ClaimTek Medical Billing Success Stories

Small town, big dreams

Carrie Robbins finds family balance with home business

Carrie Robbins knew she found a business with unlimited growth one day when a doctor showed handwritten claims that were rejected. The physician didn't even know he could bill for therapy in addition to consultations.

Oh physician, heal thyself. This was too easy. Carrie only needed 20 minutes to get his business. The doctor is now making more money than ever. It was more than a win-win situation. It was a Super Bowl victory.

Carrie started Medical Billing Management when her husband was relocated to Demopolis, Ala. in 2001. The town of 10,000 is well, in the middle of nowhere. You can't even see the end of the earth from there. It's even too far away from the little town about two hours from Birmingham.

That's not knocking small towns. They're great places to raise two small children like Carrie's, far away from the constant news of terrorism, anthrax and serial killers that plague major cities. This is a town with few opportunities and a story of a 30-year-old housewife who was looking for some extra income with a home-based business offering flexible hours.

"A lot of my friends can't believe I work from home," Carrie said. "I've always been a pretty independent, motivated person. I enjoy working on my own so this seemed like a natural."

When Carrie's husband was relocated, the power company's human resources department offered assistance either finding a new job or starting a business. Carrie worked part-time at a hospital lab overseeing tests so she knew something about the medical field and enough to know she didn't want to keep working weekends and holidays when everyone else was home with their kids. The company referred her to ClaimTek Systems, a Portland, Ore. medical software company led by president Kyle Farhat that is the industry leader. ClaimTek not only taught Carrie how to handle medical claims, but arranged meetings with her first two clients.

"ClaimTek was there for me," Carrie said. "They're always there to answer questions. Even though working in a hospital helped me somewhat about medical terminology, I was totally unfamiliar with billing."

Today, Carrie handles the billing for three chiropractors within two hours of her own small town. She didn't need to tap into the local physicians because working with others on the phone was easy. Carrie hasn't taken on more clients because she enjoys working just 15 hours weekly that provides enough income and needed time to spend with her two preschoolers.

"I wouldn't have any problem adding more doctors," she said. "I probably will when my children get older and start school."

It didn't take long for Carrie to work wonders, though. One client had $300,000 in uncollected claims. It's not $30,000 and dropping. That's $270,000 to a doctor that probably never would have seen a dime of it.

"He couldn't believe how much money we brought in," Carrie said. "He said last year was his biggest ever."

But the best was one doctor whose handwritten claims didn't even factor therapies that took 60 percent of his time. He was just billing for diagnosis time. Carrie now has him income spiraling, too.

After all, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to ship the forms electronically. Just a former lab worker who wanted to stay home with her kids.