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Patients, doctors, hospitals and others spend approximately $425 billion every year on administrative waste and redundant medical care, says Avisena CEO and founder Albert Santalo.

That translates to 25 percent of annual health care spending amounting to $1.7 trillion. Doctors and insurance companies spend an additional $100 billion each year on paperwork, he calculates.

While Santalo does not think all of that money is wasted, he does believe that his company's software can cut those numbers down. Miami-based Avisena makes software that handles the appointment and billing processes, among other things, for doctors' offices, letting staff concentrate on medical work and outsource administrative tasks.

"We founded this company to improve the picture of the health care industry, to help the provider, the doctor, in his or her struggle to get paid," Santalo says. "Our staff goes after what the doctors are owed so they can practice medicine."

Avisena offers comprehensive practice and revenue management services, such as claims submission, payment posting and insurance collections, as part of back-office management. All are accessed through Web-based platforms.

The company also offers Web-based systems for appointment schedulers, front desk management, payment processing and patient registration. It also offers its clients consulting services on provider licensing, managed care contract negotiations and assistance with government program applications.

Avisena works with small and large practices, with a large portion of its clients being specialists. Among them is Cosme Gomez, a Miami urologist, who has been an Avisena client for about seven months.

Avisena's Web-based software platforms helped Gomez and 13 urologists form a practice under one tax ID number as well as streamline their billing.

"To describe them as a billing company would not do them justice," Gomez says. "They provided us with an excellent practice management and billing software. But more importantly, they have been our backbone for business logistics and operations."

Santalo says the company, which was founded in 2001 and has about 90 employees, is growing at a fast clip, with 300 percent to 400 percent revenue growth in its first year, and about 100 percent in growth each year since. He expects to hire more people for the back-office operation as well as customer service.

"We are increasing our accounts on a national scale. We plan to be a big company," Santalo says. "At the end of the day, we want the providers to practice medicine, not be bill collectors."

# posted by Medical Information : 2:53 AM