Avoiding Medical Billing Business Opportunity Scams

Making money on a part time or full time basis is possible in the medical billing field.

However, there are plenty of scams to watch out for. These scams are perpetrated in two ways. Sometimes marketers entice people looking for a work-at-home opportunity by running ads online and offline that look like "help wanted" ads. When you call the toll-free number you are either asked to leave your contact information for someone to call you back… or… you get a live person on the phone.

In either case, the sales representative you end up speaking with does their best to sell you a "home study course" about the medical billing field. These courses are not accredited in any way. They cost several hundred to several thousand dollars. And you're typically asked to make an immediate decision or some feature of the program may not be available to you later on.

So can you really make up to $40,000 or more as a medical biller?

The answer to that question is yes. But not necessarily by purchasing an over-priced course with out-dated information that does not pertain to the current medical billing industry. What you need to do is protect yourself from bogus medical billing business opportunities and find legitimate sources of education. The best ways to protect your hard earned money from these scammers is as follows:

Choose programs where the marketing company lets you speak with previous customers. Granted, not all companies in any industry collect this data. You should ask anyway and then follow through by calling those people. The main reason for calling these people is to find out if they are making money as promised in the ad.

Do a little homework and contact the various associations and organizations in the medical billing industry. In fact, these should be your first (and maybe only) source to discuss your desire to become a medical biller. These organizations have the programs that are recognized and updated to help you learn and start a medical billing business.

Go online and search out others who are promoting their business. You'll find that successful medical billers have websites. Contact them and find out how they got started. Through your discussions with several successful medical billers you may get advice to get you started on the right foot. After all, these people have been where you are and discovered how to make the business work.

The main point to get is this: Don't buy a medical billing course on a whim. Instead, investigate the industry a little before making a final decision on which educational source you'll buy from. As you do this simple research, you will probably find the right information and steer clear of the scams and bogus programs sold by unethical companies and individuals who are just looking to make a quick buck off of you.