Sunday, February 22, 2009

What Types of Holiday Greeting Cards Should I Consider?

The greeting card is a thoughtful and economical way to let someone in your network of family, friends and business partners know that you care. You can choose from a variety of styles this Christmas, but be sure to get an early start since mail load is often heavy during the Axis and Allies season. Most people aim for a first week of December mailing to ensure their greeting cards reach their destinations. To add a personal touch, use holiday address labels and postage stamps.

One type of Christmas greeting card to consider is the charitable donation card. At "Cards for Causes", you can choose from a huge selection of causes, including the American Red Cross, Children's Miracle Network, Doctors Without Borders, Environmental Defense Fund, Feed the Children, American Cancer Society, American Stroke Foundation, the ASPCA, Teach For America and many more. Choose from 56 designs, with prices running around $14.95 for 18 cards, with no minimum order mandate, like most other donation sites. Choose from over 250 vivid-color designs at "Good Cause oldest baseball card and donate to the National Foundation For Cancer Research, Doctors of the World, the Global Health Council, the Breast Cancer Fund, the Wildlife Trust and others. Donate as little as $14.20 for 10 cards, $71 for 50 or as much as $12,298 for 10,000.

If you don't plan on sending a ton of greeting cards this year but you want the coolest and most innovative, then there are some Christmas season goodies. There are cards that play music at "American Greetings" or "Hallmark". There are also cards that smell nice at "Scentsational-Greetings". If you're into holographic or lenticular effects, then baseball card grandmother found in attic some of the latest cards from "3d Stereo". Chatterbox Greetings based out of the UK also has an impressive assortment of musical and lenticular light show greetings.

Business greeting cards are incredibly popular to thank high-rolling clients, build morale among employees or build stronger relationships. Some of the 1969 Topps baseball cards holiday season cards can be found this Christmas season at "The Gallery Collection". The more you order at these sites, the more you save. For instance, you can buy 25 premium cards for $49.74 or 500 cards for $474. Choose from snowflakes, winter scenes and other tasteful art gifts.

Box sets with 35 cards and 16 designs are available for $51.50. At "Artline Greetings", and you can also find artistic greetings. At Artline, you can customize your own text and signature, ordering 25 cards for $58.75 or 100 for $162. You can choose cityscape, traditional holiday cards, recycled or charity cards as well.

Discover more information about holiday christmas.niche-educationGreeting-Cards.phpgreeting cards from Mike Selvon portal, and get more insider christmas.niche-educationChristmas tradition tips.

Five Mistakes Nearly Every Medical Practice Makes

In these difficult economic times, medical practices need more than ever to collect every cent they've earned. As deductibles and co-pays increase, patient responsibilities also increase; yet, many patients believe they can put their physician at the bottom of the pile of bills to pay.

To ensure your practice is not losing money unnecessarily, here are five (5) mistakes nearly every practice makes:


  1. Allowing patients to not completely fill out the patient information form. This form is your tool to know everything you need to be paid-by the insurance company and by the patient. Is the insurance policy owned by the patient or by the patient's spouse? Who is the employer that is paying for the policy? Is the patient employed at all? This, and other information, should be provided or you risk non-payment.
  2. Not reviewing demographic and insurance information with patients each time they come in for appointments. Even if the patient completed the information form just a month ago, people move and change phone numbers; health insurance changes. Don't ask, "Are you still at 123 Main St?" Instead, ask, "May I have your address, please?"
  3. Failing to collect co-pays at the time of service. The patient is most motivated to pay before s/he sees the physician, so that is the best time to collect. Afterward, the motivation to pay drops dramatically, and thirty days after they've left, is nearly non-existent. Know if the patient owes deductibles and co-insurance, and collect that, too.
  4. Not accepting credit cards as a form of payment. You need to eliminate every excuse for non-payment, and accepting credit cards helps with this. The cost of acceptance will be greatly outweighed by the increase in payments.
  5. Assuming an account must be at least 90 days past due before it can be sent to a collection agency. The sooner collections action is started, the more likely payment will be made. For small balances in particular, waiting and sending out multiple invoices make cost more than the balance to be paid.

Following these tips should increase your collections.

Jean-Marie M. Taylor, MSW

CEO, Diamond Medical Management Services, LLC

(302) 283-3300

dmms.us/dmms.us

dmmsemsdmmsems

Ms. Taylor founded DMMS in 1997. Today, the company serves nearly 200 physicians, surgery centers, and ambulance companies with billing and collections; coding; practice and surgery center development; contracting; accounting; practice management software and electronic medical records; and other health care business services.

DMMS clients not only increase their incomes with outstanding A/R management services; they also decrease their expenses. All clients automatically become members of the nation's largest Group Purchasing Organization, saving between 5 and 30 percent on office and medical supplies and equipment; services; even cell phone services.

Our clients represent all specialties throughout the eastern United States.

A Quick Review of MP3 Players - What's Right For You?

Five or six years ago, any review of MP3 Batman would have focused almost exclusively on the Apple iPod - because that's basically all there was right then. Oh, sure, some other companies had previously produced gizmos they called MP3 players... the best of which were capable of handling a few dozen songs.

Then Apple had the audacity Monopoly market a portable music platform that could hold 1963 Topps baseball cards thousands of songs - and the 400-pound gorilla of the digital music world was born.

The Basics

Once the dust settled, the other electronics manufacturers went back to the drawing board and tried again. They did eventually figure it out, and now any decent review of MP3 players has to take two broad types of player into account.

