Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507140006
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"When I started out, it was something to do from home," said Pat Palmer, owner of Medical Recovery Service. Within two months of opening, the workload was so heavy that she moved to offices on Apperson Drive. Since then, she has hired four employees and found billing errors saving customers more than $30,000.
Palmer came up against the expected barriers: Hospitals wanted to charge her the same rates they charge insurance companies for copies of patient bills. To get around that, Palmer has her customers request the information, such as itemized statements.
The business grew a lot faster than she ever thought, she said, and soon she was working 12-hour days every day of the week. Things really got crazy earlier this year after her company was featured on Cable News Network.
That exposure brought claims for review from 38 states, as distant as California.
Palmer's next step has been to train people in other areas to become Pat Palmer-types. She hasn't decided what legal arrangements are needed for the branch operations, but she has decided to move on with the idea.
And so have I. As of this week, I officially become the health and medical writer for this newspaper. This column will continue under the direction of Megan Schnabel, who joined our staff Monday as retail and consumer writer.
Since March 1993, when the column made its debut, its topics have ranged from how tobacco companies are marketing their products to a discussion of new wares such as a legless manikin that can be purchased through the Automobile Club of America so that no one ever has to ride alone. (Legs were available for an additional cost.)
Some columns misfired; editors thought that about the one that featured Binky, an Alaskan polar bear that attacked a tourist who crawled into her cage yet won the hearts of Alaskans. The day the column ran, though, an Anchorage, Alaska, shop got orders from Southwest Virginia for 14 T-shirts that showed Binky with the tourist's shoe in her teeth.
The main focus of the column has been to look regularly at the retail market and help consumers find a better price or a better way. And there's plenty more out there to write about:
Is department store merchandise as interesting as it used to be before chains, such as Leggett, centralized their purchasing? Previously, each store had its own buyers and could select inventory for a local market.
What will shopping be like after SteinMart opens at Tanglewood Mall and the super Wal-Mart opens at Valley View?
Will Wal-Mart steal grocery sales from the regular grocery chains?
What will go in the old Hechinger space once the hardware and home goods chain leaves town?
Will the Rally's hamburger store ever be built on the Franklin Road site where there's been a sign announcing it for many months?
And who will win the fast-food chicken wars?
If you have any thoughts about these or other retail and consumer issues, contact Megan Schnabel at 981-3140, and I'll welcome the health and medical ideas at 981-3393.
by CNB