The Hindu Business Line : ‘In-patient hospital coding, an emerging BPO vertical’

Coding, it is commonly understood, as programming and writing a lot of lines of software. However, in the healthcare BPO (business process outsourcing) industry, ‘coding’ refers to the conversion of paperwork, such as patient-charts created by doctors and hospitals, for reimbursement purposes.

“What is currently emerging is in-patient hospital coding,” says Mr Gopi Natarajan, CEO, Omega Healthcare India Pvt Ltd. “As an offshored industry, India has been mainly doing outpatient coding for US hospitals and medical professionals. Now, the dearth of qualified resources in the US makes the offshoring of in-patient hospital coding a necessity.”

In terms of jobs that can be offshored, currently, only about 6 per cent of the US healthcare BPO industry has been offshored, Mr Natarajan, told Business Line. “With 1,400 employees, Omega has about 16 per cent of the market in terms of offshored healthcare BPO jobs.”

The company provides medical coding, billing, accounts receivable management, claims processing, and healthcare revenue management.

What does in-patient hospital coding involve? And, how is it different from the outpatient work? Explains Mr Natarajan, “In-patient hospital coding is more about the procedures that are done within the hospital, such as the use of beds, surgical equipment, and specialty care. These services are of much higher value in terms of dollars, compared to the outpatient category.”

Omega is working with its clients in the US to make a foray into in-patient hospital coding in the forthcoming fiscal. “We see this new vertical as a shift up the value chain,” says Mr Natarajan.

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