marketing

[atwmedbilling]

Hello I have a few questions about marketing . I work part time outside the field of medical billing so that I can fund my business so when I talk to provider's that ask about preferences but I don't have any because the companies that I worked for in the past everyone has moved on .I will be starting to market in the next month but I'm unsure how to get someone to believe in me and my work I plan on having maybe a 30 day trial but other then that How do I get someone to give me a chance ? How did you sign you first provider . any Idea's ?

[Merry]

I don't believe in free trials. Just my opinion of course. You will need to set up an entire database for this provider..and by the time you do that, you will then need to enter the claims information. It certainly takes more than a month to show someone that you can do this. Yes, there are providers that may sign up but that is a ton of work for you and I think your time is worth more than giving it away for nothing.
Assuming that you have all your proper documents in place; contract, policies and procedures, business associate agreement etc. Be sure to get this done before you start to market.

[Alice Scott]

Free trials are a lot of work and can cost you some money too.  Does your practice management software charge per client?  Does your clearinghouse charge per claim?  Will you be mailing any claims?  The other problem is that in a month's time very few payments will have started coming in so if the provider is judging you on the outcome they likely will not hire you.  It can take several months to get an account running smoothly.  There may be hold ups with the electronic submissions or any other issue that may come up.  There are much better ways to get clients than free trials.

[atwmedbilling]

Where do you go to set up the contract and business associate agreement ,policies and procedures . I'm trying to get these done in the next month so that I can start marketing but everything that I have researched have not gave me any ideas ?

[kristin]

I am not sure where you have done your research, but there are numerous books, websites, etc. that you can get/use for what you need(Google what you need), there are quite a few threads at this very site that address your questions, (as well as items you can purchase I believe), and you can always hire a healthcare attorney to get you set.

[williamportor]

Hello I have a few questions about marketing . I work part time outside the field of medical billing so that I can fund my business so when I talk to provider's that ask about preferences but I don't have any because the companies that I worked for in the past everyone has moved on .I will be starting to market in the next month but I'm unsure how to get someone to believe in me and my work I plan on having maybe a 30 day trial but other then that How do I get someone to give me a chance ? How did you sign you first provider . any Idea's ?

Signing up your first provider is one of the most difficult things you'll do. Just remember, marketing is a numbers game. Your lack of recent experience will make it more difficult, but NOT impossible. Here is a few things that will help:

1. Try to anticipate the most common questions a provider will ask, and prepare your answers in advance. Practice them, so you don't sound like your searching for a good response when you're being interviewed. You won't be able to prepare for everything they'll say of course, but this will increase your odds of success.

2. Sound confident. This will help ease any fears a provider may have about hiring you.

3. Stress your dedication, and attention to detail, but don't volunteer information about your lack of recent experience unless they specifically asked about it (because sometimes they don't bother to!)

4. Don't take a rejection personally. Remember, this is a numbers game. Your odds of success increase with each interview.

5. Don't make promises you can't keep. This may sound obvious, but you may be tempted to stretch the truth a bit in your interviews, in order to get a contract signed, DON'T DO IT! If a providers needs are beyond what your capable of, it's best to admit this and move on, it will come back to bite you sooner or later if you don't. As the Brit's say: "The truth will out"   

6. A "NO" does not always mean "NO" forever. If your provider decides to hire someone else, politely ask for permission to follow up in a while to see how things are going, many times they'll say yes. Sometimes the company they hire won't be a good fit for them, and If you've stayed in touch, you may have the inside track in signing them.

[tallmanusa]

Medical Billing Companies, large, medium or small, rarely make any money.

Don't believe me?

I can only describe public information; this company here claims to have 80,000 clients and has not made a nickel in profit in sixteen years.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=ATHN+Income+Statement&annual.

Another public company symbol MTBC, had gross revenue of 14 million dollars, and they happen to lose 4 million dollars. What a business!

Eclinical Works charges 2.9% and includes EHR and PM; three months free trial.

With smaller companies, there was a survey by HBMA members, some did make money but not much. Those who did make money, were business savvy people, not billers.
Why such difficulty?
Doctors count their nickels, they are unwilling to pay even a decent wage for hard working American billers. Most of the work has gone offshore.
Marketing is tough, you have to have deep pockets to compete with mega companies who give away EHR, PM and the like for very little  money.
You think you can compete with them?

