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taylor:
So I'm thinking about getting into the medical billing business, but i have some reservations i hope someone can help me with.

  My main reason for looking into this field is, like many, the working from home aspect. I've noticed on these forums that the transition between working in an office to working from home seems a bit difficult... exactly HOW difficult is that transition?

  I was introduced to this industry by two of my friends. Both were able to receive on the job training. One now works as a coder in an ER and the other owns his own business and has accumulated quite a few doctors. Both make VERY good livings. Granted, they both got started a number of years ago and i know the industry has undergone some substantial changes. Is on the job training still possible or is vocational schooling the best bet?

  Also, all the job listings I'm finding are listing the salary as $12-16 an hour. That is not really practical for the bay area. Am I looking at the wrong listings or is that how much medical billers working out of doctors/dentist offices get today?
our time
  I know this is a lot, but any information would be useful at this time. Thank you sooo much for your time.

ruthie72:
Hi there,
I can tell you if you do not have any connections or experience it is very difficult, i got my medical billing certificate last march and i started my own business, got all my licenses, cards made up, put together a marketing package, and went door to door to dr's offices for months, so many are corporate now, and the ones that are not do their own 'in house" billing..i am not giving up , but i still have yet to find my first client...and you have to keep up with things but they are constantly changing things...So although i really like it..i say do your research and have a game plan!!! GOOD LUCK

PMRNC:
It's also hard to say without knowing what your training and education, experience is. Certainly if you have little or no experience or little or no training it's going to take much more to get started and it will be a tough transition. As for training via "on the job" vs. a vocational, again, it really depends on what your training is, I would never recommend someone starting this business with no training learn "on the job", it's not practical at all. You will want to find a school or at home course and start there.

taylor:
Well,  have no training right now. I'm trying to research every part of the field before i commit to it. I must say, I'm getting nervous. It's sounding more and more difficult to break into.... I was attracted because it would allow me to work at home and that sounds difficult to do even after a few years in an office. Am i understanding that correctly?

PMRNC:
Well, I can only answer for myself. I had background and experience working for insurance companies, and the appeal to work from home was certainly there at time my kids were younger, but really your working longer hours and yes this is a difficult industry to break into w/out any experience, but certainly NOT impossible at all. It does require complete training and you will also need to market yourself and it can take a while to see a profit. If you have  full time job I wouldn't leave it to start this business. What I did was work full time (lot of overtime too) and put away money for start up costs each week.. even when I got my first 2 clients I still wasn't set to leave my full time job and then it became a juggling act trying to balance so I gave notice at work and here it is 20 years later. The work at home is "convenient" at best but it's certainly no picnic, most times I feel like I have less time now than I did working 9-5.   Don't let that discourage you if this is what you want to do, you just really have to be dedicated to getting full training and education.  There are a lot of good courses out there and I have seen billers end up quite successful starting out with no experience but they had good training!

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