Blogging + Business

How to Combat Healthcare Billing Fraud

February 4, 2020 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

There are a lot of costs involved in healthcare these days, as we all know, but not all of these costs are justified. Because of the insurance system and the lack of involvement with the patients when it comes to insurance payments, many healthcare providers end up getting paid more than they are actually owed. This can happen both by accident or on purpose, but the result is the same: it has a negative impact on the cost of healthcare and patient trust in healthcare organizations.

There are times when the complicated healthcare system results in unintentional billing errors, which results in the insurers paying more. Sometimes, it’s more malicious. The hospital can end up billing for services that the patient didn’t receive. This is often easy to do because the bill gets sent directly to the insurer, without the patient confirming that everything in the bill is correct. The best way to confront the widespread fraud issue is to have the patient involved in the process; they are the first line of defense when it comes to identifying billing errors.

In a professional capacity, it’ll be accounting managers who are in the best position to help combat these problems. They can help improve internal procedures, encourage patients to engage with the billing side of healthcare, and can spearhead the use of technology to make the billing process more straightforward and transparent.

To learn more about this, take a look at the infographic from the University of Alabama Birmingham outlined below.

Infographic design by University of Alabama Birmingham University of Alabama Birmingham

This post was a collaboration.

4 Ways The Internet Has Improved Our Lives

May 7, 2019 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

Photo by Mateusz Dach from Pexels

The internet has benefited everyone’s life in some way or another. Researching, online shopping, comparing and purchasing, online learning and online banking, the list goes on. The internet has meant that finding solutions to problems has never been easier and quicker. If you have a question, you can search the web for an answer. You can also search online for health issues, get dispensary delivery and use “Doctor Google” to either confirm you don’t need to go to the doctor or that you do. The internet has also enabled collaboration and virtual teams which have meant that people could work together while being geographically all over the place. With online meetings and remote access, staff are now able to work outside the office and save time on travel.

Time has also been saved by checking daily information services such as the news, stock market, and transport timetables. Getting your story via the internet allows you to focus just on the items you are interested in, and perhaps the most significant use of the internet is email. But what else is new? What else can you use the internet for to make your life easier?

Counting Calories

There are several sites and apps for calculating your calorie intake, your protein, your carbs, and your macros as well as being able to track your weight and water intake. These tools are handy if you’re concerned about how your weight, then you can get the lowdown on how many calories a cookie or chocolate bar has. You can also plan your meals and pick the most nutritious and low-calorie foods to help you lose weight.

Finance Management

Personal finance management services are powerful tools for managing your expenses online. You can create budgets, and monitor your savings, and these tools are also free to use. You can even sync your bank accounts, so you have just one place for planning your financial present and future. Having tools like this can be invaluable if you value your money, and can help even the most confused people to become more financially literate.

Improve Your Writing

Grammarly and Polish My Writing are excellent if you want to improve your writing. Perhaps you have the knowledge about a specific topic, and you want to put it into writing but don’t feel like you can due to a lack of confidence in your spelling and grammar. These websites can help you to learn more about and become the writer you always wanted to be. Featuring tools for checking grammar and spelling, as well as other resources for improving your writing, you’ll be thankful you found them.

Improve Your Math

Lots of people have trouble with math, but it’s something that can’t be avoided in life, even if you think that it barely gets used. Trust me, I’m a math tutor. Whether it’s to do your taxes or even just working out whether there’s enough money for groceries, math is something you don’t want to struggle with. Whether you’re a student needing help with an exam or you’re just sick and tired of being inadequate at math, a website such as Mathway can help you become a lot less confused with numbers.

•How has the internet improved your life? Share in a comment below!

This post was a collaboration.

Thank you for reading!

Blogging + Business

The Best Business Ideas to Create a Lasting Relationship With Customers

April 19, 2019 By lyndsinreallife 1 Comment

Businesses are designed to make money–everyone knows that. If you’ve got a business, then it was likely started because you were looking for a better way to make a living. However, simply having a business isn’t enough even if you have a fantastic product. Companies like Apple and Google can afford to have a couple of vocal unhappy customers because it usually doesn’t affect the overall scheme of things. They still make excellent products that are sold in the millions all over the world.

