Imagine being able to make an appointment with a doctor at any time online and pay your medical bill in a doctor's office reception room.

These are a couple of the options available to physicians who sign up for services with Medical Transcription Billing Corp.

MTBC is bringing its services to the Upper Ohio Valley by teaming up with Santco Inc., a medical billing company located at the Heritage Port Business Center, 1115 Main St.

The partnership lets MTBC have a local presence while giving Santco the advantage of working with national business on the cutting edge of medical billing technology.

"It's difficult for me as a programmer to meet changes," said Santco Inc. owner Joe Santinoceto. "It's an information age."

MTBC is Web-based, which means that any Internet-ready device can access MTBC services, which include medical billing, e-prescribing, collecting claims, online appointment scheduling, medical transcription, free electronic medical records and automated appointment reminders.

Health care providers can also choose to have kiosks in their reception areas that allow patients to enter information or resolve bills without taking up staff time.

Outsourcing these services allows practices to spend less time focusing on the financial end of their business and more time concentrating on patient care.

"We've decided the best option for doctors is to be doctors," Santinoceto said. "We can provide the tools for them to do that."

Started in 1999 in Somerset, N.J., MTBC now has a presence in 37 states.

Its partnership with Santco introduces MTBC to the Wheeling area, and Santco's clients can already access MTBC's benefits.

"We're excited to be in the Wheeling area," said Mo Chebli of MTBC. "We believe a lot of local offices can benefit from low cost and technology."