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To: Practiceimprovement1@yahoogroups.com
From: Gary Seto <glseto@mac.com>
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Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 18:18:20 -0700
Subject: Re: [Practiceimprovement1] Billing on your own, from the top please
Reply-To: Practiceimprovement1@yahoogroups.com

Before I embarked on my solo practice, I enrolled in a 6 week course being offered at the local community college on Medical Billing 101. It was supposed to go for 6 hours but we always got out early. It was a loosely structured class, and it wasn't difficult at all. Most of the people who took it looked relatively young, perhaps high school graduates, some homemakers looking to start their own business. The instructor made it sound like a lucrative field, always telling us about the many students he had had in the past who were now thriving in their own medical billing service. He pointed out how much doctors hate to do billing (I didn't volunteer that I was a doctor!) and he is definitely right. But I figured that if they could learn this, then so could I. I went on to Medical Billing 102 and decided not to take the next session which was on electronic billing. But I picked up enough of the basics to feel confident about starting. Some of it is trial and error, some of it is obscure knowledge. Like not putting in the dashes when entering the social security number. But I reasoned that any mistakes I made would only be made once, as my medical billing knowledge increased. Using a service like Medrium made it easy to bill electronically. However, it has gotten expensive at $150 a month. I hope to switch over to MacPractice as soon as the clearinghouses approve me for the Blues and Medicare. I am averaging a collection rate of $84 per visit so far, but I am behind on my billing so I hope to improve this number.

So if you have a local community college or adult education programs near you, they probably are a cheap way to get started. I've seen some online courses being offered, too, some specifically targeted at doctors, but they seemed more expensive. You could always ask a local biller how they got started, too. Watch out for "get rich quick" medical billing scams, as mentioned in this link: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/features/medbilling.htm

If you list your location, I could *try* to find something local for you.

Remember, practicing medicine is MUCH more difficult than medical billing. If you can practice medicine, you can do billing.

Good luck, Jeremy!

Gary Seto

South Pasadena, CA