The Blackstone staff wishes you and your family a happy and safe Fourth of July! Our office will be closed on Friday, July 3, 2009 so our staff can take some time to celebrate with our families, and we will reopen on Monday, July 6 at 9 a.m. If you have any questions or need assistance over the holiday weekend, you may contact us via e-mail (info@blackstone.edu) or phone (1-800-826-9228), leave a message, and we will respond as soon as possible when we re-open.

Are you looking for a career that allows you to start your own business and work from home? Medical billers and coders play a vital role in the health care industry, insuring that providers receive payment for their services and that patient claims are properly handled. Job opportunities in this field are growing rapidly, for those who wish to work in a health care facility or at home. With the growth in the health care industry and increasing complexities associated with processing medical claims, many physicians’ offices are outsourcing the billing process to professionals who work at home.

Career counselors recommend that to get started in this expanding field, you obtain the proper training from an accredited school. If you are interested in working from home, they also recommend that you do some research to determine if this arrangement will work well for you. Consider the following steps you should take if you are interested in starting a home-based business:

• Is your personality suited to working at home? You’ll need to have self-discipline and you should be able to ignore distractions. You should also be aware that you will have to handle a variety of responsibilities, such as marketing your services, bookkeeping, interacting with clients, etc.
• Is your home suitable for operating a business? You should have a room or area that can be dedicated for use as a home office. Ideally, you should be able close the door when you are working so you can tune-out household activities, especially if you have children.
• Research the local market and prepare a business plan. You’ll need to make sure your local area isn’t saturated with similar businesses. You should also write a business plan outlining your goals and how you will reach them. According to the Electronic Medical Billing Network of America, a billing professional can earn about $10,000 per year, per doctor whose office you serve. Use this estimate to determine how many clients you will need to reach your business goals (but also make sure this estimate is realistic for the area of the country you live in).
• Investigate your local regulations pertaining to home-based businesses. You may need to apply for a license and you should check local zoning laws. Some municipalities require that home-based business owners obtain a certificate of occupancy, which could involve an inspection of the premises.
• Create a marketing plan and network: if you have determined that a home-based business is for you and have completed your training, develop a marketing plan. You can network by joining professional organizations, talking to your own family doctors, or even by taking temporary work with a firm that specializes in medical staffing. To attract business, also consider ads in newspapers, medical journals and yellow pages.

Many career experts also advise that you obtain hands-on experience working in a medical office or other health care facility before you launch your own business. This will make you more marketable and will also help you develop contacts who are familiar with your work and can recommend you to others. You may even find that after you have worked at a particular facility, your employer might be willing to allow you to work from home.

For information on how you can train to enter the field of medical billing and coding, visit our Web site.

Today’s legal world depends on computers for research and sharing information. Nationwide searches can be completed in seconds using computerized databases. Blackstone paralegal students explore legal research and writing through two study units, Legal Research and Writing, Parts I and II. Students gain practical experience through writing exercises and they also learn about the various online systems that are available.

Many Blackstone students take their education one step further by signing up for a LexisNexis student membership. By enrolling, they can familiarize themselves with the array of resources available and gain real-world experience that will be invaluable when they are seeking a job. The LexisNexis online research system provides access to state and federal case law; codes and statutes; court documents; over 3.5 billion public records (the most available anywhere online); business, legal, and regional news; expert commentary on the law; Shepard's® Citations Service; and much more.

Students receive a step-by-step LexisNexis learning guide as well as access to a 24-hour helpline. They pay only $85 for a year-long student membership. Many students enroll in LexisNexis just before graduating, so that they have the knowledge-base to use it and time to spend working with it once they have concluded their studies. But only currently-enrolled students are eligible for the special student rate, so don’t hesitate to sign up if you are near the end of your course!

Students can enroll by phone or mail. Call us at 1-800-826-9228 for a brochure/enrollment form or to enroll with a credit card over the phone. 

Summer Vacation is a Great Time to Explore Hobbies Through Online Learning