Published: November 03, 2008 10:39 am      

Former Knox Health Dept. occupied

Mayor: ‘We’re working to create jobs in B’ville’

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

A healthcare-related agency will soon move into the building that recently housed the Knox County Health Department.

Brick Mountain Billing, a healthcare billing agency that provides services for the Knox County Hospital, as well as hospitals in Louisiana and Georgia, will rent the building from the city of Barbourville.

It also provides billing service for medical office practices and rural health clinics.

The city recently bought the building from the county for $125,000 to be paid over a 10-year period. The 8,000 square-foot building will more than hold the current staff of Brick Mountain, said Kris Partin, Brick Mountain’s CEO. Brick Mountain has signed a five-year lease for the building.

The building stands behind the Knox County School Board office.

“It will give us some room to grow,” said Partin.

Ultimately Brick Mountain wants to move to the industrial park the city is developing near the Truseal plant south of Barbourville on Artemus Road.

“We want to build a building there that will house us permanently,” said Partin.

The company is currently housed in a strip shopping center on Treuhaft Boulevard, near the hospital.

“We’re at full capacity in this building,” said Partin. “We can’t hire another person while we’re here.”

“This should prove that if we have space to offer, we can get business in, Mayor David Thompson said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to work on since I’ve been in office, getting somebody into our Artemus property.”

He said he’s spoken with state representatives and members of U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers’ office about the possibility of locating a spec building on the property.

“We’re working to create jobs in Barbourville and bring jobs in, but we still have to have places to offer. If we’ve got the buildings to offer, we can get the businesses in here,” Thompson said.

Brick Mountain opened in January 2007. It currently bills for four hospitals — one is a psychiatric hospital, two are critical access hospitals, such as the Knox County Hospital, and the fourth is an acute care hospital. It also bills for two medical practices and three rural health clinics.

“There’s opportunity to get more business, but we need the space to do it,” Partin said.

She said the company wants to “do most of our moving in December, do a little bit of renovation and be completely set up and ready to go by the first of the year.”

Partin said the company won’t have to do a whole lot of renovation, “because the health department just moved out of it, so it has all the cabling and phone lines, and the infrastructure it needs.”

The company currently employs about 22, and the business plan calls for expansion of 50 to 75 positions in the next couple of years, she said.

“We hope that we can eventually do some sort of training, a certification course on medical billing, to continue to grow the work force in the area,” she added.

Most of the billing is insurance billing and the company wants to expand into billing for self-pay services of the hospitals and other agencies. That, Partin said, will require a larger staff with somewhat more personalized business, along with more space and privacy.

Brick Mountain sees a long-term commitment to Barbourville and the ultimate plan is to have a new building in the industrial park, Partin said.