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 So,
You Think You Want to Get Into Medical Billing... Now
What?
Ann
Grinnell, Owner, Velocity Medical Billing Service, LLC provides advice,
guidance and updates in her business endeavors and success in business
ownership.
Several months ago, I was
privileged to have an article published in different magazines and
newsletters about how I started my business. The response I
have gotten has been unbelievable! I have been blessed with
the opportunity to speak with so many people about this business
that I asked Tammy Harlan if I could respond in her newsletter and
she agreed. So, here we go! Grab your pen and paper and take
notes.
Before you go any
further in your investigation, write down the REAL reasons you
want to become a Medical Biller/Medical Billing Business Owner.
What do you think appeals to you? Ask your spouse and friends to give
you some honest feedback on your personality. Here are a few things to
help you get started:
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Are you
self-motivated?
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Are you
self-disciplined?
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Do you take
criticism easily?
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Do you like
change -- frequently?
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Can you handle
rejection?
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Do you like to
learn?
Let’s talk
about these questions in a bit more depth. What do I mean by
self-motivated? Do you need someone to tell you to do something or
do you take charge and get “the job” done? Do you honestly think
you can get up and go to your desk and start calling doctors or working
on your potential database without a nudge from anyone? If the
answer is yes, keep reading.
Self-discipline:
This is different from being self-motivated because this involves the
time when you have
an opportunity to do something that you’ve “been dying” to do. You’ve
been offered tickets to that great performance or to a big football
game, or the day is perfect and you want to go to the beach.
You get
the idea. But, wait! You also just received a huge amount of billing
from one of your clients and you know you are already a bit behind.
What do you do? If you REALLY want to be a Medical Biller/Billing
Service Owner, the answer is easy. You stay home and take care of your
clients.
You probably won’t
receive a lot of criticism but there will be times that you do. Suppose your client or
one of his/her patients decides to question you and they don’t agree
with your answer. What if they tell you “You don’t know what you’re
doing!?" How would you handle this? What if another Medical Biller
tells you (in answer to one of your questions) that you’ve been doing it
wrong? How would you respond?
Are you one of
those people who always like the same thing or do you like a
challenge? I love change and it’s a good thing because there is
ALWAYS
something changing in the medical billing field. You will need to
embrace this and keep moving forward.
Marketing is one
of the most difficult aspects of owning your own business. Unless
you can afford to pay someone to do that part of the job, it’s up to you to go after those clients.
How will you feel
when you are told NO or someone is rude to you when you call? After
all, you have something special to offer them! You want to do their
billing for them – never mind that you haven’t ever done it before and
you don’t want to tell them that. (Here’s a side note from me and it
is my own personal opinion: I think you should always be honest with
your clients and potential clients. If you haven’t done it before, tell
them, BUT also tell them that you will take care of any mistakes at NO
charge to them. Let them know that you’re willing to work hard for them
and that you don’t get paid until they get paid. And, always be
sure to own up to any mistakes you make!)
(And here is a note from Tammy: One of the reason's my very first
client contracted with me was because he would be my first client and "I
could devote my time and motivation to him.")
The last point
I made a few paragraphs ago was the desire to learn. You really do need
to almost crave to learn – you know, like that piece of chocolate cake
that you’ve been thinking about all day that you just want to devour.
This business is an on-going process of learning and you have to like
learning if you want to be successful because you can never know it
all. Never! It seems to be a given that what you thought you finally
had down-pat yesterday, will have changed when you get up in the
morning.
 So
now, you have finished the list and you have decided that this is
the career that you want. The first thing I would tell you to do is to
sit down and have a hear-to-heart discussion with your spouse,
if you have one. Here’s the reason: I have spoken with so many people
who think they can take a quick course and immediately start making big
money. This is not impossible but it is the exception rather than the
rule. Think about it. If it takes you 2 months to complete an online
course (or more, if you take courses at your local community college),
you are going without a salary unless you’re also holding down a job at
the same time. There’s nothing wrong with that except that you have to
realize that it will take time away from the course and the marketing.
There’s that pesky word again! Some people are lucky and they land a
client the first week or month. However, there are many who don’t sign
a client for several months. When you finally sign that first client,
you may or may not get a Registration (Start-up) fee. That will depend
on how hard the doctor pushes against it and how much competition you
have. Even if you do get a fee (which I do recommend, by the way), you
won’t get paid again until you have gotten your client paid. If there
are secondary carriers, you can’t bill them until you have the EOB
(Explanation of Benefits) from the Primary carrier. If the Primary
automatically sends to the Secondary, you are at their mercy, so to
speak. You can call and keep after them to process the claims but there
is only so much that you can do. The bottom line is that you can’t bill
the client until he’s paid and that could be another couple of months.
Be sure that the other person who shares your life is on-board
with this and understands that it could be a while until you start
bringing in a salary. I have talked to many people who did not have
this conversation and understanding and they ended up quitting a great
career because the other person became angry at the lack of income. I
suggest that you plan on 9-12 months without a regular income and be
thrilled if you can make it happen in less time. It’s always better to
be surprised in a nice way than to become discouraged because you didn’t
give yourself a realistic amount of time. Remember, you may be new to
marketing too!
If you’ve finally
BOTH made the decision to go ahead, I have wonderful news for you!
Don’t look any further than
medicalbillingcourse.com. I can personally vouch for
this company because I
took the medical billing course online with Tammy Harlan. I can’t
say enough great things! If you take the
course through
medicalbillingcourse.com,
you will have all the tools you need to get started. All of the people involved are terrific and, unlike
most courses, when it’s over the same people are still there to support
you! On top of that, there are forums that you can log on to so that
you can meet other “newbies” and ask questions of the “oldie but
goodies“. It’s here that you will begin to
develop a network of peers that
become friends for a life time. So what are you waiting for? Race back
to your computer and signup with
medicalbillingcourse.com. You’ll be so glad that you
did!
Many people ask me
if I like medical billing and I always tell them the same thing -
NO, I LOVE MEDICAL BILLING! It’s challenging and rewarding and I love
the people I get to meet. My business has now grown to the point where
I am actively looking at new ways of doing things. I want to be able to
spend more time on marketing – see, that word just keeps on coming up
and it won’t ever go away as long as you want to be in business.
I want
to work more wisely and I want to have more time to be creative in
helping my clients be more successful. I guess I was never happy with
status quo – I always had to go for more. I want to be an encourager to
those who want to try something new and I definitely want to give back
to those who have helped me along the way.
Fortunately,
for me, I have a wonderful husband, Dave, who is extremely supportive
and he handles the technical side of my business. Our daughter, Kim, is
always a source of encouragement to me when I feel overwhelmed at times
– I’m sure none of you who read this will ever feel that way. Ha! Not
to sound defeatist because I’m a very upbeat person, but we all get
overwhelmed with things sometimes. Take for instance those days you’ve
been on hold for an hour waiting for a rep to tell you why one of your
claims was denied and you are mysteriously cut off and you get to start
all over!
 And,
what do I do when I’m not working on the business? I spend time
with Dave and Kim and her husband, Julio, and the three best grandkids
in the world (Anthony, Emmy, and Alex)! I’m prejudiced, of course.
Dave and I participate a lot at our church and I belong to a Women’s
group which is very special to me. I love to hike with my family and
friends and I enjoy our dogs and birds. I love the outdoors and all that
it has to offer and I truly love time in the mountains.
That’s enough about
me. Now, you go pursue your dream and I wish all of you the best of luck
in your new career!
Ann Grinnell
Velocity Medical Billing Services, LLC
www.velocitymbs.com
ann@velocitymbs.com
(818) 718-7991
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