Impact of US Healthcare Reform Bill on Indian BPOs
The much awaited US Healthcare Reform Bill was passed under the leadership of President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010 when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law. Accordingly the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 was passed by the Senate on March 25 by a vote of 56-43, and was signed into law on March 30, leading to several opportunities for the BPO and IT outsourcers.
Says Partha Sarkar, CEO of Hinduja Global Solutions, "This act brings 35 million more Americans under insurance cover. To begin with, it would mean millions of more enrollments and transactions. It would extend the scope for customer support, especially in the first few years when the customers would need clarity on the changed regulations. Says Amit Kothiyal , Head, emerging markets, Infosys BPO, BPOs can play a significant role in helping both payors and providers align their strategies with the enacted Healthcare Reform.
The Reform has also made it mandatory for a change from the present paper records to digitized records. Says Sarkar, The act demands a compulsory change from paper to digitized records and conversion of archival data into compatible formats. Currently, fewer than 30 percent of physicians in US have electronic health records (EHRs). The opportunity is huge." Says Kothiyal, There is tremendous opportunity for data entry, validation, and maintenance of records. There would also be a need for data migration to allow for consolidation of record data. An OCR solution would play an important role in data capture. He adds that opportunities include facilitation of online submission of enrollment applications through payor portals and ongoing need for customer service pertaining to claim and membership transactions submitted electronically to providers and members. Claim adjudication volumes will increase as a result of digitization as well as the ICD 10 conversion, which seems to be a big opportunity in the next few years.
Says Sarkar, In technical terms, this would further magnify the existing labor arbitrage between the US and Indian markets. Universal access to insurance increases the risk to the providers, and emphasizes on the need to become more cost-efficient. Naturally we can expect more opportunities across industries due to this development.
However it is believed that many of the providers are not much prepared with the services and the technology that is required to meet the growing needs. As providers ramp up their functional delivery capabilities in areas such as revenue cycle management, clinical supply chain management for clinical and affiliated businesses; there will likely be a time-lag while insurance providers consider their options. Adds Sarkar, Since the turn-around time for the implementation would not be much, the already experienced service providers would benefit more than the uninitiated ones. All these developments have the potential to double the healthcare workforce of Hinduja Global Solutions. At the very outset, we are expecting more business and more business-lines from our existing healthcare clients. Our recruitment plans are already in place to this effect. This area would continue witnessing amendments and changes as we move along. So we are also putting in place regular training sessions for our employees, to update them with the latest changes. Says Kothiyal, Infosys is currently directing all its efforts in areas such as industry solutions to address the challenges, building capability onshore, exploring alliance with leading platform providers, pricing strategy, IT and BPO collaboration, and last but not the least, market visibility and credibility.
As per some industry reports, the US government is likely to spend anything between $15 billion and $20 billion on healthcare technology services alone. Interestingly, bulk of this business is likely to be awarded to major Indian BPO firms who are prepared for the big opportunity.
Says Partha Sarkar, CEO of Hinduja Global Solutions, "This act brings 35 million more Americans under insurance cover. To begin with, it would mean millions of more enrollments and transactions. It would extend the scope for customer support, especially in the first few years when the customers would need clarity on the changed regulations. Says Amit Kothiyal , Head, emerging markets, Infosys BPO, BPOs can play a significant role in helping both payors and providers align their strategies with the enacted Healthcare Reform.
The Reform has also made it mandatory for a change from the present paper records to digitized records. Says Sarkar, The act demands a compulsory change from paper to digitized records and conversion of archival data into compatible formats. Currently, fewer than 30 percent of physicians in US have electronic health records (EHRs). The opportunity is huge." Says Kothiyal, There is tremendous opportunity for data entry, validation, and maintenance of records. There would also be a need for data migration to allow for consolidation of record data. An OCR solution would play an important role in data capture. He adds that opportunities include facilitation of online submission of enrollment applications through payor portals and ongoing need for customer service pertaining to claim and membership transactions submitted electronically to providers and members. Claim adjudication volumes will increase as a result of digitization as well as the ICD 10 conversion, which seems to be a big opportunity in the next few years.
Says Sarkar, In technical terms, this would further magnify the existing labor arbitrage between the US and Indian markets. Universal access to insurance increases the risk to the providers, and emphasizes on the need to become more cost-efficient. Naturally we can expect more opportunities across industries due to this development.
However it is believed that many of the providers are not much prepared with the services and the technology that is required to meet the growing needs. As providers ramp up their functional delivery capabilities in areas such as revenue cycle management, clinical supply chain management for clinical and affiliated businesses; there will likely be a time-lag while insurance providers consider their options. Adds Sarkar, Since the turn-around time for the implementation would not be much, the already experienced service providers would benefit more than the uninitiated ones. All these developments have the potential to double the healthcare workforce of Hinduja Global Solutions. At the very outset, we are expecting more business and more business-lines from our existing healthcare clients. Our recruitment plans are already in place to this effect. This area would continue witnessing amendments and changes as we move along. So we are also putting in place regular training sessions for our employees, to update them with the latest changes. Says Kothiyal, Infosys is currently directing all its efforts in areas such as industry solutions to address the challenges, building capability onshore, exploring alliance with leading platform providers, pricing strategy, IT and BPO collaboration, and last but not the least, market visibility and credibility.
As per some industry reports, the US government is likely to spend anything between $15 billion and $20 billion on healthcare technology services alone. Interestingly, bulk of this business is likely to be awarded to major Indian BPO firms who are prepared for the big opportunity.
Comments
Post a Comment