North Iowa Family Health Care, P.L.C. is a general health care clinic formed by Nicole Amos, ARNP, an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner, and her husband, Matt, the General Business Manager. The clinic provides general health care services to patients in North Iowa, with the primary focus on easy access for scheduling and ample time to meet with patients.

The clinic opened in November of 2005 and began to experience cash flow problems due to the time and personnel constraints in submitting reporting for reimbursement from their insurance providers. The waiting period for payment from providers, particularly from the U.S. Government’s Medicare program, was also a problem. Matt and Nicole contacted the Small Business Development Center at North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) for counseling and suggestions.

Center Director Ted Bair met on numerous occasions with Matt and Nicole to develop a strategy to improve their cash flow and speed up the paperwork process. This would in turn allow Nicole more productive time to meet with patients in her rapidly expanding practice. Several issues were identified, the most important being the need to hire a specialist in billing providers. The clinic also needed to find funding sources for the position, including the purchase of computers and software for implementation.

Ted helped the Amos’ in management restructuring and created new cash flow projections. These process improvements helped convince the NIACC/USDA Revolving Loan Fund to fund the venture. As a result, the clinic hired a specialist and implemented new processes in December of 2007. Reimbursements and new patients have both been increasing and Nicole now has more time to focus on patient care.

North Iowa Family Health Care is now on a path of substantial profitability as a result of receiving help from the North Iowa Area Small Business Development Center.

Matt and Nicole say, “The experience, strength and hope we are now realizing from our business is amazing to see, and we feel much more in control of our operation. Our only regret is that we did not find the Small Business Development Center two years ago, before we opened our doors. Thank you once again for all your help, and please be assured that we will not hesitate to share our positive experience with NIACC and the SBDC.”