Claimsnet.com asked a small doctor's office for just two things: a web browser and an internet connection. Every visit to a doctor produced a form that had to be checked, coded, and sent to the right insurer. Large hospitals had expensive systems for this work. Many small practices still used paper. Claimsnet let them enter claims in a browser, then checked each claim and sent it on electronically. The Dallas company went public in April 1999.

Paperwork, Priced by the Claim

The bet was that small medical offices would use the web to cut the cost and delay of filing claims. American healthcare had always run on paper, and in the 1990s insurance claims were among the heaviest piles. Large hospitals already had expensive systems to handle them. Smaller practices often still filed on paper. Claimsnet charged by the claim and promised faster payment with fewer errors.

Off the Nasdaq

Claimsnet.com priced its offering at $8 a share in April 1999, selling 2,500,000 shares. The company stayed small. The healthcare internet market proved slower and more crowded than investors had hoped. The stock later moved off the Nasdaq to the over-the-counter market. Claimsnet kept working in claims processing as a small company. It never reached the scale its offering had promised.

Cover: The Physician, Hans Holbein, the younger. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a physician (medical claims).