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If I start a billing and invoicing business, will it have a future?

QUESTION: I'm considering starting a sideline billing and invoicing business. Do you consider this a viable option in view of the fact that more companies are purchasing computer equipment that can perform this function?

ANSWER: The issue for businesses that need billing and invoicing services is time, not technology.

Medical-billing services have been among the most popular home-based businesses in the 1990s, but the industry has become saturated in some areas of the country. Fortunately, a wide range of other health-care practitioners, from chiropractors to occupational therapists, still need this service.

Also, doctors who have tied their practices into managed care can be involved with as many as eight HMOs and PPOs, and continue to have fee-for-service patients for whom filing insurance claims is necessary. Consequently, many doctors are enlisting billing services for a variety of other back-office functions like invoicing, collecting co-payments, keeping track of past-due accounts and handling patients' billing-related calls.

You also might want to check out medical-claims assistance. Claims assistance professionals (CAPs) file claims for people whose doctors don't file private insurance claims.

Resources for finding out more about medical billing and medical claims include:

* The National Electronic Biller's Alliance,

* The Alliance of Claims Assistance Professionals, 731 Naperville Rd., Wheaton, IL 60187, (630) 588-1260,

* Rick Benzel's Making Money In a Health Service Business on Your Home-based PC (McGraw Hill) includes a CD-ROM demonstration of medical-billing software;

* Entrepreneur offers a How to Start a Medical Claims Processing Service start-up guide (800-421-2300). And for the latest costs, income and marketing for these businesses, check out our most recent edition of Best Home Businesses for the 21st Century (Tarcher/Putnam).

# posted by Medical Information : 3:47 AM