Anyone working as an independent health coach?

Nurses Entrepreneurs

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Wellness coaching seems like an interesting niche to me but I'm having trouble finding insight on whether or not people are successfully making money as independent health coaches. Anyone out there working as a health coach mind sharing a bit about their job, and how much money they pull in on a monthly basis?

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I am also interested in this. My plan is to get a yoga certification which I will have in June and then offer my services to the yoga studio that I am a part of and where I will be getting my certification. I have seen some job posting with sigma insurance for this position. I think health coaching can be a lucrative option not only for insurance companies but also hospitals if it can be proven to reduce re admission rates.

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My insurance company, Athem (BC&BS) has nurse telephone services and are always pushing me to call. I don't know if they are independent contractors but it wouldn't hurt to ask. A few months ago an IC NP came by to do a health assessment for Anthem. Very good pay per assessment.

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Specializes in CVSICU, case mgmt., Psych, education.

The market is saturated with "health coaches," but your point of difference is that you're a nurse providing mentorship/guidance with your clients having access to someone with a much broader knowledge and skill set than someone who just happens to shop at Whole Foods 3 times a week and wants to "coach" people.

Yes, it is possible, but the point of entry is challenging. As nurses we need to think about partnerships with healthcare providers that need another healthcare professional such as yourself to refer to. Someone's MD/NP/PA/DNP would most likely feel a heck of a lot more comfortable referring to a nurse to help with coaching rather than someone who doesn't have that clinical training/expertise of traditional modalities.

There's a place for complementary medicine, we just have to insert ourselves as authorities in the industry.

Wishing you the best,

Kevin Ross, RN, BSN

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I am looking for Health Education Billing Manual for health coaches. Does someone knows where to get it? Thanks! I know that as health coach with CCP certification you can apply for NPI number and bill the insurance for coaching.

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Specializes in Nutritional Therapy, Functional Health.

Livtek, what is CCP certification?

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Specializes in Nutritional Therapy, Functional Health.

I agree that the market is saturated with health coaches. It is not a standardized field and basically anyone can call themselves a "health coach". This means that there is a ton of competition with people that are much less qualified than a nurse to provide health coaching. That being said, a nurse does have experience and education that can bring a lot to a coaching relationship. It is all in how your market your services and distinguish yourself from the competition. Specialization can help as well. For example, if you want to work with patients with diabetes, carve out this niche for yourself right from the beginning.

IMO, it may be better to seek certification in the field of health/wellness that you are most interested in supporting. I knew that I wanted to work in nutrition, so I got a certification specific to that.

Best of luck!

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CCP is chronic care professional certification from Health Sciences. And I know for a fact there is a billing manual for health education. In addition as a RN you can apply for NPI number.

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Yes, and that is true about too many coaches, today. I just do not understand who can hire a coach just because they have 3 weeks training and no medical background.The another thing which is obvious online there is so much of wrong, incorrect information online about health etc....

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Hello livtek,

Want to share with you that our organization has as a consultant one of the 4 most recognized billing and coding compliance experts in the country and he has been asked by our learners and other learners from various coaching programs about health coaching, CCP and insurance billing. (we have a billing and coding manual for health education we provide our graduates) He has started emphatically that NO COACHING training including CCP will allow for the legal billing for coaching services and that if someone does bill for them and a random audit (which is very common) should occur the person who did the billing would be responsible for returning all monies charged.

This is an important piece of information for you to research as people are getting into legal issues trying to bill for coaching. Health coaches cannot get or NPI numbers.

Hope this helps,

Conor

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Really great points in here about market saturation for health coaches, and I totally agree with PaleoNurse about finding a niche or differentiating any way you can! I've actually worked with a handful of current and former nurses who have either pursued health coaching on the side or shifted to coaching full time, usually for more freedom to set their own schedule.

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I don't know what program Conor was referencing but I do know I've looked at a LOT of programs online and the only program I found which gives you the ability to earn an NPI number is the National Institute of Whole Health (niwh.com domain name may be for sale). The program has monthly call-ins where there is a lot of discussion on what their graduates are doing and it's quite impressive. On one of the calls they were talking about Medicare soon requiring health education for all services billed. On their website they have a comparison chart on coaching vs certification through their program and it's quite impressive. Good luck with everything and I hope to see more comments on this subject!

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