JOHNSON CITY - Elisa Comer, founder and chief executive officer of ELTS, has been named the 2005 Tennessee Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Comer was nominated by the Tennessee Small Business Development Center at East Tennessee State University.

Comer will now represent Tennessee at the SBA Expo '05 from April 26-28 in Washington, D.C., where the National Small Business Person of the Year will be announced.

ELTS began in 1999 in Atlanta as a medical documentation company. Comer attributes her success to a bigger vision for patient care. She sees medical transcription as a dependable, silent partner of the total health care system. By embracing technology, she offers jobs to employees who have the option of working from home, who have the drive to meet high quality standards and who see themselves as part of the patient care team.

In response to a shortage of qualified medical transcriptionists, Comer devised two educational programs to improve skill levels: Bridge-the-Gap, an internship joining education with on-the-job experience and the SOAR Program of Transcription Instruction offering American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT)-based curriculum incorporating the national standard of transcription.

Recognized as an outstanding entrepreneur, Comer serves the as the AAMT State Legislative Liaison for East Tennessee and is a member of the national legislative task force. She contributes clinical experience and medical documentation expertise to the Central Appalachian Regional Health Improvement Organization as they work toward President George Bush's goal of creating a national health record for every patient.

Comer moved her company in 2004 to Johnson City from Atlanta seeking a better quality of life for her family. ELTS is housed in ETSU's Innovation Laboratory, an incubator supporting medical and technical business ventures, located at 2109 W. Market St.

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