This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Today we're gonna hear from a caller who's wondering about becoming a medical billing advocate. This is somebody who helps patients negotiate and lower their medical bills, especially in cases where the bill is pretty high and might include some mistakes or unnecessary charges or just some stuff that can kind of be negotiated down. Basically, if you know what you're doing. Now this is a noble act, but naturally the medical billing advocate doesn't do this for charity. They typically charge a flat fee in addition to a percentage of the money saved.
Now in the right situation, this can be a win-win for both parties. So if you like the idea of doing this, either as a side hustle or potentially a full-time business one day, how can you get started? That's what we're gonna talk about. Detailed question and my answer coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
My mom was in the hospital recently and unfortunately she doesn't have good insurance.
When she got out, the bill was really expensive. However, we talked to some people and learned that some of the charges can be reduced if we know what we're doing. Then we learned that someone called a medical billing advocate can help. Long story short, I thought this was interesting and could make for a cool side hustle. It seems to meet all the requirements you talk about and it's obviously helpful to people.
So how do I become one and where do I find clients? I'll do my own searching, but I was also curious about what you suggest. [Music]
Okay, first things first. So sorry to hear about your mom. I hope she is doing better.
Now let's talk about becoming a medical billing advocate. This is definitely a thing. If you think about it, it's a big problem. So what could the solution be? The problem of high medical costs, some of which are unnecessary or might contain errors or could otherwise just be negotiated down.
Well, naturally there's this field, there's this person that can help. So one note from the top here as well, this is different from being a patient advocate. So if you do some Googling, you're gonna find a lot of info on being a patient advocate. That's somebody who guides patients through a long healthcare process and they're often employed by the hospital or by the HMO. So the medical billing advocate is focused entirely on the bill.
So that patient advocate might be paid by an insurance company, whereas the medical billing advocate, that's what you're looking for, they are almost always independent. And this person helps patients and their families review medical bills for errors, confirm that claims have been processed, make appeals, disputes, and so on. So it appears that in most jurisdictions, there's not really a licensing or certification process for this work. You should always double check that, but in this case, it seems like most places not, which makes sense because you're trying to help patients pay less money. And hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, everybody else who benefits from high prices, they don't want to encourage this goal.
So the skills you're gonna need, attention to detail, some knowledge of accounting, and most importantly, strong communication. You'll be spending a lot of time talking with patients, family members, and insurance companies, a lot of back and forth, a lot of kind of pleading your case, but gently, yet firmly and so on. So what all this says to me is it's really about marketing. How can you connect with people in your area or elsewhere who are facing expensive medical bills? You'll need to establish your authority, which in this case just means your ability to lower bills, right?
Your ability to negotiate those savings. You'll want to get some experience and then start getting recommended. I think this is gonna work by word of mouth, for the most part. Maybe one idea is to contact support groups for families of somebody who's faced a long illness or other inpatient stay. And when you do that, just be gentle, reach out, try to be helpful without selling anything.
I think this is gonna be a relationship-based business. And so there are lots of ways you could be helpful before any sort of sales process or even actual client work begins. And that could help you get the reputation that you'll need to succeed long-term in the field. Lastly, on the notes page for today, I'm gonna link up a Consumer Reports article I read. It was pretty helpful on how to get help with your medical bills.
Actually had some tips for anybody who's trying to lower costs in the situation. And it says a bit about the medical billing advocate thing as well. So I'll link that up in the notes page. That's sidehustleschool.com/2247 for today's episode, 2,247. Of course, we've got a new episode coming out tomorrow.
Totally different topic, but all related to the idea of earning extra money without quitting your job. I hope you'll tune in. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