However, if you’re a relatively small business then an unhappy review can negatively affect your business and it’s a good idea to focus on creating a lasting relationship with customers to help you grow your brand in a positive light. People often say that there’s no such thing as bad exposure, but if you’re a small no-name brand with lots of negative reviews, then it’s clearly a bad thing.

In this article, we’re going to talk about a couple of business ideas that are perfect for growing a lasting relationship with your customers.

Source

1. Choose a business that allows you to interact with customers

A business that is focused on interacting with customers is a great way to ensure that you can build a lasting relationship. For instance, consultancy is a fantastic business venture if you love working with clients and empowering their businesses or even their life. Coaching is similar to consultancy and is often used for areas such as fitness and there are even life coaching opportunities. If you can interact with your customers on a regular basis, then it’s a great way to ensure that your business will continue to grow and develop solid relationships with your clients.

2. Choose a business idea that improves the health of your customers

Health is always going to be a huge concern which is why health-focused business opportunities are a great way to solidify business relationships. However, health-based businesses are very common and it’s difficult to really get noticed unless you seek out a niche or growing health-based industries. For instance, the growing cannabis industry in America is a great opportunity and looking for the best wholesale company is much easier because there are fewer around. Alternatively, you could think about digital-focused health ideas such as online checkups and self-help advice.

3. Choose a business that makes your customers laugh or smile

Entertainment will always be a great business opportunity if you want to create a deeper connection with your audience. If your products are capable of making your customers laugh or smile then it creates a fantastic opportunity for you to grow your business relationships. For instance, if you’re in the business of making films, music, video games or even fictional stories, then there’s always the opportunity of speaking to your fans in person when they go to purchase your products in person and you can always have a blog which showcases your product’s development to keep them entertained and informed.

4. Choose a business that can be active on social media

Social media is a great way to interact with your customers and any business idea that can make regular use of social media is the perfect opportunity to build a lasting relationship. Almost any business can take advantage of social media, but there are a couple of business ideas that will make regular active use of it. For instance, any technology-focused company should be using social media to grow their brand, and you should also try to take advantage of social media for the purpose of customer service and feedback. It’s a brilliant way to give your customers a point of contact if they need assistance with your products or would like to offer positive feedback.

5. Choose a business that involves many public appearances

Public appearances are a great way for you to get brand exposure. This means that if you’re regularly able to make appearances at trade shows or even local malls to showcase your products, then it’s going to help you stay in the minds of your customers and will also give you the opportunity to interact with your audience in person. Virtually any business could make regular public appearances, but if there are plenty of excuses to do so (such as a tech business thanks to all of the tech-related trade shows) then it’s a positive for your business and you should take advantage of it when possible. More media and influencer coverage is never a bad idea and will help you create a much larger brand.

This post was a collaboration.

Blogging + Business

Career Focus: Choosing The Qualification You’ll Need To Succeed

February 20, 2019 By lyndsinreallife 2 Comments

If you have decided to refocus your career path and move in a new direction, the chances are that you’ll need to re-enter education in order to do so. Whether you’re looking to make a dramatic change – for example, you currently work in PR but want to move into nursing – or more of a sideways move such as marketing copywriter to marketing campaign manager, you’ll still usually still need at least some form of training and certification in order to transition your career.

However, while you may know you need further education, knowing exactly what type of education you require or which qualification is suitable for your career aspirations can be tricky. Most educational and training courses are wide-ranging, which can mean narrowing down the right one for your specific requirements is a particular challenge. There are, however, a few tips you can follow when trying to decide which course is the right choice for you.

Ask Recruiters

Pexels (CC0 Licence)

To do this, you’ll first need to have an idea of what specific job role you’re hoping to move into. So if you’re a copywriter looking to work in marketing, you’ll need to zero in on which specific marketing role you’d like to do in the future; for the sake of the example, we’ll say that you decide you’d like to be a marketing accounts manager. When you’ve got your job role in mind, you can ask companies who hire marketing accounts managers which qualification they most want to see on an applicant’s resume. It’s usually best to ask at least three different companies in order to develop a consensus, but when you’ve done so, you can be sure you’re choosing a course that recruiters genuinely feel is impressive.

