Scope of Medical Services outsourcing

Sep 14
09:32

2012

Sharad Gaikwad

Sharad Gaikwad

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Medical Services outsourcing is basically outsourcing of services pertaining to healthcare like insurance business, e-records or maintaining of electronic records. Outsourcing of medical services ranges from processing of claims to medical transcription as well as medical analytics and clinical data process.

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The US and UK healthcare industry outsources medical billing,Scope of Medical Services outsourcing Articles insurance claim processes, software development and data analysis to India and other developing countries.

An outsourcer falls into four main categories – healthcare provider which includes hospitals and physicians, payer (health insurance companies), pharmaceutical companies and healthcare IT companies. Outsourcing of medical services allows patients to get the best medical attention from specialist medical practitioners. Nowadays even radiology and clinical services are being outsourced. Clinical services outsourcing includes outsourcing of oncology, orthopaedic services, molecular imaging and disease management. Apart from cost savings, outsourcing of clinical services and radiology allows for diagnosis in time and quick treatment of patients. India is fast becoming the ‘go-to’ country to outsource medical services with its pool of qualified medical professionals and access to latest medical technology, apart from the time zone difference and quality advantages. Even blood and urine samples are now sent to India for pathology tests to minimize costs for the outsourcer.

The healthcare industry in the West is based on healthcare insurance and claims, for which detailed medical records are required. Patient information and records need to be maintained in detail. That is one of the primary reasons why hospitals, clinics and offices of medical practitioners based in the West outsource medical transcription to India.

Medical transcription is virtually a recession proof industry in India, with the Government offering support to healthcare BPOs specialising in medical services outsourcing including transcription. Outsourcing transcription to India is preferred by European, UK and US based medical organizations and practitioners. India has a high percentage of English speaking young work-force. This is one of the main reasons they can provide quality, error free records and reports with better turnaround times.

Medical transcription services is a popular profession in India for those who have given up their 9-5 routines and want a job with flexibility, no commute and attractive pay. The job however is challenging because some doctors whose records need to be transcribed can have accents that are difficult to understand. Regardless of this, the popularity of medical transcription services is growing its benefits are becoming more and more clear to people.

Liberalized internet, low bandwidth costs, introduction of 3G internet speeds makes working from home easy. All a transcriptionist now requires is a decent home computer with basic text keying software, a headset, foot pedal (to control the voice player) and some reference software for understanding medical terms and drugs. Medical transcription services as a profession has also given rise to training centres where a transcriptionist can get himself certified by taking a course, ensuring the person can handle medical transcription exceptionally well. Therefore medical transcription is not only big business in the organized healthcare BPO sector, but also for several freelancing, work from home professionals who are steadily adopting transcription as a profession.