Consolidation for Columbia. (Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.)

Growing Bedford facility will handle hospital billing, claims

BEDFORD - Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. has taken hospital billing and claims functions out of the hospital, centralizing those operations and others in a growing office complex here.

Investor-owned Columbia aims to capitalize on new technology to trim costs and harness efficiencies generated from centralizing some of its normal day-to-day business operations.

Planning for the central business office began about a year ago, part of an initiative to better serve customers - and insurance companies that may pay their bills - by offering a single source for billing information, said Jerry Christine, …