My Biz: KASA Practice Solutions growing fast while helping medical professionals

CEDAR RAPIDS - KASA Practice Solutions got its start in 2009, when several area mental health professionals recognized the need for electronic record keeping.

'I was brought in as a go-between to work with the web developer we contracted with because I knew what we wanted the software to do,” said Jonathan Bunjer, who now serves as the company's CEO. Bunjer said it helped that he enjoyed computers and understands coding.

'Our company slogan is helping therapists change the world one client at a time,” Bunjer said. 'Everything we do is geared toward helping them manage and grow their business.

KASA offers front end phone answering and scheduling.

'We are answering the phone as if we are that practice,” Bunjer said. 'A lot of our clients' patients don't even realize we are an answering service because we know each practice through and through. We don't want to be a call center. We want to answer calls the way they want us to.”

KASA also handles insurance and benefits verification as well as billing.

'We take the headache pieces of practice management off their plate so they can do what they do best,” Bunjer said. 'It's not as necessary to have someone else in your office when you run your own practice, but you can't always answer the phone yourself. We allow them to focus on what they are good at and care most about. Our goal is making owning their own practice fun for them again.”

Bunjer said KASA has 'grown very quickly.” They serve more than 135 clients - mainly small solo practices - in 20 states.

'Just a few weeks ago we were in just 17 states,” he added. 'We are not a very public facing business so the awareness isn't there that we do what we do, but we are working all over the country. And we are proud to be creating jobs right here in Cedar Rapids as we support therapists and counselors locally and all around the U.S.”

The KASA staff also has grown dramatically since the practice officially launched in July 2012, going from just three employees to 14.

'We are also looking to add up to six more people before the end of the year and continue that growth next year as well,” Bunjer said.

In June, the business moved into a new location, on the fourth floor of the former Wells Fargo Bank building.

'We are really excited to be in this space,” Bunjer said. 'You can't beat the view.”

Bunjer, who started his career as a mental health counselor, has found his job continue to evolve as the company grows. He initially served as the billing manager until he hired additional staff. He also has hired a full time sales rep, another former part of his job description.

'I'm here to look to the future of the company and provide support to my team members,” he said. 'And when you go from having five clients to 50 clients, things don't always work the way they did when you were smaller. So I am always looking at making improvements in our processes. We have to find ways of navigating the headaches we have taken away from the practioners.”

AT A GLANCE

' Name: Jonathan Bunjer

' Title: CEO

' Company: KASA Practice Solutions

' Address: 101 3rd Ave. SW, Suite 401, Cedar Rapids

' Phone: (855) 229-1601

' Website: <URL destination="http://www.kasa-solutions.com/ ">www.kasa-solutions.com/

l Know a company in business for more than a year that would make an ideal My Biz? Email francie.williamson@thegazette.com