Working for others isn’t a bad thing.
Your first job instills ethics you want to keep in providing service. Overall, working at any job for a certain amount of time provides you with invaluable experience.
Not everyone can work for someone else forever. Maybe it’s your passion to earn more, provide better service, or just have more free time becoming your own boss.
If you start a medical billing company, you have the option of working remotely as an independent contractor.
You can continue working at home, or you can further expand your business at a location. It’s up to you.
First, you will want to get staring on how to open this business. You can learn how.
How to Start a Medical Billing Company
When starting a medical billing business, you shouldn’t start right away without doing some homework. Creating an outline of expectations on how to get there is important.
Most business owners find it lucrative to start their medical business at home. You can choose to keep it that way or build it later.
Getting Licenced
Your business must be documented at the state you reside. Legalizing your business is a requirement and it is necessary for filing taxes annually.
The steps you will take and the fees associated with it will vary from state to state. Overall, you can expect a few things to be the same:
- Create a business entity and name (ideally an LLC)
- Obtain needed permit and license
- Pay a filing fee
- Register for taxes
- Open a business banking account and set up accounting
- Get business insurance
Gathering these documents can take several weeks to complete. Attempting to gather everything quickly isn’t always possible due to processing time.
Find Work
Medical centers, private professionals, and hospitals bill patients for services. It’s your job to code and translate these services into a bill for insurance providers.
In order to make money, you need to find clients. This means locating physicians and other healthcare providers in your area in need of the service.
Rather than work with doctors from all over the place, it’s better to look for an area of focus.
Doctors you can seek in your area will vary:
- Psychologists
- Chiropractors
- Pediatricians
- Cardiologists
- Dentists
- Veterinarians
Maybe you already have a background in the healthcare field. Go for a specialty you feel most experienced and comfortable doing. This will serve as a powerful advantage.
Ask Questions
Getting hired won’t work as smoothly as you’d like it to without asking yourself a few questions. What is it you think health care providers need and why should they hire you?
- What is your turnaround time to complete work or your daily patient capacity?
- Can you completely handle work assigned to you or do you need to outsource it?
- How much will your rate (billed by the hour, claim, or receiving a percentage) be and how will the cost of service work?
When you find doctors ask them:
- How many patients do they see daily?
- What software do they use?
- Do they handle the billing work themselves? Is the work given away?
When you finish an assignment, you need to double-check it and be certain it is accurate. Completing work is only have of the battle.
Your efforts will be wasted if the quality is compromised. You should audit your work so that it meets basic coding compliance.
Startup Costs
How much you will pay to start and maintain your company will vary. It is possible to run entirely on cloud-based software to receive, deliver, and outsource your work.
Using the service to do so will range from $50-250 a month.
Most of your startup fees will be equipment and fees you must pay to operate.
Focus on keeping for initial fees as low as possible before adding on more services or taking more clients.
Many have the false impression that getting more will help them because it will result in profit. This is not the case and the main reason medical billing startup will fail.
The overhead costs will be more than you can bear, so before you decide to take on more, work with a little. When your small success grows, then you can move up the ladder.
Ongoing costs must be factored. Your insurance, office supplies, software, and labor costs can run from $100-$5,000 a month. This will depend on the size of your business.
Skills and Equipment Needed
Building your own business means more than just having the drive and dedication. You also must have excellent time management skills, focus, and organization. Your management, data entry, and people skills will also come in handy.
Your software and equipment will be part of your startup fee. You will need:
- A printer and fax machine
- A computer
- Software licensing
- Billing Software
- Backup hard drives
- Software upgrades
- Ethernet switches and wiring
- Reference books (CPT, HCPCS)
- Medical insurance forms
Be sure to research all equipment before you decide to purchase it. Your primary concern should the quality more than the price.
This way, you won’t pay more in the long run.
Have Experience or Gain Experience
You may already work in medical billing and have experience. You would be well on your way of working alone as your own boss.
You can do everything from scratch too. If you truly have no experience, you should go to a medical billing school or training center.
Getting certifications to expand your knowledge can increase your confidence. There are three main medical billing certification programs on terminology to learn:
- CPT: Current Procedural Terminology
- HCPCS: Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System
- ICD-10-CM: International Statistical Classification of Diseases & Related Problems
While it is optional, it will help to also work in the medical industry for at least a few months.
Open Your Own Medical Billing Company
It takes a lot of dedication and responsibility to start a medical billing company or any company. It takes excellent time management skills too.
You must be strict on yourself especially in the startup phase. In the beginning, you will have to spend several hours working without much profit.
This should not unmotivate you; the time you put into your work will pay off as it grows.
When you have the hunger to be your own boss and have the skills, clients will come to you for their medical billing needs.
So what are you waiting for? There’s no better time than today to get started. If you found this article helpful, please take a look at other posts on our website for more interesting reads.
