Help With Health-Care Benefits

National -- Two recently released CD-ROMs give entrepreneurs a better idea about which government programs can help them.

• The Business and Technical Assistance Programs (BTAP) CD-ROM, created by the National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, West Virginia, features a database of more than 2,200 national, state and local organizations that help business owners. Targeting companies with 100 employees or fewer, the CD provides names of contact people, phone numbers, addresses and brief descriptions of each assisting organization.

BTAP is available in Windows 3.1/95/NT as well as Macintosh platforms and costs $35. To order, visit the center's Web site at http://www.nttc.edu/btap or contact NTTC at 4th Fl., Wheeling Jesuit University, 316 Washington Ave., Wheeling, WV 26003, (800) 678-6882.

• Government on the Net (Nolo Press), by James Evans, is a CD-ROM/book combination that lists and describes more than 2,000 online government resources. Entrepreneurs can find information on the SBA and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as suggestions on where to find government data. Once you decide what you want, the CD-ROM links you directly with the source, eliminating the need to type in a URL.

The CD-ROM and book cost $39.95 and can be purchased at bookstores nationwide or by calling Nolo Press at (800) 992-6656.

This article was originally published in the January 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Help With Health-Care Benefits.