Tips for Launching Your Medical Billing Business

If you're looking for a great work-from-home opportunity that is completely legitimate and has plenty of room for growth, then medical billing may be the industry for you. If you're considering a career in this exciting field, you may be wondering how to go about launching your own home-based medical billing business. What's the secret to success as a medical biller? As with any career, the first and most important step is education and training. There are many great schools that you can atte...

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Medical Identity Theft on the Rise

As health records and medical billing practices become increasingly digitized, there are many advantages that accompany the switch - and also many undeniable drawbacks. One of the biggest dangers that has recently started gaining visibility is the unfortunate phenomenon of medical identity theft. Medical identity theft can take several different forms. Perpetrators may obtain the names and social security numbers of victims and use the information to receive emergency medical care. Stolen in...

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Why the Billing Business is Booming

Why does medical billing have such a well-founded reputation as a growth industry with plenty of opportunities for employment for enterprising individuals? It's simple: As the healthcare sector grows and expands, so does the practice of medical billing! As the baby boomer generation, which accounts for over 78 million Americans, approaches retirement, more people need medical care than ever before. Bigger workloads for physicians mean that more of them are turning to billing professionals rather...

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More Billing Fraud in the News

To add to the many recent reports of billing fraud (and the federal government's renewed commitment to stamping it out), two more cases of medical billing-related corruption surfaced in the news this week. In one case, a New Port Richey, Florida woman is accused of embezzling more than $150,000 from a single pediatric office over the past three years. Since 2006, the woman in question has allegedly been depositing checks from insurance companies into her own bank account rather than the doctor's...

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Coming Soon: Mandatory Healthcare Reform

By now, you're probably well-acquainted with President Obama's plan to revolutionize America's healthcare system by requiring the digitization of all medical records by the year 2014. But what does all this actually mean for the billing and coding professionals who will be most affected by the changes? To begin, the nation's outdated coding system is in for a complete overhaul. ICD-10, based on a system developed by the World Health Organization in 1977, will be the new standard in coding, an...

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Does the Government Have Its Eye on Billing Fraud?

Recent news stories have proved that fraud is, sadly, rampant when it comes to health care and medical billing - and, according to President Obama and other Democratic leaders in Congress, it's high time for the federal government to do something about it. In order to combat billing fraud and attempt to recover some of the billions of dollars lost by the government on an annual basis, the President recently signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act into law. In addition to creating a joint t...

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Starting Your Own Billing Business: Should You Have a Website?

Medical billing is one of the best industries for working from home. Once you've undergone the proper training, received your certification and invested in the proper software, you can easily run your business from a home office. However, as with any business, it's essential to build a strong client base and advertise your services. How can you do so quickly and effectively, with minimal expense? One of the best ways to do so is to start your own website. The truth of the matter is, we are li...

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When It's Time to Go to Collections

Deciding when it's time to turn a patient's delinquent account over to a collections agency can be a difficult decision to make. As a billing professional, of course, your primary concern is making sure the physician is compensated for his or her services, but it's also important to be sensitive to extenuating circumstances that may be preventing patients from paying their bills on time. In general, medical bills that have not been paid within 90 days are turned over to collections. Here are som...

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Should You Take a Course in Medical Billing?

Even if you're not a billing professional per se, you could still benefit from obtaining a basic education in  billing and coding practices. Many people in the health care industry, from doctors and nurses to hospital administrators and insurance pros, have gained a better understanding of their jobs and the functions of the billers they work with on a daily basis simply by taking a course in medical billing from a local school or via the Internet. Could you benefit from furthering your educatio...

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At-Home Billing Software for Patients?

Intuit, the software company that brought the extremely popular do-it-yourself tax program TurboTax to the world, is looking for another DIY hit with their new medical billing software, Quicken Health Expense Tracker. This program allows customers to essentially circumvent billing professionals and instead take matters into their own hands by managing their expenses, paying bills and even challenging perceived errors on their own. According to Intuit, the software is user-friendly, even for c...

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