There’s a big buzz about operating a medical billing business at home. What exactly is medical billing and why is it becoming so popular these days?

Physicians need to obtain payments from insurance companies and patients. With the growing demand of healthcare services, the demand for such billing services has also increased. Physicians outsource their billing to part timers or work-at-home moms like you who can spare a few hours a day.

What you have to do as a medical billing professional?
Firstly you need not know anything about medicine or management accounting to do this job. However it is essential that you have a basic background in billing. This role will entitle you to,

• Prepare electronic / paper claims to insurance companies
• Simple data entry, such as patient information
• Sending out patients’ statements / payments
• Following-up on all unpaid insurance claims via email / fax / phone etc
• Compiling reports that is of interest to the doctor

Finding your clients...
Start with the doctors and physicians you already know. Ask them if they are willing to outsource their billing to you. Usually they are more than happy to do so because outsourcing the billing to freelancers working at home is much cheaper than hiring a full time assistant!

You can also go through the yellow pages and email / fax the doctors in your area encouraging them to outsource their billing. Once you have acquired a few valuable clients, it won’t be long before the news spreads among their friends and you will be introduced to more clients than you thought possible!

Educational qualifications needed?
There’s no need for degrees or diplomas on accounting or medicine. But a background on billing will definitely be a plus point. There are many schools and institutes that train medical billing professionals. A recognized certification program is available at the American Medical Billing Association (AMBA). If you are really interested try contacting them today!