Check Course Providers

Any reputable course provider will seek to ensure that their prospective students make the right choice as to which course they should pursue. As a result, it’s worth researching course providers, and then looking for further guidance on their website. You should be able to find in-depth guides that explain intricacies such as the difference between MSN and DNP for prospective nursing students, whether you need a foundation certificate or diploma in marketing, and similar topics related to your specific career choice on most course providers’ websites, though you can call to ask if you’re in need of further guidance.

Go with What Interests You

Pexels (CC0 Licence)

In the above two examples, the advice is generally only suitable for people that have a specific goal in mind – but what if you’re more open to the different possibilities, and want to keep your options flexible? If this applies to your situation, it’s usually best to opt for whichever course interests you. Look for a course with a recognizable qualification, but otherwise, focus on the syllabus; the chances are that, over the course of your studies, you’ll begin to narrow your preferences and zone in on suitable future job roles naturally. While this approach does not lend itself to certain occupations – nursing, for example, requires rigorous training in adherence with regulation – but for marketing or other arts-based subjects, you can afford the flexibility of a more generalized course.

In conclusion

Hopefully, the tips above will help you to select the right course as you seek to change your career path and enjoy a brighter future as a result – good luck!

This post was collaboration.

Thanks for reading!

Blogging + Business

3 Ways to Make Your Blog More Professional and Profitable

January 16, 2019 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

Blogging is a great hobby, or a way to make some extra money on the side. If you build a big enough following, you can easily make a full-time living out of it. If your blog has been going for a while and you’re thinking about taking it to the next level, you should look into finding collaborations with other bloggers and seeking out companies that are willing to pay you to review your products. But if you’re going to do that, you need to consider how you’re presenting yourself online.

If people don’t think that you’re professional, they’re not going to trust you to review their products. Having a big following is a part of that, but there are plenty of other things that you can do. These are some of the easiest ways to make your blog look more professional.

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Fast Loading Times

There’s nothing worse than a website that doesn’t load quickly. People are only willing to wait around for a few seconds before they’ll get fed up and go elsewhere. If you’re approaching people about collaborations or reviews, the first thing that they’re going to do is have a look around your blog. If they’re waiting for ages for it to load and it runs really slowly, that tells them that you haven’t invested much money in good web design or hosting. They’re also going to assume that you’ll struggle to get new readers because of the slow loading times. There are a couple of different reasons for slow loading times. Sometimes it’s because you’re not using a very good hosting service, but it can also be caused by the theme that you’re using. Some of them simply aren’t built very well and they cause slow load times. It’s worth trying a few different ones to see if it makes a difference.

A Virtual Office

There’s no need to rent out an office space if you’re running a blog, but it doesn’t look that professional if you’re asking people to send things to your home address. Luckily, you can get a virtual office with a mailing address and then have the mail forwarded on to you. This gives the impression that you’ve got a much larger operation than you have and gets rid of any stigma about running the business from home.

Proper Editing

This is such an important part of blogging, but you’d be surprised how many people forget it. If you’re posting articles that are filled with spelling and grammar errors, it’s frustrating for your readers. But more importantly, it shows a lack of care on your part. It doesn’t take that long to read through your posts a couple times and check for any mistakes. If you can’t even be bothered to do that, it gives the impression that you don’t put much effort into the blog. If you’re trying to convince people to sponsor posts and send you products to review, they need to be confident that you’ll write a well crafted, quality post that is going to help them sell more products. If you’re writing badly edited articles, that reflects badly on the company and they won’t want to work with you.

If you follow these basic rules, you can make your blog look much more professional, and find more sources of income!

•What tips or tricks do you have for bloggers trying to make an income? Comment below!

Disclosure: This post was a collaboration.

Thank you for reading!