Healthcare IT Outsourcing : An Overview

There is an unseen pressure compelling all small, mid and large kinds of organizations to outsource. The rift shows no signs of slackening and why would it, after all, you get to save a hefty price as a major incentive. Of course, the cost is not just an only advantage here there are several other factors enabling companies to outsource IT including healthcare  outsourcing such as access to innovation, increased speed to market, and service quality, etc.

It may quite interest you to know that outsourcing and business process management are one of the fastest-growing sectors across the world. Also, you can do some extensive research on companies that outsource IT where you will find dozens of resources and information on platforms like Clutch, Quora, GoodFirms, etc. So you see, finding a reliable IT outsourcing company is not an issue, but understanding the concept well is.

Unfortunately, we have come across many businesses that simply tend to jump on the healthcare IT outsourcing bandwagon just because their competitors are doing it. Well, that should never be the case! So without any further ado, let’s begin with the basics!

Outsourcing has advanced the golden ladder like never before. The explanation is straightforward: by using outsourcing, businesses can cut expenses and speed up production without sacrificing quality.

As COVID-19 became more well known, the healthcare IT outsourcing industry is expected to grow to $390.7 billion throughout the world by 2024. 75% to 80% of hospitals and clinics currently use healthcare IT outsourcing.

Outsourcing healthcare IT allows you to free up resources for new ideas while still benefiting from the expertise of industry experts. You may hire an outside firm to do anything from managing the IT department to providing network and server support, application development, and even legacy system upkeep.

1. Healthcare IT Outsourcing Market

There are many major aspects of global healthcare IT outsourcing. One of them is managed IT services that provide a healthcare organization with the best and right mix of scalability, security, flexibility, and reliability.

Most certainly, no other market or industry can better depict the advantages of Information technology than healthcare services. After all, this is the only industry that generates a large amount of data. This also means both players and providers of the healthcare sector are in constant need to access and electronically track the patient data.

The data we are talking about here is extremely crucial after all, it is related to a patient’s medical records, electronic monitoring systems, billing codes, or even patient care. And managing such tons of medical data without any technology is a foolish step to take especially in today’s fast-paced world. To manage this valuable information via electronic health systems, healthcare industries need to go with a strong healthcare IT outsourcing infrastructure.Today’s healthcare organizations are now increasingly relying on IT as one of the essential components of their operations.

Nonetheless, choosing such services is an indispensable solution so that healthcare organizations can remain focused on their core service areas, i.e. to enhance quality care and to curtail cost.

2. Why Do Healthcare Units Need To Outsource IT?

Healthcare IT outsourcing always results in delivering a financially feasible solution for their worrisome troubles. The environment of healthcare operations is way complex. They need a structure that is capable of connecting every individual system and device that are in use by the healthcare unit. Now, what are the key drivers of this healthcare IT outsourcing market here?

• Lack of in-house well-trained IT professionals
• Need for improvement and efficiency
• Shortage of right infrastructure or even funding that is needed for secured and better IT facilities
• Need to cut down operational cost to take a step ahead and the cut the cost of healthcare
• Government’s focus to introduce and improve IT infrastructure in healthcare along with the eagerness to offer support that is needed for its right implementation
• Gaining access to the top-class capabilities
• Freeing up in-house resources to utilize them for other purposes

So what kind of technologies that a healthcare provider can outsource? Electronic Health Records, Hospital Information System, Revenue Cycle Management, Pharmacy Information, Laboratory Information Systems, Clinical Decision Support, Hospital Management systems, e-Prescriptions, Hospital Inventory Management, and other important applications like PACS – Picture Archiving and Communication Systems and so forth. Healthcare Management prefers to outsource these IT functions development.

3. How is Outsourcing Beneficial for Healthcare Organizations?

Time to explore how outsourcing IT requirements can prove to be extremely advantageous to healthcare organizations.

3.1 Benefits of Healthcare IT Outsourcing

• Reduction in Operation Costs – Seems pretty obvious right? Well but this one is a hard point to avoid especially when talking about healthcare IT outsourcing. More and more hospitals and clinics can end up with immense savings.  Healthcare service providers do not need to invest in equipment and resources to solve the problem. Many healthcare organizations are seeking outsourced solutions for cost savings, free up resources, and use healthcare professionals in patient care.
• Medical Billing Services – Medical billing is something that needs to be precisely done. This is the main reason why providers tend to choose healthcare IT outsourcing. To be correct, access to detailed, coded charges have to be recorded and entered into the patient’s EMR. Make sure to choose outsourcing services that have an error rate of 0.01%.
• Reduction in Staff Acquisition and Training Costs – Cost of acquiring excess staff and training them goes down to a great extent because the outsourcing partner handles a team of professionals on your behalf. Moreover, an Outsourcing services provider handles the acquisition, training and retention of the staff, you don’t need to worry about it.
• Access to Cutting-edge Solutions – Healthcare providers these days ensure using the best technologies to meet customer requirements. Your outsourcing partner can provide solutions in terms of application development and maintenance, enterprise application integration, and quality assurance and testing, amongst others.
• Improved Security – As the documents are digitized, access to digital data is easy to define. This enhances data security and guards against data leaks. Outsourcing partners must ensure the security of patient data and clinical research of health organizations while complying with HIPAA regulations.

4. How to Choose the Right Outsourcing Partner?

The outsourcing market is growing by leaps and bounds and so should every industry across the globe and healthcare is not an exception. The first and foremost thing to consider in the outsourcing market is to look around for an outsource partner and not a vendor. Now what is the difference here, you may ask? A partner is not just merely an outsourcing service provider but works in favor of the healthcare provider. Also, ensure that they are committed to making your organization improve the business operations and committed to achieving goals.

4.1 Choosing an Outsourcing Partner

A vendor provides basic service delivery, e.g. answering your service desk calls for X dollars but a tech partner is committed to achieving much more – to proactively help you improve your IT operation. Your outsourcing partner looks around for new and better ways to continuously improve your users’ experience, the overall quality of performance, and cost-effectiveness. It works with your hospital to meet its vision of the future.

4.2 Choose a Partner with Experience in Hospital IT Outsourcing

The healthcare industry is filled with service firms who think they can handle hospital IT outsourcing but either don’t understand how it’s different from other industries. Knowledge of the urgent interconnections between IT, clinical care and revenue cycle workflows is essential for a successful outsourcing relationship. Choosing a healthcare IT outsourcing company that carries deep experience with HIPAA requirements is a key issue, often forgotten in the heat of competitive bidding.

4.3 Choose Someone You Trust

The healthcare IT outsourcing market is pretty wide and that’s the reason why it is advisable to define services prior. The healthcare operating environment is too complex, and the future too fluid to lay out every potential situation in advance. Too often today, vendors and hospitals do not take the face-to-face time needed to establish trust and determine the potential for a synergistic long-term relationship. Buying software or hardware through email and telephone may work well enough, but a multi-year IT services contract located among the healthcare IT outsourcing market requires time and effort in establishing a trusted relationship between both parties’ senior leadership.

5. Conclusion

So that’s all for now! I hope now you are ready to make your way into the healthcare IT outsourcing market. In case, if you are still in doubt or have any queries, feel free to mention that in the comment section below.