Best Work at Home Job - Medical Billing or Medical Transcription?

When opting for a work at home job or home business in medical field, most of them are confused whether to go for medical billing or medical transcription. This article covers the scope and challenges of both the fields.

by Rosalind Mays

Here's a question I received through email:

One of my friends told me recently that there is lot of money involved in medical billing/transcription business and if I'm considering working from home, I must think about it. What is your opinion regarding this?

Here's what I replied with:

I often advise aspiring telecommuters that one of the surest way to find a job at home is to get some specialized skill that is in demand and if that skill is pertaining to medical field, then there is very high chance of succeeding.

Regarding your question, be aware that medical transcription is different from medical billing and after having researched, here are my observations:

Scope of Medical Billing

One thing I noticed is that the opportunities in medical billing are hyped. Before you sign up for any medical billing offers, make sure to call your local medical offices and ask some pertinent questions like the type of billing services, software used, if any of their employees telecommute and if they employ any independent billing service. If possible try to get the number of these independent billing businesses.

Now call these independent billing businesses and ask them the above questions (excluding the last one). You may also want to call insurance agencies, whose contact numbers you can get from yellow pages, and ask them the same questions.

Most likely, the answers you get may not be what you expected. The fact is there are large professional establishments that are especially dedicated for billing purposes and most medical offices and insurance companies use their services. The software used may also be customized for specific purpose ranging anywhere from $700 to tens of thousands of dollars. Also, most medical offices may not be even comfortable sending confidential medical data to home workers.

You certainly wouldn't want your physician to send your medical data over the Internet or mail to a stranger, would you? If this confidential information gets leaked, the physician/media/billing service will most likely be sued and the patient has every right to do so!

There are of course people doing billing business from home but its not as easy as many ads, books or courses claim to be. My research shows that those who have succeeded have had prior experience in medical billing business, working as employees, and also have had several contacts in the medical field.

Medical Transcription

This field is something you can do from home and has promising future. I know many who make a living doing medical transcription from home.

When opting for a career in this field, one thing I would like to advise is to look out for courses offered in your community colleges, rather than online courses. You can save a lot and the subject is also covered thoroughly. You must also get in touch with others who are doing medical transcription and ask all relevant questions.

1) Make a list of colleges in your area and see if they offer courses in medical transcription. A certification would be ideal if available. Also contact your state university and other universities to see if they offer courses on medical transcription.

2) Go through the following websites for information on distance learning courses:

Peterson's Distance Learning
Searchable directory of distance learning programs.

World Wide Learn
List of schools offering online courses in medical transcription

3) After you get a thorough idea of courses offered in different institutions and places, you must visit the places that assure such training. Please be aware that I am not endorsing any of these institutions offering courses on medical transcription and it's your duty to research their legitimacy before taking any important decision.

Laird's School of Medical Transcription

Medical Transcription Education Center, Inc.

You may also want to check out:

Medical Transcription Daily
A networking community of online MTs and students.

Final note: Being employed as a medical transcriptionist is great but if you really want to succeed in this field, you must create a home business out of it, outsourcing your services to as many people as you can service.

About the author:

Rosalind Mays, best-selling author of The Real Deal on Telecommuting, and co-author of Get Your Money Back! Stop Scammers and Save Your Dollars, works at home as an Internet Researcher. She hopes her advice and report (which compiles all the information she found while searching for her current job) will shorten other job seeker's time in finding legitimate work at home opportunities. Visit http://telecommuting.cjb.net for a free list of telecommuting jobs compiled monthly. Go to: http://www.siennapublishing.com to learn more about her books. She may be reached via e-mail RozMW@aol.com.

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