Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Medical Billing Online - Tough But Rewarding Job Opportunity


medical coding training at home.

Medical billing online provides you with an opportunity to work from home. The downside of this work option is that there are a lot of online scams trying to sell you worthless information. The scams have become such a problem, that even the Federal Trade Commission themselves are sending out warnings about frequent scams in this field.

The most disappointing thing is, even the legitimate businesses may let you down. They assure you that they will assist you in job placement, but then they merely provide you with a list of the health care providers, who may actually not even be interested in acquiring any medical billing services. It is imperative that you do your research, rather than hastily getting into some medical billing online course.

As far as the work itself is concerned, you need to be sure about: You have at least some knowledge of working in the medical field. You have some idea or the strong desire to be your own boss. And, will your prospective health care employers be willing to work with you right away, or would they necessitate that you first work for 1-2 years in their office, in order for them to get to know you and your skills?

Medical billing and coding online is the same as regular paper medical billing, but all aspects of the work are done online. With the advancement of Internet technologies and software, there are quite a few medical coding services which can be done from home.

As a service provider, you will be organizing statements and bills, and talking to patients and the insurance companies, either by phone or by email. You will need to be comfortable with encoding and decoding diseases, procedures, and billing statements. Last but not least, you are also required to follow up on the failed payments, payment denials and refusals.

Medical billing and coding online also requires entering the patients' information into a special software application, installed on your personal computer. The leading medical billing software provider right now is CompIQ.  Coding of the procedures is stringent, and incorrect coding may cause various legal implications. As a result, medical billers have to be highly knowledgeable and skilled.

There are numerous large medical billing companies, which sound more appealing to the health care providers, than a new medical billing service provider. So, where do you find your first job assignments? There are various online freelance websites, where health care institutions post jobs for medical billers. You need to remember, though, that there will be many other people, applying for the same job. So remain persistence.

Before you move ahead with paid training courses and costly software (which together may total several thousand dollars), you may also want to contact several doctors' offices, and try to find out if they will be interested in acquiring your services. Personally meeting these doctors is a good idea to build rapport with them and have an opportunity to process their medical billing.

In most cases, you will have to contact health care providers directly. The various ways to doing this are: through job applications, emailing or cold calling.

How much can you make working as a medical bill review service provider? Your profits will largely depend on the amount of work you complete. A full-time billing professional can make anywhere up to $100,000 if they work for themselves.

medical coding training at home.