Areas Gaining in Importance in Healthcare Outsourcing

The major goals of healthcare organizations are to deliver excellent patient care and maximize staff efficiency while reducing costs and maximizing revenue. Information technology is considered an essential operational component in attaining these goals and improving workflow.

According to a recent report, more and more healthcare providers are turning to IT outsourcing as a viable option to attain their objectives. Reduced operating cost, improved company focus, increased access to world class capabilities, and freeing up of internal resources for critical tasks are listed as the major drivers of healthcare business process outsourcing (BPO). Let’s look at the areas that are ideal for outsourcing.

What can be Outsourced?

Software Development: Many of the healthcare facilities welcome software development services that are HIPAA compliant and those that comply with healthcare regulations. Usually, healthcare providers rely on third party service providers for the development of EMR/EHR software, practice management software with guidelines for pricing, coding, billing, reviewing, auditing and managing medical episodes, and claims processing software. Development of Software Oriented Architecture that enables all applications to work together and communicate seamlessly can also be outsourced.

Medical Billing Outsourcing: Allowing a third party service provider to handle the patient billing process is another feasible option. Such companies allow the healthcare provider to retain control over the process so that they are well aware of their balance sheet. Assigning this task to a professional service provider assures that the physician has more time to focus on the patient care while enjoying increased reimbursement and smoother cash flow. A reliable outsourcing partner would ensure:

• HIPAA compliant processes
• Follow-up with payers for faster reimbursements
• Quick denial tracking and an efficient dispute resolution process
• Quicker settlements and higher profitability
• Reduced staffing issues
• Reduction in operating costs by at least 40%
• Rigorously trained billing specialists and a certified Coding Team (CCT)
• Shorter turnaround time

Medical Transcription: With the move towards digital records from paper-based patient files, outsourcing medical transcription can help the health industry ensure accurate records, save time, and reduce medical errors and costs.

Security Outsourcing: The healthcare industry in U.S is data rich. Increased use of automated technologies, improved communication, introduction of EHR systems, clinical warehousing, home monitoring, etc caused exponential increase in data and unfortunately, risks of data breach. Safeguarding information is becoming more and more complex as healthcare organizations require confidential data to remain secure while allowing employees access for data entry and processing. When outsourcing, clients expect to have a secure system that allows access to medical files and other organizational documents to authorized personnel only via a custom system.

Healthcare outsourcing also includes areas such as financial management, case management, disease management, utilization management, operations management, and so on. Due to the critical nature of healthcare business, outsourcing has proved to be one of the best approaches for increased productivity. Professional outsourcing companies have the expertise to provide timely, cost-effective solutions without compromising quality.

MOS (Managed Outsourced Solutions) is a leading business process outsourcing provider that supports small to large companies across the US with document conversion, document scanning, data processing, and data entry services.