Medical KPO to India

chillibreeze writer — Mala Kanchana

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After the huge buzz created all over the world about India as an outsourcing hub for most business processes, it is time now for the next buzz. India is now close to including knowledge processes to the various activities outsourced to the country. Commonly known as KPO, or Knowledge Process Outsourcing, this is becoming the next hot outsourcing area especially in the area of medical sciences. This means, India will soon be the platform for providing high-end medical research and analytical based services to other countries. The medical KPO envelops a wide range of activities in the medical field such as medical coding, diagnostic services, telemedicine, telepathology and testing services like genetic profiling, oncology tests, HIV and allergy tests – all of which require professionalism and technological knowledge. According to industry estimates, the Indian diagnostics and pathology laboratory business is around $864 million and is growing at a rate of 20 per cent annually.

Medical KPOs arrival on the Indian scene is best seen in the case of Altoona Hospital in Pennsylvania. Due to a shortage of radiologists in USA and an ever-increasing workload at the hospitals, Altoona Hospital decided to outsource some radiology work to India. India is a favored country for outsourcing, not only because of the difference in currency valuation and a surplus of professionals, but it is also a country that is awake when the United States is sleeping. The time zone in India is an asset when it comes to medical KPO. Moreover, India also has outstanding intellectual and Internet resources. Medical KPO requires specialized knowledge and the country's large number of medical colleges and institutions are geared to address the demand for skilled professionals.

“We need medical coders” is now becoming a frequently visible advertisement in the media. What exactly is medical coding? Medical coders are one of the main positions provided in Medical KPO. Medical Coding involves assignments of codes to extracted medical information regarding the diagnoses and treatment of a patient by his doctor. The coding procedure is valuable to healthcare providers and professionals for getting their financial reimbursement from companies or government agencies. This is also known as medical insurance coding. Medical coders need to be trained and certified by AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) or AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders).

Medical tourism is another concept that comes in with the advent of Medical KPO. If medical data can be read and interpreted in India, why not let the patient come directly to India for treatment? The lower costs and abundance of medical talent is causing an inflow of foreigners to come to India for medical treatment.

Indian labs can stun the foreign clients with their test menu – over 1,500 tests under one roof. A number of hospitals in the US and UK are outsourcing laboratory and diagnostic tests to India as it costs about 70 to 80 per cent less to conduct them here. It is expected that testing and diagnostic services can contribute significantly towards the growth of India’s medical KPO.

Medical KPO has its challenges. There are global concerns regarding the privacy of a patient’s vital medical data and the reliability of the medical services offered by consultants in a different country. Dr. David Turner, chairman of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, has been quoted as saying, “No U.S. hospital would risk hiring untrained, unskilled doctors overseas, considering the concern about medical errors and malpractice lawsuits”. From the Indian side there have been efforts to put these fears at ease. One of them is through a new act passed on January 2005, which has approved foreign pharmaceutical companies and other institutions to conduct trials of new drugs in India, while such trials are being conducted in other countries. Though this is part of medical KPO, it does open up the possibility of Indians being used as guinea pigs. India is considered a favored destination for such medical testing because of its diverse population mix and the fact that people in India have a wide range of diseases from tropical infections to degenerative disorders.

Despite the challenges and fears about medical KPO, the fact remains that India is already contributing to this industry and will continue to do so by alleviating the doubts people might have. Some of the main ways of doing this is with standardization of processes and strengthening data privacy and quality control.

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Mala writes for chillibreeze.

Medical KPO to India

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