Have I Chosen a Stable Business?
No worries—medical billing is still a viable business.
Q: I'm taking a course on
medical billing. Is this still a good business?
Name withheld
A: We've included medical
billing as a "best business" since the first edition of
our book The Best Home Businesses for the 90s
(J.P. Tarcher) came out, despite the harm done to this field by
business opportunities that promised more than they could deliver
to prepare people to do medical billing. Experts estimate 30
percent of doctor's offices and other medical providers
contract out their billing.
The homebased medical biller needs to think of his or her market
as smaller practices and medical providers that seek payment for
services to their patients from third parties. These include
chiropractors, dentists and psychologists.
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A small office often has difficulty keeping and training an
employee to do its billing accurately. Thus, independent medical
billers have more expertise than employees with a variety of office
duties. Outside medical billers should be able to increase the
revenue of their clients while reducing their overhead.
Medical billers must understand the security and privacy
standards for handling medical data provided for in the Health
Insurance Portability and Ac-countability Act of 1996. These
standards change, so you must be up-to-date. For more information
regarding new devel-opments in medical billing, check out the
National Electronic Billers Alliance Web site at www.nebazone.com.
For more, read Entrepreneur magazine's Start-Up Guide
#1345, How to Start a Medical Claims Billing
Service (www.smallbizbooks.com).
Authors and career coaches Paul and Sarah Edwards have
written 15 books, including Working From Home. Send your questions to
www.workingfromhome.com or in care of
Entrepreneur.