In a 2013 survey conducted by the finance and insurance company American International Group, 350 hospital staff across the United States answered financial stability and patient safety as two of the most important issues they want to handle and solve. After five years, most hospitals and healthcare institutions are still in the same dilemma.
Because of that, the demand for healthcare BPO services is on the rise. In the United States alone, the country spent $3.2 trillion for healthcare in 2015. Just as the spending on health care increases, companies are also spending more on outsourcing.
This year, Statista predicted that the market size of IT healthcare will go up as high as $50.4 billion. It increased more than $16 billion from 2013. Under medical transcription, services like medical coding outsourcing acquire $6.3 billion of its total share in 2015. It is expected to increase even more up to $16.9 billion in the next six years.
According to an article from USA Today, Medicare, a government-owned healthcare company, spend a total of $646 billion alone. Meanwhile, Medicaid, another government agency, spent $545 billion. They acquired 20 percent and 17 percent of the whole spending of United States. These two organizations use outsourcing to get the job done.
Reasons For Outsourcing Healthcare BPO
As the price of healthcare costs go up, reimbursements go down — a bad news for healthcare institutions. That is one of the reasons why they need to outsource services like medical billing and coding. If reimbursements are not done properly, hospitals and other healthcare institutions can go bankrupt. If money is not circulating properly, hospitals cannot function properly.
Grand View Research has reported that clinics and physicians are resorting to outsourcing healthcare BPO to cut costs. They also do it to stray away from the burden of administrative tasks that their in-house employees cannot do properly. Primarily, cutting costs as a way to achieve financial stability is the primary reason why small clinics and hospitals opted for outsourcing
Another reason for outsourcing healthcare BPO, especially in the United States, is the new medical coding system — ICD 10. The government also mandated every healthcare institution to make EMR or electronic medical records. That alone means additional work for hospital staff. Untrained staff, tired nurses, and overworked doctors cannot focus on it anymore.
Examples Of Successful Results From Outsourcing Healthcare BPO
According to the recently published Black Book survey, more than 200-bed hospitals that outsource their CDI audit has increased revenue. Medical coding and billing have helped 88 percent of hospitals to remain financially stable. Meanwhile, 83 percent improved their quality and service like the number of patients they can have every month.
They also can accommodate patients with different types of diseases. It was also reported in the Black Book that 77 percent of the respondents have stated that after outsourcing services, their internal productivity has improved.
As the ICD-10 affects more and more hospitals all over the United States, more and more healthcare institutions are outsourcing. With medical transcription, from 63 percent, it is expected to grow to 70, while medical coding will expect to rise more than 100 percent of its current state.