Like the iPod, some modern players use a computer-type hard drive to store music. alien other type uses flash memory. Both technologies have grown exponentially in the past five years, and can now pack gigabytes of audio into surprisingly small spaces.

About that Gorilla...

Any review of mp3 players still has to start with iPods, which now come in a variety of styles: e.g., the Shuffle, Nano, Classic, and Touch. Only the Classics still use hard drives; the others use flash memory. All are top-quality, excellent picks you can't go wrong with.

The latest generation of the Classic and its serious competitors, like the Microsoft Zune, can hold up to 30,000 songs - more than 10 weeks' worth of audio. That's pretty amazing to those of us who can remember when 8-track tapes were the finest recording media ever.

Their incredible capacity for the price (about $245, versus $150-200 for an 8-16 GB flash player) makes the latest generation of hard-drive based players very attractive. But no decent review of MP3 players would be complete without pointing out some of their negative aspects as well.

While hard-drive players are reliable and can hold tons of songs, they're also heavy and prone to skipping because of the many moving parts. Plus, replacements for the batteries, which often fail after a few years of constant recharging, are so expensive it can be easier just to buy a new player.

Flash Memory Players

Today's modern flash memory models are actually the much-improved descendants of the low-density gizmos mentioned at the beginning of this review of MP3 players. So how do they rate?

Their biggest benefit is their complete lack of moving parts; their biggest drawback remains their limited capacity. You have to ask yourself, though, if you really need space for 30,000 songs. Flash players come in capacities ranging from 512MB to 32GB (128-8,000 songs), which is plenty for many of us.

Any fair review of MP3 players has to feature SanDisk's line of flash-memory MP3 players, which offer great quality (but relatively low capacity) for as little as $30 or so. Similarly, Creative offers the MuVo, another line of low-cost, high-quality flash player that can, in some cases, double as a USB flash drive.

The Verdict

The best flash MP3 players, like Sony's Walkman and iPod's Nano, are of exceptional quality and durability - but for the price, you may as well get a high-density hard-drive model. Even the best flash memory-based MP3 player will have a capacity that's maybe a fourth of a good hard-drive player's.

It all comes down to what's more important to you: capacity or price. If our review of MP3 players has convinced you that shock-resistance and economy are more desirable, we recommend the Creative Muvo or SanDisk MP3s; otherwise, you can't do better than an iPod Classic or Microsoft Zune.

Hi! I'm Noel Jameson and the holiday season is truly my favorite time of year. I am a christmasrantsChristmas shopping wizard and I happily hand out shopping tips to friends and strangers alike. When I'm not hitting the stores, you can find me in the kitchen whipping up a delicious treat to share with my family and friends. Stick around and maybe I'll share some of my secret recipes with you!

5 Things You Should Know About Magnetic Toys

I don't think there is a kid that doesn't love playing with magnets. There's something so mysterious about two objects that are drawn together by an unseen force. It's enough to keep any kid interested which is getting harder and harder to do nowadays. And if there is that much of a pull to magnets, why not use it to your advantage. Magnetic toys can make a wonderful addition to any waiting area or play room. Here are the top five reasons why these kinds of toys are a great choice:

1. All shapes and sizes

Whether you are looking for something to entertain multiple kids at a time or you're just looking for something to add to your home playroom, chances are you can find the perfect magnetic toy. The concept of magnets has found its way into all different kinds of toys. There are some great handheld marble mazes that can travel anywhere you'd like to go. If you are trying to find a centerpiece for the waiting area, you won't have to look very far. There are some amazing tables and wall panel toys that will keep up to four children playing at a time.

2. Sharing is caring

Most of the larger magnetic toys are encourage group play which is great for anyone trying to encourage sharing. The best toys are the ones that children can share with their friends both new and old. As a parent, this is an easy way to start instilling these values at a young age. And if you're a doctor or business owner, this is a great way to keep everyone happier during their wait.

3. Awaken their inner Genius

Now, the kids are going to have so much fun, they wont even notice that they're building crucial skills like visual tracking and hand-eye coordination; but you will! In a day and age where video games threaten to shorten the attention spans everywhere, these kinds of toys are the perfect solution. And with magnetic construction toys like Magneatos, children can also start learning some more advanced skills.

4. Keep them safe

Now more than ever, it is important to keep children safe when choosing toys for them. Thankfully, there is a wonderful variety of safe magnetic toys for toddlers and older children alike. Magnetic marble mazes and other similar toys are secured on both sides so that there are no loose pieces to worry about. And Magneatos construction toys come in jumbo sizes as well so that younger children can enjoy them as well. Now, when playtime comes around, parents and business owners can stay worry free.

5. Have some fun

Take a quick glance at all of the magnetic toys out there and you'll see just why kids love them so much. It's guaranteed that you'll find brilliant colors and beautiful designs that little eyes will go crazy for. Mazes come with all kinds of great themes like adventures under the sea, a day at the farm, or a puzzle for train lovers. You can even find some glow in the dark Magneatos which will be fun for anyone.

Getting kids to sit quietly isn't always easy. But with rel="nofollow" sensoryedgeactionfiguresMagnet Toys playtime can become a little easier for doctors and parents alike. It won't be long before you find the perfect toy for your needs.

SensoryEdge is your source for fun educational toys that will keep kids occupied for hours. Co Founder Alycia Shapiro prefers toys that educate with the basics instead of new fad bells and whistle toys. Find out more about Magnet Toys and good old fashioned Block Toys at sensoryedgesensoryedge