Medical billing outsourcing provides diverse advantages to busy medical practices such as reduced billing errors, more time to spend on quality patient care, save money on in-house training and improve cash flow with error-free medical claim submission. According to a report from Market Research Future, the global medical billing outsourcing market that held a valuation of USD 6982 million in 2017 is expected to grow at an approximate CAGR of 12.5% during the forecast period 2018-2023.
The medical billing process in hospitals involves a healthcare provider submitting, and following up on, claims with health insurance companies in order to receive payment for services rendered such as treatments and investigations.
Key factors that are expected to boost the growth of the market include:
- rising healthcare expenditure
- increasing government support, and
- technological advancements
However factors such as increasing legislative & regulatory pressure, untapped emerging markets, and high costs of technology are expected to restrain the market growth over the forecast period.
The market is classified on the basis of component, product, material type, application, end user, and region. By component, the market is segmented into outsourced and in-house. The outsourced segment is anticipated to hold the largest market share owing to the rising adoption of medical billing software by hospitals. In-house medical billing often result in higher costs, liabilities as well as support issues.
Based on service, the market is segmented into front end, middle, and back end. The front-end services usually include preregistration, registration, eligibility, patient appointment scheduling, pre-authorization, etc. However, the front-end services segment is facing decline due to market saturation.
End users of this market include hospitals, physician’s offices and others. The hospitals segment is expected to hold the largest market share due to rising cases of diseases.
Geographically, the Americas dominated the global market for medical billing outsourcing owing to factors such as increasing healthcare expenditure, the presence of major market players, and rising adoption of medical billing outsourcing software by the hospitals within the region. The Middle East and Africa held the least share in this global market owing to the lack of healthcare awareness, and lack of advanced technology. At the same time, Saudi Arabia and the UAE lead in terms of market shares in this region because of a good economy, skilled medical professionals, and accessibility to modern technology thus contributing to the steady growth of the market in the Middle Eastern and African region. Some of the key players in this global market are R1 RCM Inc., Allscripts, Cerner Corporation, EClinical Works, Experian Information Solutions Inc., GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Genpact, HCL Technologies Limited, Kareo Inc., McKesson Corporation, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, The SSI Groups Inc and others.
The report also found that around 80% of hospitals are considering outsourcing full revenue cycle management by 2019. An experienced medical billing company can help physicians manage their revenue cycle in a better way with timely medical billing and coding services.
Read our blog on Medical Billing Outsourcing Market to Grow at 12.5% CAGR by 2023.
Rajeev Rajagopal, the President of OSI, has a wealth of experience as a healthcare business consultant in the United States. He has a keen understanding of current medical billing and coding standards.