Medical Billing by Angie DeBernardo

Recently, MDFamily had the opportunity to sit down (virtually, of course!) with Suzanne Quijano. Suzanne has worked as a medical biller out of her home for the last several years during her husband’s medical training. She graciously agreed to share some job tips.

How did you get in to medical billing?

My neighbor had been doing billing for about a year from her home before I decided to try it. I had been doing home daycare, along with marketing and news monitoring out of my house and since my husband was planning to do a fellowship, I decided I better find something that I didn’t mind doing for another 3 years. I was really feeling isolated watching children since I couldn’t leave the house and started researching other opportunities. I quickly figured out that if you want to work from home, you really have to create your own opportunities. Since I have a medical background (I used to work as an OT), medical billing seemed like the obvious choice.

What kind of training do you need to get started?

I basically trained myself. I started by doing tons of research online, visiting medical billing forums and reading through the archives of messages that people had posted on the subject. Next I found some software that included a medical billing course with the package. I took the online course and familiarized myself with the software. Next I began marketing to physicians in my area. I had noticed a pulmonary and physical therapy clinic going up down the street from me so I sent them a “welcome” letter introducing my services. They responded that they didn’t currently need a biller so I asked them to keep my information on file should the need arise later. About 6 months later, they called me and I had my first client.

Did you need any special office equipment or start up money?

There was a pretty significant start up cost, since I bought a $5000 software package (it did include training as well as marketing support). I already had a computer and printer, otherwise those would have added to the cost. Luckily, my parents supported my new endeavor so they ponied up the cash for my software.

How much income did the business bring in, after taxes?

My income ended up being about $800 to $1000 a month. I never had to pay tax, since I had plenty of deductions for having a home office.

How many hours a week do you work?

I think I probably work between 15-20 hours per week.

What was the hardest part of running a home business?

The hardest part of my business was figuring out where to find the time with my children at home. I constantly felt like I was neglecting them so that I could work. Since I didn’t bring in that much money, I really had to balance what I could afford for childcare so that I was still turning a decent profit. Another thing I found difficult was shifting out of work mode. I usually work a little bit every day because it is almost impossible to walk by my desk without remembering some work task that I needed to do really quick.

How do you balance the time at work and the time with family with your “office” at home?

I tried lots of things and never really stumbled on the perfect balance. I would try pulling one really late night each week, or try getting up at 5am to work so that I felt like I was devoting more to my family, but I never could stick to any great routine. I think if I had developed a realistic schedule and stuck to it, it would have been a lot easier.

Could you have continued running your business if your spouse got a job somewhere else?

Absolutely. My clients could have gotten the information to me via fax or mail, so I could have moved my business anywhere. My business requires no face-to-face contact at all.

Do you think this is a good career option for a doctor’s spouse?

I do. I think when you are married to a doctor you really need a career that can flex, and mine certainly did when it had to. If the kids were sick, there was no way my husband could have stayed home, so I just wouldn’t get to work that day. Invariably I would have to make up the time somewhere, which was stressful, but it is doable.

Looking back, do you think medical billing was a good choice for you?

Medical billing was never my “dream job”, but a means to an end. It was stressful at times to have the responsibility of handling the accounts/receivables for entire businesses and always worrying that I wasn’t giving it the attention that it needed, but it did allow me to be home with my kids. I think having a business is like having another child, you have to give it lots of attention if it is going to thrive. If I had it to do over again, I would still have my business, but I would try to be better about establishing a better routine and maybe taking on fewer clients so that I wouldn’t feel over my head.

For more information on a career in medical billing, contact the Medical Association of Billers at http://www.e-medbill.com.