Healthcare Business Process Outsourcing is the process of outsourcing healthcare back office operational needs to a remote third-party partner. The partners mostly operate from developing countries like the Philippines or India where the cost of labor is considerably less and so the costs of operations are relatively low. As a result, the word BPO gets identified solely as a cost cutting decision. And this one major stigma has given rise to several associated myths about healthcare BPO outsourcing.
Myth #1:
Third-Party Healthcare Partners are Not Competent Enough to Handle Critical Clinical Workflows
The common belief is that complex clinical workflows cannot be handled by third party support providers. The reason being that several critical healthcare tasks require the physical presence of clinicians and outsourcing rules this possibility out. This is a big myth because the so-called complex healthcare tasks pertain to in-home or bedside care. Today, we live in an age, where the huge advancements in healthcare technology makes it possible for clinicians to operate from outside of hospital set up and discharge their duties efficiently. This, compounded by the fact that US has a shortage of qualified professionals, is forcing providers to outsource clinical workflows to offshore third-party support providers.
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Partners operating from countries like India and Philippines, invest a lot of money in imparting knowledge of U.S. healthcare practices to a number of young doctors and nurses which create a big reserve of qualified professionals. Therefore nurses and offshore physicians associated with third-party providers have a sound knowledge of medical decision-making as required in the US and so can leverage technology to handle critical clinical requirements from offshore locations.
Myth #2:
Employees Work in Harsh Conditions
A common misconception about “off shoring” in the U.S. is harsh work environments. As a result, it is widely believed that professionals responsible for healthcare service delivery work in dangerous conditions and so cannot focus on their job responsibilities. While this might be the case for factory productions, healthcare BPO offices are very different and can in no way be compared to factory outputs.
The fact of the matter is that the BPO providers specializing in healthcare are very competitive. Healthcare BPO Support Services follow very high standards of servicing that is primarily driven by a well-defined hiring and employee retention practices. Top notch BPO companies always have their reputation at stake and so invest to create great work places, provide employees with the latest technologies such as analytics and automation and train them constantly on the best practices. As a result they can match on an equal footing with a US healthcare provider to provide quality and timely services, consistent experience and proactive and meaningful interactions. The overall outcome of this is highly focused services, lower costs of service, and high patient satisfaction.
Myth #3:
Healthcare BPO Providers Are Less Compliant and Secure Because they are Based Out of the US
The one critical requirement of healthcare services in the US is adherence to HIPAA requirements. There is a misconception that offshore support providers may not follow the mandates as an onshore vendor. But this is another big fallacy of medical outsourcing. Third party support providers are bound by SLAs in which top priority is given to adherence to regulatory compliance needs.
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Over the years, it stands proven that, a third-party providers maintain equal if not better security standards than their US-based vendors. In fact, in some cases, offshore providers are known to be more secure. As offshore facilities are not based in the U.S., they are forced to maintain very high security standars, more than the ones in the US.
Therefore, data security breaches in the US are more common. There are several instances of data hacks taking place in the US because of inadequate security measures or flawed procedures. The fact of the matter is that all offshore Healthcare BPO providers possess all major compliance and security certifications such as URAC, HITRUST, and HIPAA Audits.
Myth #4:
It’s Difficult to Deal with Healthcare BPO Telehealth Partners because of Heavy Accents
This myth percolates from thecall center services availed from BPO call centers in India. It is commonly believed that an offshore service provider will have professionals with a different and unfamiliar accent that’s hard to comprehend and therefore hard to deal with. But what is true for call center outsourcing is not true for healthcare BPO.
Third party Healthcare partners from countries like India and the Philippines are driven by English-educated professionals. These professionals are recruited based on their ability to speak the language fluently. This is followed by extensive training to neutralize their accent. It’s only when they clear the accent test along with US healthcare practices test that these professionals hit the floor.
In fact, things have now come to such a pass that many US-based healthcare providers who outsource services to offshore countries now claim that comprehending BPO telehealth physicians and nurses is a lot easier than inshore agents.
Myth #5:
Handling Team Working in Another Part of the World is Hard
This is an age-old conception about remote team management. It is believed that delegating tasks to an offshore team would lead to a lot of miscommunication, fall in productivity due to inept tracking, misalignment of company and state culture, inability to schedule meetings, and so on. This belief stems from the issues that arose when outsourcing as a service was in its infancy.
However, with modern day technology and worldwide reach, none of these are issues anymore. When you partner with a good BPO support provider for healthcare BPO support services, they will make sure your offshore team works as an integral part of your inhouse team based out in the U.S. Every BPO provider works out of their way to develop processes that would simplify and improve each stage of an outsourced business.
In fact, process transparency is taken to such refined levels that healthcare providers end up believing that the work is being handled by a team occupying another branch of their office. Now that healthcare BPO outsourcing has grown considerably over the years, this myth stands completely debunked.
Conclusion
Over the years, several healthcare providers have relied on healthcare BPO companies to successfully manage several non-critical functions, like finance and accounting, customer care services, etc. The fact that BPO providers have enriched resource allocation, enhance financial performance, and improve the effectiveness of healthcare providers have led to an increasing reliance on their services. It’s because of this that Healthcare BPO Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.15% between 2020-2025. And the one significant reason for this is the increase in clinical process outsourcing (CPO). With the implementation of PPACA, more healthcare players have begun to comprehend the value of outsourcing.
Who We Are and What Makes Us a Trusted Third-Party Provider?
This article is written by MedbillingExperts a healthcare BPO service provider. We specialize in providing medical billing, medical coding, and revenue cycle management services. Other subsidiary services include denial management, dme billing, teleradiology services. We are driven by an experienced team of expert billing professionals; and offer flexible and timebound outsourcing services from 4 global delivery centers. We invest heavily on technology and skilled resources and so can support you with a business model that guarantee efficient operations.
