WESTWOOD GEN-X ENTREPRENEUR EXPANDS HEALTH INFORMATION BUSINESS
By Joan Trudell, SBA

Health care reform has been the springboard for many new small businesses. Idania Cabrera-Shaffer is part of the monumental shift in the health care industry. After working for large health care coding and auditing companies for six years, Cabrera-Shaffer recognized the potential in the industry. Always a high achiever and stickler for perfection, she saw the need for high quality service in the confusing world of health information management.

Excited by the prospect of breaking out on her own, Cabrera-Shaffer discussed her intention with family, friends, business associates and entrepreneurs who had taken the plunge into entrepreneurship. Cabrera-Shaffer knew that she needed expert advice to strike out on her own, so sought counseling from the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Boston College. Boston College is one of eight centers located throughout Massachusetts that provide quality technical assistance and educational programs for small businesses. The SBDC Network is affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Don Rielly, Senior Management Counselor at BC, coached Cabrera-Shaffer through the writing of her business plan in person, on the telephone and by e-mail. She also attended an SBDC-sponsored seminar for start-ups that covered legal, insurance and accounting issues as well as other valuable information that any responsible entrepreneur should know. Armed with this new information, she rewrote her business plan

For specific marketing advice, Cabrera-Shaffer sought out the expert services of a member of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), another SBA resource partner. Niels Fischer, a retired insurance executive, shared his experience in a way that opened up her mind to the specific needs of her type of business; he referred her to Richard Bowman, a retired healthcare executive, and to Dora Chu, a retired computer executive, and one of the growing number of female SCORE counselors.

Dora made a comment that has become the cornerstone of Cabrera-Shaffer’s business philosophy: Chu told her that she would sell her product only when she believed in herself. Cabrera-Shaffer deeply believed in her product but did not yet have faith in her ability to succeed in business. Chu’s comment deeply affected her and after much soul searching, she decided that she did have a combination of faith in herself and that mysterious intangible – entrepreneurial spirit – that could lead to success.

Cabrera Consulting’s very first customer was the prestigious Brigham & Women’s Hospital Anesthesia Foundation, Inc. where coding services were provided. After a string of contracts with health care firms and anesthesia practices, the company recently finished conducting an anesthesia audit at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vermont. The business is so successful that Cabrera-Shaffer is updating her business plan to request SBA financing to fund the additional employees she needs to keep up with the demand for her services. In her spare time, she and a new business partner, Brian Tjelta, launched Anesthe Tech, Inc., an anesthesia billing and editing software applications development firm based in Vermont.

She is also shuttling the Atlantic now as a consultant to the Republic of Ireland’s national health effort, and to the British national health system.

Cabrera-Shaffer is the youngest daughter of Cuban immigrants and is fulfilling a dream her parents had for her and her siblings when they emigrated to the U.S. Her parents
encouraged her to pursue her dreams, applauded her achievements and were role models for excellence. Based on her success to date she has not let them down.