Medical Billing Forum
Starting a Medical Billing Business => Starting Your Own Medical Billing Business => : sheilahaney November 19, 2013, 10:58:05 PM
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Hello, I am currently considering starting my own medical billing business. I am worried that I will not be able to gain the confidence of a Physician because I only have hospital billing experience. I have worked in a large hospital in California for 7 years, I am very knowledgeable in all insurance carriers, how to bill out clean claims and collect on them if needed. I am also a certified CPC-P and a member of the AAPC. I also am currently in college for Health Information Management (just a little something about myself). Although I have never billed for a physician I have educational knowledge and understanding that I believe would be useful if only I could get a physician to trust my work.
Does anyone have any advice as to how I can get a physician to trust me and give me a chance? This is the part of starting my own business that worries me most. :o
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Congratulations on getting to this first step.
Most important thing is to believe in yourself!! Remember, that is what you will be selling..YOU!!
Have you ever billed Part B Medicare claims while working at the hospital? If so, then actually doing the work will be no issue.
I too am in CA. Where are you if you would like to share.
Merry
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One more thing..The fact that you are a certified coder will be such an asset today. I would suggest that you educate yourself in ICD-10 if you haven't already and market the heck out of that knowledge. You will have a leg up just because of that.
Merry
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Thank you so much Merry I needed that.... I just moved from Long Beach CA to Fontana CA.... I have never billed Medicare part B and I only have knowledge of it via education. Do you recommend any classes or websites that can give me more information about billing Medicare part B?
Thanks again Merry
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Humble i am not.
Take a look at our (by that I mean the course that Michele, Alice (owners of this forum) and I wrote.
Individual courses are only $129. We give you total support..even weekends and evening if necessary. I would look at the Medicare course as they set the standards for most insurance. And we have a wonderful marketing bundle. All courses are available separately or in bundles where you can save money.
www.medicalbillingstudycourse.com
Take a look at your Table of Contents: http://medicalbillingstudycourse.com/upload/4687/documents/TOC_11_19_2013.pdf
This course is all online so that we can continuously update. We pride ourselves on the fact that we will be sure that you are getting the latest information.
So glad that you asked. :)
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There was a gold rush early last century.
Few people found gold, but the real money was made by those who sold them pick and shovels.
There is a lesson in this.
It is a disservice to sell naive people with starry eyes and take a few nickels they have to start with. The chances of a start up to make it in this business are zilch to none, without very deep pockets to market it.
These people with little money would lose what little they have, chasing rainbows.
My advise to those with rose colored glasses, education is very good, but get a job with a paycheck.
To quote Linda here, in many years of her experience in this business, she saw more than 90% of the start up fail.
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We always recommend that people get a job in the industry before they even think of starting their own business. But good to have some education. Would I recommend someone buying a biz op for $25,000? Not a chance. But I like that we can offer something at low cost with updates and good support.
I personally think that a person who is a certified coder has an edge on someone who has no background.
Merry
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As a business it has very little to do with billing or coding. It has everything to do with marketing.
Ever heard of Marriott? They run bars all across the world.
They know nothing about alcoholic drinks, they don't drink themselves; they market alcohol.
People who market sardines, don't eat sardines, they are North Africans.
List goes on and on.
The point is that billing knowledge has little to do with success or lack thereof in this business.
This is a business; want an education? Get an MBA.
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tallmanusa - you might be a bit more targeted in your critiquing. Someone who knows absolutely nothing about medicine or billing will not even know where to begin when someone hires them as a biller.
Up to a certain point, medical billing is impossible without billing education. But, past a certain point, billing success has more to do with marketing and less to do with further education about billing. On that point you are correct.
Marketing, as in: I know more than your current biller, so I can get you paid more than your current biller. Here, let me show you how.
Oh ... wait ... increased billing education does play a role in being able to successfully market oneself.
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The clinic I work for is big enough that three of us were hired to be the in-house billing department. I have no background in this. I majored in English literature and sociology. I really needed a job after college and I had done some temp work for this clinic previously. I showed up one day and asked if they had any open positions. They technically didn't, but they made one for me. Despite my lack of practical experience in this field, I am intelligent and flexible. I learned quickly and they're happy with me. I can tell you right now that the only people who successfully sell us their products (whether it's billing-related or not) are the people who show up in person and request to schedule a lunch time demonstration so they can show us why we need what they have to offer. We are not generally in the position to seek out services; the smart people who know how to market their business and products do not wait for us to come to them. They come to us. If you can find a way to identify doctors and practices who may be in need of medical billing services, and show up in person to request to speak to whoever is in charge of financial decision-making. It's the in-person equivalent of cold-calling, so you should expect mostly rejections. But the places that agree to a demonstration are at least open to the idea that you could help them. And very few people think to do it now that there are so many advertising options. Also, even if a practice isn't set on hiring you now, they will know you and remember you and possibly call you in the future. Situations change all the time. This method takes a lot of work upfront but in the long run I believe it pays out better than other options.
I say focus on putting together a really great, interactive presentation that explains all the benefits of your services to clients, and finding potential clients.
I wouldn't worry about only having experience with hospital claims. Your coding certification is enough to make up for it, and frankly most doctors know very little about coding and billing anyway. As long as you appear to be proficient and have the credentials, they're unlikely to have a problem with your background.
