RingRx and Phoenix Billing: Navigating a New Start in Healthcare Billing
It can be tough to start your own business, especially when the opportunity comes unexpectedly and under challenging circumstances.
For Michelle Bowen, the chance to finally step out on her own was welcome but not something she initiated or even planned for at the time. “I was working as a billing specialist for a practice group of eight providers, and I enjoyed the role, but unfortunately, the clinic dissolved after I had been working there for about a year,” she explains.
“Right after that happened, however, one of the providers approached me and asked if I had ever thought about starting my own business. Honestly, because I had spent a number of years in the medical industry and several other fields, I had previously thought about it. But I never thought that dream would become a reality.”
Once the ball started rolling, though, a few other providers from the recently shuttered practice also got in touch. They said they’d be interested in Michelle continuing to support them. And that is how Phoenix Billing was born.
Needing Structure
While some new companies struggle to find clients, Phoenix Billing started out with several clients in hand. For Michelle, the most significant pain point was actually physically setting up the business.
“What I do daily is insurance and patient billing, benefits verification, insurance and outside payment posting, investigation of claims payments, provider support for medical records and customer service to our patients,” she explains. “The challenge I was having was finding something that had everything I wanted for a small business for a reasonable price. I wanted the option of fax or text and for it all to be simple to use.”
Michelle looked for a communications provider who could fit her needs, including moving over her fax number and managing an unreliable internet line, causing calls to drop.
“I was already using a different provider for my telecommunications needs, but my old boss from another clinic suggested that RingRx might be a better fit for what I was looking for and that I should give them a try.”
That suggestion turned out to be a game-changer for Michelle. “RingRx had everything I needed and wanted from the start, at the price I wanted, which made the decision easy.”
Features Make It All Work
RingRx’s features were a key selling point for Michelle and gave her the additional support and capabilities she needed to stay on top of her business.
“What I like the best is that RingRx keeps a log of every fax that comes in, on top of getting an email. This is extremely helpful and important in case you happen to delete something you need later – you don’t have to spend a lot of time digging through your trash or archives to find it again.”
Additionally, as the sole proprietor of a small business, Michelle appreciated the time savings and customer support RingRx has provided. “It’s just me currently, so record-keeping is the most important thing for me. Being able to turn the faxes into documents for uploading into charts or for forwarding has been great; everything has been done within a timely fashion,” she adds. “Including getting our fax transferred over pretty quickly when we needed it.”
From the start, reliability was also very important as she set up Phoenix Billing. “As everyone knows, making a phone call has pretty much come to an end – it’s the day and age of faxes, emails, and text messages. So it was very important for all of this to work and work correctly,” says Michelle. “Everyone I worked with in customer service and customer support was friendly, supportive and quick at getting things resolved in a timely manner. Even including responding to my prior provider to get the information needed for transition.”
Growing the Business
Michelle hopes to grow Phoenix Billing and take on several more medical providers going forward. “As time has passed, I’ve been able to resolve all of my technical and logistics issues, both via RingRx and by improving my physical setup.”
She also plans to use more of RingRx’s features as she continues her journey as a small business. “I have just started using the mobile app, which I have found to be very useful when traveling,” she adds.
Overall, Michelle is very grateful for where she is today, even though it may not have been something she was actively planning on. “I have over 15 years of experience in this industry and have done a little bit of everything over the years, originally starting out as a medical assistant. I’m now billing for three wonderful individuals who have also gone out on their own and for individual practices themselves. I was very fortunate to find this group of women at this time in my life, and I am very thankful every day for this opportunity given to me.”
“RingRx so far has been everything I need, and I have no complaints.”
