Do you have a background in healthcare, but need a job where you can work from your home office? Here are five work-from-home healthcare jobs that could eliminate your commute and your need for daycare.
Medical Billing and Coding
If you are an experienced medical billing and coding professional, you have a couple of different options available if you wish to work from home. The first option is to find an employer who will allow you to telecommute once you've proven your ability to work independently. Alternately, you can also start your own home-based medical billing and coding business. The latter option requires a little more preparation, such as getting your business license and learning how to market your business to potential clients, but offers the most freedom and flexibility.
After-Hours Home Health Nurse
Nurses have several options for working from home. Working as an after-hours visit nurse involves making some calls to patients' homes as needed. Mostly though, you will be working from your home, where you'll be contacted if a patient needs to be visited. Some nights you may be out making visits all through the night, while others you may receive only a handful of calls — or none at all. Though this option may at times be unpredictable, you will be able to spend your "down time" in your home.
Insurance Case Manager
Likewise, being an insurance case manager involves some fieldwork, but many insurance companies will allow employees to telecommute from home. Unlike after-hours visit nurses, insurance case managers have more flexibility in determining their schedule for working in the field, so if you need to pick the kids up at school a certain time of day routinely, you can generally work with that schedule. You can also maintain a normal daytime work week, working Monday through Friday without weekends or holidays.
Nurse Hotlines
Another option for work-from-home healthcare jobs for nurses is working for an after-hours nurse hotline — a service sometimes offered by insurance companies to their clients. Shifts are generally available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays and weekends. You'll need a separate home office with a lockable door and a secure internet connection (no Wi-Fi) to comply with privacy laws, and have children who are quiet during working hours.
Telephone Triage
Telephone triage is similar to working for a nurse hotline, except you are working for a medical facility or home health agency providing after-hours support to patients currently under their care. You will field any calls that come in while the office is closed and, after trying to make recommendations to resolve the issue by telephone, dispatch the after-hours visit nurse to make a visit if needed; that is, unless you work for a small agency that combines their triage and after-hours visit nurse roles. As you might expect, trying to triage incoming telephone calls while on a visit is a bit of a challenge, so that is something to strongly consider if you are offered that combined role.
If you want or need to work from home, healthcare remains one of the most diverse and flexible professions for finding the right job to fit your personal and professional lifestyle.