Just my 2 cents based on personal experience.
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tallmanusa - Seems to me that you are a little bit on the negative side, :o but thanks anyway.
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Shunbull- thank you so much for your reply. It is very encouraging and very true.
;D Thanks
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I have first hand experience of starting this business. We now acquire about two new clients per week.
I had resources so I could take on the big guys in their own game. I get new clients exclusively through digital marketing; internet is where people are and doctors are no different than the rest of us.
I don't see where the opportunity lies for the small operator.
E Clinical Works charges 2.9% and includes EMR and PM in that, and so are a dozen other companies, including one of favorites with billers, Kareo.
It is delusional for a small operator to think he/she would walk into a doctor's office and get his billing at 6% while he pays additionally for the software. They can't compete.
Have you ever seen a small butcher shop? They went out with horse and buggy.
Most small billing companies in business for a while are struggling.
Most start ups don't have much money, the little they have they lose in chasing wild dreams. The least I could do is to warn them, they should look before they leap.
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I don't see where the opportunity lies for the small operator.
The opportunity for the small operator lies in competitive advantage. The country is large enough to support niche markets. We've been through this before. Lets don't go through it again.
For those who want to rehash this subject again, the page is a good place to start:
http://www.medicalbillinglive.com/members/index.php?topic=6930.msg20528#msg20528
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Things have changed a lot in one year, and not for the better for small biller.
Kareo did not even sell billing a year ago; now it emphasizes billing sales.
Advanced MD, Nuesoft, Cure MD and a slew of others now primarily sell billing services.
Practice Fusion, the largest EMR in the country, just got hooked up with several billing companies.
I know it well, I compete with them, every time. That is what I do.
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I completely disagree.. I think the smaller billing companies will be the last men standing. I have a very strong instinct that EHR and cloud computing or both will suffer a big failure down the road putting the larger companies in a quandary. I think with the way this business changes doctors want to pick up the phone and get an answer, advice and education w/out having to wonder who's picking up the phone and to what country they are in.
I believe the next decade is the decade of the small business. Digital marketing.. Pfff.. I can't remember the last time I even sent out a brochure. I get better responses and like GOING to the doctors, educating them, meeting their staff and personalizing my services. I leave digital marketing to the HP's of the world. I never want to be so big that I can't pick up my phone for a client every time they call. That was my goal starting out and that has never changed.
I'm in middle of finding another accounting firm because mine just joined a huge conglomerate, I want to talk to ONE person. I want to know MY best interests are on his mind and I don't want to have to provide an account number to someone on the phone to "look me up". I have enough of that with utility companies, mortgage companies, etc.
Decade of the small business :) I wouldn't trade with the kareo's of the world. I really wouldn't. I believe in quantity and value of the client not volume. I've seen billing companies once they get big begin to drown, the medium fish sinks or swims.
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Have you ever seen a small butcher shop? They went out with horse and buggy.
Ingebretsen's on 16th and Lake, Clancey's on 43rd and Upton, Kramarczuk's on 2nd and Hennepin, and Everett's on 18th and 38th are all small, family-owned butcher shops that have been in business for 50+ years, and that's just on the south side of Minneapolis. We also have a thriving charcuterie scene. Perhaps where you are located these types of establishments are long gone, but there are big cities that prefer the little guy. Still, your point about startups being likely to fail is valid and no one should be overly optimistic about their chances of success. At the same time though, there is a market that exists for small operators to provide local, personalized services. As an example I would point to our IT guy, Bill. We could hire some large company to administer our IT support, but we pay Bill to do it because we can call him on his cell phone and he will drop everything and come over in person to take care of things. I can call him and he knows exactly who I am and what computer and fax machine are mine. I need to do very little by way of explanation when I have a problem. It would be very difficult for a large company to compete with this type of setup. That is why the opportunity for small business startups remains possible.
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I'm lucky to still live near our small and family owned pharmacy to which Walgreen's and Riteaid can't touch, yes we have a local butcher that people will go to visit before their big chain grocery store (I even have no problem paying a bit more for better quality).
but there are big cities that prefer the little guy
A good friend of mine owns a billing and consulting business in Brooklyn.. the larger companies are of no competition to her and in fact she's taken some of their business. I know another billing company in direct competition with a large corp in NJ who offshore outsources and she too takes biz from them. They will both tell you they have no problem competing because their competition's failures are their successes. Those big biz failures are usually what the small business capitalizes on. You can put me up against the biggest of the big and first I will sell them much quicker.. mostly because the bigger fish don't care. ]
As an example I would point to our IT guy, Bill. We could hire some large company to administer our IT support, but we pay Bill to do it because we can call him on his cell phone and he will drop everything and come over in person to take care of things. I can call him and he knows exactly who I am and what computer and fax machine are mine. I need to do very little by way of explanation when I have a problem. It would be very difficult for a large company to compete with this type of setup. That is why the opportunity for small business startups remains possible.
A while ago I had a big time data loss. Won't go into the details but let's say I was a little behind (few days) in my backup and my hard drive completely melted. I called 3 places.. the best price and the one that that back to me and treated me like they understood my dilemma was the "SMALL" guy.. He's still my go too.
And the great thing is for small businesses.. with the ever-changing regulations we face..the large billing companies are fine just issuing their little memo's where as the small business can cater to their client with more personal services AND be there for them always.