Think before you plunk down any money that you can ill afford to lose.

[PMRNC]

Medical Billing Companies, large, medium or small, rarely make any money.

Don't believe me?

I can only describe public information; this company here claims to have 80,000 clients and has not made a nickel in profit in sixteen years.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=ATHN+Income+Statement&annual.

Another public company symbol MTBC, had gross revenue of 14 million dollars, and they happen to lose 4 million dollars. What a business!

Eclinical Works charges 2.9% and includes EHR and PM; three months free trial.

With smaller companies, there was a survey by HBMA members, some did make money but not much. Those who did make money, were business savvy people, not billers.
Why such difficulty?
Doctors count their nickels, they are unwilling to pay even a decent wage for hard working American billers. Most of the work has gone offshore.
Marketing is tough, you have to have deep pockets to compete with mega companies who give away EHR, PM and the like for very little  money.
You think you can compete with them?

Think before you plunk down any money that you can ill afford to lose.

I'm sorry that's nonsense. It's also an insult to those of us in the business and have been in the business. It's profitable. The companies you mention.. I could say a lot but I won't.. a company that has 80K clients and no profit in 16 years is plain STUPID. Sorry.

[Michele]

Medical Billing Companies, large, medium or small, rarely make any money.

Don't believe me?

No Actually I don't.  I have been a small to medium sized billing service for the past 20 years.  Am I rich?  No, but has my company paid me and Alice a good salary, as well as that of many employees?  Absolutely.  Have there been years where the profit was not so good?  Yup.  Especially in the beginning.  But is is a successful business?  Absolutely.  I've made a good salary and been able to raise my children, two of which now work for me, as well as my nephew. 

I can only describe public information; this company here claims to have 80,000 clients and has not made a nickel in profit in sixteen years.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=ATHN+Income+Statement&annual.

Another public company symbol MTBC, had gross revenue of 14 million dollars, and they happen to lose 4 million dollars. What a business!

Eclinical Works charges 2.9% and includes EHR and PM; three months free trial.

With smaller companies, there was a survey by HBMA members, some did make money but not much. Those who did make money, were business savvy people, not billers.
Why such difficulty?
Doctors count their nickels, they are unwilling to pay even a decent wage for hard working American billers. Most of the work has gone offshore.

Again I disagree.  I don't believe that MOST of the work has gone offshore.  I believe a lot has, but I also believe the doctors who send their billing offshore lose more in receivables then they would pay in the higher percentage paid to a billing service in the USA.  I have my reasons for believing this and I really don't want to go too deep there.

Marketing is tough, you have to have deep pockets to compete with mega companies who give away EHR, PM and the like for very little  money.
You think you can compete with them?

Think before you plunk down any money that you can ill afford to lose.

Marketing is the hardest part of getting started, but once you get established you will get referrals IF you are good.  Business knowledge is definitely needed in addition to billing knowledge.  Offshore companies would like all of us USA companies to just cave and say "OK, I guess there is no point in me doing this."  But for me....It won't happen.  I get several calls a week from offshore companies who can hardly speak English and do not even use the correct terminology when asking about billing who want me to send them my work.  Why?  Because they can't sell the dr on their company when they can't speak English and they don't know what they are talking about. 

Example from last week:  "Hello, I wanted to speak to you about your company and insurance accounting work you do.  Your company do insurance work?"

I said "You mean Medical Billing?"

"Yes, yes, insurance work.  Yes we have offshore company who do it much cheap.  Save you lot of money."

Me:  "No thanks, I don't really want to fire anyone today."

[PMRNC]

What's even funnier is the reps that contact you via Facebook or LinkedIN.. you go to their profile and they work for these HUGE companies offshore and this is an example of a message I received the other day:

"Good evening madam, i see you do billing, we help you with your revenue cycle. please contact me at your convenience"  THAT is a copy/paste btw. I used to have this great sales pitch ready with a whole sort of white paper I did on offshore that I would give to potential clients looking to outsource overseas. I don't anymore, why? Because It's a waste of time. Most do it to save a few bucks monthly on their invoicing, but like Michele mentioned, they pay for it with their receivables. I now just hand them my card and tell them to call me once they realized they screwed up getting an offshore company."  But I tell you they will pay a higher setup rate because when you take an account from an offshore billing company.. it's a freaking nightmare..