoke smell . . . Washington DC maid service is tailored to meet the needs of each and every one of their clients.  They use household cleaning products that are designed to meet all of your specific requirements, including pets and allergy concerns and they never take for granted the fact that you have a choice when it comes to who cleans your home or property and how.  These Fairfax cleaning VA maids are at your beck and call!

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which supported the FDA’s new oversight, said the nation’s top distributor of clove-flavored cigarettes, California-based Kretek International Inc., now sells clove cigars that look and taste like its clove cigarettes.

One company that imports its products, Kretek, could not be immediately reached for comment.  Another company Star scientific as well as others that make dissolvable smokeless tobacco products in various flavors they also be affected.  The agency said it would discuss other flavored products according to the FDA’s Deyton.

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My Take: As a smoker, I think this is a good thing.  However, I do not believe that menthol flavored cigarettes are a big threat.  If a child or teenager wants to smoke, they will.  It’s the same old adage of, tell them not to and they will.  Just like many smokers are told that they cannot smoke in certain places and they still try.

I do agree that smoking is not good for you and that I should not smoke.  However, I have other reasons for smoking it still are not good reasons and I still do it.  I do admit that I am trying to stop smoking by using an electronic cigarette.  It is helping me to reduce the amount of regular cigarettes that I smoke.

I think the main issue with smokers is that it is something that is done by choice and everybody has their freedom of choice.  Smoking has always been something people were allowed to do everywhere and only recently have restrictions been implemented.  Many of those restrictions smokers do not mind, but others they object to such as not being able to smoke and drive or smoke as they walk down the street.  Some cities have implemented a “no smoking allowed” within their city limits.  This may cause some problems and I am waiting to see what happens.

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Commercial Real Estate Loans

If capital is to real estate as oxygen is to life, then what this company does is important. Selecting the proper commercial real estate financing structure is as critical to the ultimate financial performance of a real estate asset as is the acquisition decision itself.  They weigh all of their clients’ objectives for a particular asset and its expected performance to create the right combination of debt, mezzanine or equity financing.  And, if necessary in the future, will help you with a commercial loan workout.

College or Corporate

As an ALL-GREEK company that specializes in custom screen printing, custom embroidery, glassware and 1000’s of promotional products as well as being GREEK owned and operated, they can provide you with the Greek tees you want.  This is your #1 screen-printing shop and they cannot wait to provide you with the most fashionable Greek shirts available nationwide.  If you are thinking of something to create brand awareness, or just want to have something special of your own to be proud of while sporting your college letters around the house.  They strive to provide you with the best quality of officially Greek licensed products available anywhere!

California CD Duplication

With this company, data / music / audio cd duplication service you will receive the highest CD copy quality possible.  They have a facility with state-of-the-art equipment dedicated solely to duplication. Combining high grade blank recordable CD/DVD media and top quality data / audio / music CD/DVD duplication equipment, they will duplicate your CD/DVD with fast turnaround time and high playback compatibility.  That means your Hollywood CD duplication will be done with quality and speed.

ADA Accessible

Many venues and events require ADA access, which is why this company offers portable ADA-compliant ramps to match up to its risers and portable stage equipment. These ramps are available to match your stage height, whether it is fixed or adjustable. Additionally, these compliant ADA ramps can be custom designed to meet the needs of the space.  They also provide chair stops that secure chairs from slipping between levels and create a finished appearance.

Cited: For the Record Magazine

It is a fact, that healthcare organizations can accelerate their revenue cycle by installing point-of-service payment processes.  There are many factors squeezing the revenues of hospitals and healthcare systems today that include shrinking patient volumes and decreased donations.  These factors also take a toll on providers need to make sure that they are efficiently collecting the money they are owed for services and treatment they provide as well as maintaining and enhancing patient relationships and satisfaction.

An area ripe for improvement in many healthcare organizations is the collection of the self-pay portion of payments, the out-of-pocket part of patients’ payments that falls outside of their insurance coverage, or the total payment for the growing number of uninsured consumers.

Today’s economy has caused consumer responsibilities to change. Consumers now have a greater financial risk associated with medical treatment as demonstrated by higher copays and deductibles. Also, according to a Healthcare Informatics Webinar, increased consumer financial responsibility does not equate to higher revenues for healthcare providers. To translate increased consumer financial responsibility into faster payment collection and avoid potentially decreased revenues, providers need to increase the ways and means of collecting payments from consumers, both in-person prior to treatment and online after treatment.  By improving the point-of-service process, providers may be able to reap more tangible financial benefits.

Capturing Payments

The increased need for point-of-service payments can be tied to the providers’ desire to receive payment prior to treatment, along with other trends such as a greater number of immigrant and uninsured patients who pay out of pocket, a growing contingent of companies that bypass their insurance providers and pay directly for their employees’ healthcare needs, and the increased use of high-deductible health plans and health savings accounts.

