Office support staff with no office?

[LuvMyLittles]

I have a question for all of you. I am about to take a course that will prepare me to do:
Patient records management
Appointment scheduling
Billing
Medical reception
Insurance claims
Medical inventory control and purchasing
Accounts payable and bank reconciliation
The class will also cover basic medical medical law, ethics & bioethics and HIPPA regulations.
What I would really love to do is open a business from my home that services homebirth professionals and lactation consultants who also work from home so that they can focus on their clients and not their "paperwork."
Is there a need for any of those services?
I'm in Oregon if that helps.

[courtenay_e]

If you lived in Michigan, when I got my homebirth practice going, I'd hire you in a heartbeat. Paperwork is the L-E-A-S-T fun part of my doula business, and I don't even have that much to do. I don't even want to THINK about how much more I'll have in that distant "someday" when I am done with my schooling!!

[mwherbs]

medical billing--- insurance claims and book keeping--- someone who is effective in getting insurance claims paid is worth the money they are paid -- at this point in time the midwives I know who employ a biller provide that as a service to the client-- money recovery for them because payment is expected ahead of time and then the biller takes about 7-8% of what is paid- that comes out of what the clients get back-
as for book keeping if the midwife is busy it is still probably only about 1 hr a week or 2 hrs every 2 weeks worth of job--
an accountant would be responsible for the year end taxes-

[Maggi315]

Where are you taking this course, I really, really need to do this and so does my secretary!!

I hired a secretary to help out in my home office, she does alot of work from home. She works about 5 hours per week. Starting in september, we will be doing breast pump sales and rentals, she will mainly do that, so her hours will increase.

Basically this is what she does for me: returns phone calls, helps set up appointments, helps with lab stuff (sending it, talking with them, filing paperwork, organizing supplies), sends out new client information packets, makes up new files with allthe handouts, fills out birth certificates, fills out PKU forms, files, does my accounting and bookkeeping, and general stuff like calling/ordering supplies and vendor accounts, dealing with the state, etc.

We are both not business oriented, so this has been a learning curve, but once she gets the hang of it, she will be wonderful.

What I could use is an account to help sort out tax issues.

I would think if you billed yourself to several midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, etc. you couldhave a nice business going.

But, please let me know what course you are taking, I have been looking onlineand found nothing.

[Maggi315]

Oh, and I don't see why you can't offer those services long distance, like a virtual office assistant or something.

[LuvMyLittles]

Wow thanks for all the feedback!

Courtenay - if I ever move to Michigan I will let you know!

Mwherbs - thank you for the nuts and bolts info, it certainly gives me something to think about.

Maggie - The class is called Medical Career Foundations and is offered by Mount Hood Community College in Portland Oregon. It used to be offered as regular coursework, but the version I'm doing is set up for people who want to get off state assistance (long story for another part of the board, but I don't qualify for the "Surviving Abuse" section yet).
The regular classes for medical office acountants are here: http://www.mhcc.edu/pages/1223.asp. These are set up for someone working toward a degree, but there are other medical office specialties listed on the left that will probably have useful classes too.
I would totally love to offer services long distance, especially record keeping. It might be really helpful for midwives or their clients who move or just to have electronic backup away from the home office in case anything happens.