There are many reasons why healthcare outsourcing is poised to grow. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) signed into law in 2010 will extend insurance coverage to millions of Americans. It will also bring about many changes in the way healthcare systems work, with new obligations for healthcare providers, insurers and other stakeholders.
The PPACA mandates that healthcare providers must meet the provisions of HIPAA 5010. This means implementing new electronic transaction software that can handle the upgrade as well as applying new processes that will help them meet the new standards. Electronic Health Record (EHR) for every person in the U.S. has to be in place by 2014 and changes in medical coding from ICD-9 to ICD-10 have to be completed by October 1, 2013. Healthcare facilities will have to invest in cost-effective, advanced software systems that will facilitate electronic claims processing.
Compliance with all these regulatory and legal complexities can be easily accomplished through healthcare outsourcing:
- Outsourcing companies that specialize in offering services for the healthcare sector have the capability to keep pace with the new and complex insurance requirements and government regulations.
- There’s a lot of competition among service providers, so an established outsourcing company would continually update its technology and hire experts that can provide their clients with high quality, customized services.
- Healthcare facilities can also benefit from economies of scale as the service provider may have other clients that require similar services. This helps them to offer cost-effective rates for a wide array of services such as medical transcription, document management, medical billing and coding, denials and AR management, and much more.
Choose an outsourcing partner that completely understands the healthcare business, understands your goals, and can work as an extension of your medical facility.