Payment types that can be collected at a point-of-service location fall into four categories. The three expected categories are the following:

1. cash and nonconvertible checks (travelers checks, corporate checks, drafts) that cannot be converted into electronic transactions at the point of sale;
2. checks that can be converted into electronic transactions at the point of sale; and
3. debit and credit card payments with real-time authentication.

And a surprising fourth one:

4. payroll deductions for employees, one of any healthcare facility’s largest constituencies.

To accept these point-of-service payments, providers need to have specific hardware and software in place. Electronic payment processing requires devices attached to workstations for swiping credit and debit cards and check scanners that convert checks to electronic transactions. To process cash payments, virtual cash drawers, department vaults, vault aggregation bank deposits, and cash reconciliation, including management and recording of over/shorts, are necessary.

After accepting payment from patients, the point-of-sale system submits payment information in posting files for both the patient accounting and general ledger systems so that all activity is automatically prepared for direct input. Point-of-sale information is also available for reporting and reconciliation processing for researching transactions, making adjustments, balancing bank deposits, and reconciling accounting systems posting files. Administrative features, such as creating departments and cost centers and reviewing inventory if used to handle non-patient payments, give hospital management the ability to monitor user activity.

Cash payments can be a real headache for healthcare facilities because cash must be manually handled, counted, and deposited. Cash registers for payments in retail environments are generally expensive and focused on higher volume transactions—something most hospitals do not require. Increased emphasis on the self-pay portion of bills places greater demands on cash-handling best practices, such as sufficient separation of duties.

Utilizing a user-specific real or virtual cash drawer system with master vaulting to track monetary assets, starting from the moment of receipt of cash to bank deposits, ensures that payments cannot be lost, misplaced, or stolen. To protect the security of cash payments, providers will install more safes, placing them out of public view and bolting them to the floor.

Credit card and check payments that can be converted into electronic transactions are both easier to deal with at point-of-service locations than cash. Electronically capturing card and check payments reduce “float,” speeds the inflow of funds to the bank account, and simplifies the entire deposit process.

Card swipe and check reader machines process credit card payments instantaneously and convert paper checks into electronic transactions for transmission through the automated clearinghouse network. Offering patients multiple payment methods, including deductions for hospital employees, makes the point-of-service process more like other commerce transactions that are well known by consumers.

Payroll deduction is an interesting point-of-service payment process because serving employees is big business for providers. It’s generally known throughout the industry that healthcare workers are among the biggest consumers of services because their familiarity with how to take proper care of their health leads to more demand.

Setting up payroll deductions from the point-of-service to support this demand involves verifying employee eligibility and creating payroll deduction orders that are fulfilled either once or on a recurring basis. (Recurring deductions need to be sensitive to payroll cycles.) A maintenance method also needs to be implemented to create alerts about payroll changes that affect how automated deductions are executed.

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Discovering Benefits

Benefits for this service touch many aspects of an organization, including streamlining payment processes, improving customer satisfaction, assisting with fundraising, and reducing systems training.  Point-of-service systems offer providers the following front- and back-office operational benefits:

• standardized payment processing across multiple healthcare entities;
• strengthened internal controls;
• reduced training costs;
• decreased printing and postage costs;
• detailed receipt content and sequential numbering;
• increased payment processing efficiencies through a paperless environment;
• reduced “touch” points for each transaction through integration with the general ledger, patient accounting systems, and other tracking systems such as incentive reporting; and
• reduced transaction service time by handling cash, cards, checks, and employee payroll deductions, including the conversion of eligible checks into electronic transactions.

A point-of-service system streamlines payment processing by standardizing the process and reducing the rekeying and rehandling a payment receives as it moves through deposit and posting—a major plus for multi-facility healthcare organizations that may have had disparate collection processes.

Accepting patient payments for any location creates additional collection opportunities. An ideal point-of-service system gives providers knowledge of whether a patient has unpaid bills at another facility and also provides a way to handle interorganization transfers.

Another service finding its way into the point-of-service process is the establishment of financing or payment plans prior to treatment. By creating these accounts ahead of time, providers can accelerate 60 to 90 days ahead of the current billing cycles that wait for adjudication and traditional paper billing to run its course.

Processing non-patient payments has a role as well. Items such as equipment rental fees or class registration can be similar to accepting patient payments except they post to the general ledger instead of the patient accounting system.

Accepting non-patient payments is also useful for processing charitable donations. Some organizations have used a virtual point-of-service system to process donations directly at galas and other fundraising events away from the traditional locations inside the healthcare facility.

In addition to organizational benefits, consumers respond positively to improved point-of-service payment capabilities. Take, for instance, refunds that can be processed electronically through the system rather than through a manual check process. Patients enjoy receiving refunds on the spot as opposed to waiting two to three weeks.

