ClaimTek Medical Billing Success Stories

Building a future

Ian Parker become a super man in Gotham City

By Rick Snider

Ian Parker loves to build things. Not with a hammer and nails, but with his wits and ingenuity. The thrill of creating a new company is much like Michaelangelo must have felt when looking at that chapel ceiling and knowing he did something great.

"The challenge of starting something out, building something, is what I love," Ian said. "The challenge of learning something new motivates me. Just the idea of trying to start something up from scratch with all your own money at risk is a pretty big motivating factor."

Ian founded Advance Practice Management in East Hampton, N.Y. in April 2001 and already has five clients ranging from a chiropractor to internist. And that's just the start for the ambitious 26-year old.

After all, Ian was once a young turk in New York City. Fresh with a college degree in business administration, he quickly began wheeling and dealing in venture capital, brokering deals worth millions of dollars.

It was great to be young, rich and alive in New York.

And you guessed it. Sept. 11 was followed by the economic downturn that dried up venture capital faster than ice in the desert. The big companies started taking the smaller deals to survive and the smaller companies faded away.

And Ian was suddenly looking for a new career.

Ian thought about financial planning. After all, his degree from Long Island University included finance so it wouldn't be hard after writing business plans for millions of dollars. But that market dried up, too.

So Ian thought about what he really loved -- company building. Why not start his own? The Long Island area was rich with medical practices. Maybe too rich because there was plenty of competition to process the nation's highest medical fees.

No matter. Ian figured a way into the market by specializing in HIPPA that deals with government regulations. It was a way of entering the market with a niche that few competitors support. After doctors got to know Ian, they started giving him their medical claims business. Soon, there was enough work for Ian to hire a family member to also process claims.

"Doctors liked us, but they sometimes wanted a company with a history so I readjusted my business model and went for a niche," he said. "As we proved ourselves, we gave free telephone support and the referrals are still coming in. Now the billing is really starting to open up for us. We've been around for awhile so we're more stable and people send their business to us."

And Ian suddenly discovered a perk when working for yourself at home -- no more business suits.

"It's nice to wake up in the morning and be at home and clients call you," he said.

Of course, one of the most important calls Ian made when starting his business was to ClaimTek Systems, a Portland, Ore. company led by founder Kyle Farhat that is a national leader in electronic medical claims software. After rejecting one company for its hard-sell tactics, Ian selected ClaimTek after a month-long investigation.

"ClaimTek is a totally different kind of company," Ian said. "Kyle really does put his heart and soul into it. I felt like I was getting involved with the right people."

After all, being a service-oriented company is what Ian wanted to be himself. Like ClaimTek, Ian likes a hands-on style that backs the product. That's why Ian chose ClaimTek's Lytec client/server program where medical practices can log on to Ian's server and see in real time what is the claims status. Indeed, Ian can even move a client's cursor to the right file for them to examine. Talk about virtual hands on.

"A lot of doctors have old DOS-based systems and don't want to spend $5,000 on a new system so we can give them a solution," Ian said. "All they have to do is get a DSL line and they can use our system."

After all, there's nothing like being there even when you're working from home.