Start a Business Doing Medical Billing at Home

• Assess your personality. Running a medical billing and coding business at home takes focus, discipline and a can-do attitude. You'll need to be able to tune out household distractions and be ready to handle all aspects of the business.
   
• Get medical billing training. There is a wide variety of medical billing and coding schools to choose from. Whether you want to earn a certificate or degree, learn online or on campus, you can use All Allied Health Schools to find the school that's best for you.
   
• Get hands-on experience. Since medical billers directly influence when and how much doctors get paid by insurance companies, you are much more likely to win clients once you have some practical experience under your belt. You may want to take a job in a medical office early on to gain experience.
   
• Write a business plan. Outline the goals you have for your business and the steps you'll take to reach them. For example, you might want to land your first client within six months of obtaining your business license and have three clients by the end of your first year. How will you achieve these goals?
   
• Take stock of your financial resources. You should plan on spending about $3,000 to launch your home-based medical billing and coding business. This will cover the software you'll need, office supplies, business-licensing fees, and the costs of your initial marketing materials.

• Research the local market. Determine if your local market is already saturated with similar operations. According to Electronic Medical Billing Network of America, for every 1,000 doctors in your area, two or three will greatly need your services at any given time.
   
• Make sure your house is well suited to hosting a business. Ideally, you should have a room available to be used exclusively as a home office. Check to make sure zoning laws will allow you to operate a home business if you want to hang an advertisement out front or plan to see clients at home.
   
• Apply for your business license. Most cities have websites where you can download all the necessary paperwork to apply for your business license. From there, it's a simple matter of filling out the forms and dropping them in the mail.
   
• Initiate your marketing plan. Once you've completed the above steps, it's time to get to start actively seeking clients for your medical billing business. While networking will probably work best, sending out letters describing your services and a follow up with phone call also works well.
   
• Network. You can make industry contacts by joining professional organizations, talking to your own family's doctors, or even by taking a job with a temp agency (specializing in medical staffing) so that you're able to work for a wide variety of potential clients.

If you're ready to take the first step toward a medical billing and coding career, getting the education you'll need is a good place to start. Explore our medical billing and coding schools today!