Implementation

Implementing a point-of-service payment system consists of setting up the organization records for specific regions, entities, and departments; establishing the general ledger accounts for offsets and over or short entries; and setting up and training users. Implementation can be tackled in phases, such as one facility at a time, to allow for infrastructure changes to be properly supported and absorbed before tackling the next entity.

The average cost of an implementation for a healthcare facility depends on the number of terminals purchased. For example, a combination check reader and card swipe device costs about $225, while a card swipe reader alone will cost about $85. Add another $200 per terminal for set-up and system configuration, plus there may be minimum fees and training expenses to consider as well.

Removing the analog phone line—which costs about $10 per month—that was used for dial-up credit card authorization terminals can often offset the cost of new devices in two years or less. Meanwhile, the ongoing operation costs consist of maintenance and payment click fees. These fees vary based on hospital size or number of users.

Studies indicate a small hospital (approximately 100 beds) can expect a 169% return on investment after three years. A medium hospital (300 beds) can expect a 288% gain, while a larger enterprise can see as much as a 360% windfall. The larger enterprises generate more savings because they frequently have more than one point-of-service payment process that can be centralized. Eliminating the additional redundancy ends up producing more savings.

Contributing to the successful return are the following factors: a reduction in the cost of taking payments, reduced training expenses, a decrease in exceptions and back-end processing and, naturally, accelerated cash flow. In addition, there are indirect benefits such as improved customer service and a higher quality of work/life for staff.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Moving forward, capturing and handling payments needs to occur in a more structured, streamlined manner in healthcare facilities. Proponents of real-time adjudication want to see the practice incorporated in this area because an adjudicated claim means the self-pay portion is now revealed. Furthermore, if the patient is to be fully empowered to review the financial impact of care prior to treatment, then the current method of insurance claim, adjudication, and settlement is in dire need of reform. This conclusion is not surprising due to the fact that the process is based on an antiquated batch-processing model conceived well before the Internet and the idea of real-time, peer-to-peer communication.

In the future, using point-of-service payment collection will be most effective when paired with real-time adjudication and transparent pricing. Lacking real-time adjudication, organizations created their own internal claim databases that forecast the self-pay portion based on the financial outcome of similar treatment. Healthcare organizations that provide reliable prices to consumers prior to treatment know what to collect at the point of service and can subsequently improve on how it is achieved.

Doing more with less staff is another concern for finance departments. The economy puts financial departments at a greater risk of staff cuts, especially among hospitals with 500 or more beds. Streamlining the payment process by automating point-of-service transactions and integrating them with other systems saves time and enables organizations to devote manpower to other areas.  Organizations must also remember that changing processes at the point of service cuts a wide swath. Be sure to leave enough time to prepare, plan, train, and implement changes.

Obtaining executive buy-in is an important step to beginning the path to more efficient point-of-service operations. However, it should be one of the easiest to achieve because of the obvious benefits in expense, control, and operations. Preparing a return-on-investment report can uncover numerous examples of waste that manual procedures have slowly layered into existing processes. Simple items, such as eliminating analog phone lines used for dial-up swipe terminals, all contribute to greater financial success.

Obtaining employee buy-in should likewise be easy to achieve. Consider that when an employee can improve customer satisfaction with the healthcare process, then job satisfaction is similarly improved. Surveys taken where customer satisfaction is measured on a formal basis reflect that automated point-of-service systems can result in a 15% improvement in how patients view their experience at a healthcare facility.

Introducing and actively using point-of-service payment collection processes can lead to a more efficient billing process and customer service satisfaction—two areas that can generate money and time savings.

Point-of-Service Self-Assessment

1. The following questions assess a healthcare organization’s ability to collect payments prior to or at the time of service:
2. Do you capture sufficient patient and, when necessary, guarantor contact information during the point-of-service process?
3. Do you share a list of prices for treatments and services with patients?
4. If you are a part of a multi&facility healthcare system, are you able to accept patient payments at any entity?
5. Can you accept non-patient payments, such as equipment rental fees or class registration, as you would patient payments?
6. Can you convert check payments into an electronic transaction at point-of-service locations?
7. Do you have separation of duties for staff members who accept payments and reconcile payments?
8. Do you have measures in place to protect cash payments?
9. Are you promoting the collection of payments at the point-of-service to your staff and the general public?

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My Take: I think it is strange that the healthcare industry has not embraced point-of-service before this.  I know they have been accepting credit cards for years, but the system seems a whole lot better.  It saves them money and can also save money for the patient.

For example, a retail business that needs new office equipment, but instead gets used copy machines to save money and then passes that savings on to their customers.  Used photo copiers are definitely cheaper than brand-new ones.  It is the same principle that the healthcare industry should be using.

It is going to take a long time for the healthcare industry to revamp itself.  They are trying to initiate EHRs, which would help patients across the country.  They are trying to reorganize health care insurance so that everyone has medical coverage.  This type of payment system would help alleviate a lot of their financial problems at least.

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