Starting a Medical Billing Business > Starting Your Own Medical Billing Business

Starting my own Medical Billing business... Hospital Billing experience only.

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tallmanusa:
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.

Merry:
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

tallmanusa:
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.

RichardP:
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.

shanbull:
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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