• Scambusters — Medical Billing

For some reason medical billing has attracted more than it’s fair share of scams. If you’re interested in working at home doing medical billing be particularly wary of pitches that promise easy money with little or no effort. In fact, if you’re interested in working from home doing anything, be particularly wary. The world just doesn’t work that way.

If you’re looking to start your own medical billing business, learn about the challenges involved in medical billing, including the complex laws which apply before you fork over $200 or $500 or $3500. And understand that up to a year of training may be necessary in order to even begin to market your medical billing services to healthcare providers.

A few years ago, the FTC surfed the Internet and newspaper classifieds looking for ads promising consumers they could make fast, easy money running medical billing businesses from home. Hundreds of ads from dozens of companies were identified, and the Feds discovered that many of them were just rackets offering bogus credit cards or easy loans for a ridiculous fee to whoever called. Those that actually pitched medical billing products included:

• Electronic Processing Services, Inc., et al. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, marketed a $480 medical billing work-at-home opportunity, misrepresenting that the doctors whose names were supplied were likely to hire consumers to process their billing claims, and that consumers could expect to make a certain amount of money as medical billers.
• International Trader, d/b/a Premier Business Solutions, et al. A Nevada corporation, based in Los Angeles, California, marketed work-at-home medical billing opportunities through classified advertisements for $189. Through their telemarketing pitch, they misrepresented: 1) that they would provide consumers with the names of doctors likely to use them to process billing claims from home; 2) that consumers buying their materials could expect to earn a specific level of income (between $15 and $45 per hour); and 3) that consumers could readily obtain a refund upon request.
• Medical-Billing.Com, Inc., d/b/a Professional Management Consultants, et al. A Texas corporation based in Carrollton, Texas, sold their medical billing package for between $3,500 and $9,500. In telemarketing their program, they allegedly made numerous misrepresentations, including promises that: 1) they would help recruit doctors who would use the consumers to process their billing; 2) customers would earn substantial income providing billing services for health care professionals; and 3) they would give customers a full refund if the program did not meet their performance expectations.
• Electronic Medical Billing, Inc., et al. A Nevada corporation operating in Mission Viejo, California, sold a medical billing work-at-home business opportunity to consumers for $325. They misrepresented: 1) that the doctors whose names they provided to consumers were likely to hire them to do their billing; and 2) that consumers could expect to make a certain level of income through medical billing (between $25,000 and $50,000 a year, according to their classified ads).
• Physicians Healthcare Development (PHD Billing), Inc., et al. Based in Burbank, California, pitched a work-at-home medical billing opportunity for $319 to $425, telling consumers that they could make between $3 and $15 for each claim processed. They misrepresented that the system they sell will instantly enable consumers to launch a home-based billing business, that consumers can earn substantial income for this work, and that the doctors whose names they provided were prepared to hire the consumers to process their claims.

If you get a pitch that sounds like one of these you can be sure you’re being scammed.