Three years ago at a Chugiak-Eagle River Women in Business network meeting members put the word out that they were looking for someone to do their medical office billing - and Byrne's ears perked up.

Aubrey Byrne, owner of Eagle River Medical Billing, operates her business from home. She used the Chugiak-Eagle River Women in Business Network a launching pad for her business. Photo by Jill Fankhauser

"I thought, 'Hmmm, that's sounds like something that could be a good opportunity,'" she said.

Byrne already ran a small bookkeeping business; she has a knack for numbers and an entrepreneurial spirit. She opened Eagle River Medical Billing with one client in 2006 - a professional counselor who had a pretty straightforward billing system.

Byrne has lived in Eagle River with her husband, Brent, and two children, 4-year-old daughter, Akela, and toddler son, Blaze, for four years.

"I can work when my kids go to bed or I work when my husband is home," Byrne said.

Byrne chose a field that she could grow into professionally. As her client base expanded, she has been able to bring up her skills along with it. She has learned how to work with insurance companies, file insurance appeals and negotiate complicated medical office coding.

Byrne recently took on a new client with a more challenging billing system, motivating her to work toward a national certification in medical coding.

Medical providers around the country work off a universal set of codes. Byrne has taken a few classes through the University of Alaska Anchorage on medical terminology and plans to take her national certification test next summer. She expects the test to be hard - only 49 percent of test-takers pass it.

Now feeling more confident about her skills and having more time on her hands as her youngest child is getting older, Byrne has begun to actively grow her business.

She's visited about 20 providers and has a few new leads. She also plans to have a booth at the upcoming Eagle River Women's Show in May.

She has an unusual set-up. Instead of charging a percentage of the amount collected from insurance and patients, Byrne charges clients by the hour - a practice rarely used in the medical billing industry.

"I want the cost of my billing service to be connected with what it costs me to do their billing, not just arbitrarily to their income," she said.

Byrne has one part-time employee who handles many of the insurance submissions. Thanks to the Internet, most all the work can be done online or over the phone, making an at-home business relatively easy to operate.

Once things are running smoothly in the Eagle River area, and she's maximized the client base, Byrne hopes to expand to Anchorage, Palmer and Wasilla.

"I'm ready to take that next step and leap off that cliff and grow the business."

Jill Fankhauser may be reached at jillfankhauser.@alaskastar.com.