Technology advancements have made the healthcare industry more efficient and effective than ever. The processes therein have become much faster, more accurate, and less cost-intensive.
The global digital health industry is projected to reach a market value of over USD 563.59 billion from 2023 to 2027. The sector’s robust growth means that healthtech outsourcing is also on the rise.
As the sector grows, the demand for healthtech services (e.g., medical database management, teleconsultation, and collecting patient information) will increase, and so will the need for more efficient and cost-effective solutions.
Outsourcing healthtech services is among the best ways for health companies to address this need. But how can businesses ensure they’re getting the most from healthtech outsourcing?
Read on below to find out.
What is healthtech?
Healthtech – short for healthcare technology – refers to all IT software and tools designed to improve processes in healthcare. In short, it is the application of digital technological advancements in healthcare.
Augmenting healthcare services with technology significantly improves service quality. It streamlines and reduces errors in medical transcription, data entry, and other processes.
Owing to their effectiveness, many hospitals are integrating these technologies into their practices. However, healthcare providers can be slow to adopt healthtech for various reasons.
Their hesitation may be due to:
- Lack of expertise in handling new technologies
- The costs associated with integrating healthtech
- Shortage of human resources and necessary equipment
Healthtech outsourcing is a tried-and-tested solution for healthcare providers facing the above problems. Through healthtech outsourcing, they gain access to:
- Specialists trained to use various health technologies
- Proprietary software and equipment
- Significantly lower outsourced staff salaries
Healthtech vs. Medtech
Despite their similarities, healthtech is different from medtech or medical technology. A significant distinction between the two is the locality of their operations.
Healthtech pertains to the various technologies that help improve people’s health through prevention and monitoring. An example of these technologies is wearable health monitors (e.g., Fitbit). These are tools that people can use outside a hospital setting.
On the other hand, medtech covers technology-based applications and tools that are used inside hospitals. These technologies are focused on patient diagnosis, treatment, and care. Examples are machinery and other hospital technologies (e.g., computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanners and X-ray machines).
How healthtech outsourcing works
Healthtech outsourcing, like any other outsourced process, means delegating part or all of a business’s healthtech processes to third-party service providers. These service providers are often business process outsourcing (BPO) firms operating in developing countries like the Philippines and India.
Many healthtech processes (e.g., EHR management and medical billing) involve procedures that can be executed outside healthcare facilities, making healthtech outsourcing a viable option.
Benefits of healthtech outsourcing
Healthtech outsourcing has many other advantages aside from the added value of healthtech.
These advantages include:
Cost reductions
Healthtech outsourcing gives healthcare providers opportunities to cut down labor and overhead costs.
Aside from getting access to a cheaper workforce, they no longer have to purchase and maintain healthtech equipment and software.
Instant expertise
Outsourcing healthttech processes gives healthcare providers access to seasoned specialists across the world. This means they won’t waste time and resources recruiting and training staff to handle their healthttech processes.
Assured compliance
Compliance with the various regulations (e.g., HIPAA) is paramount in the healthcare industry. BPO firms catering to healthcare companies often tout compliance with these regulations, such as ISO-certified systems.
Healthtech services you can outsource
As stated earlier, many processes under healthtech services can be done outside healthcare facilities. Thus, healthcare companies have a wide range of healthtech services they can outsource.
Below are some of them:
Customer support
Customer support includes services dealing with a health company’s clients. From patient interview scheduling and email or SMS response to medical billing, healthcare companies can entrust these tasks to BPO firms.
These firms can also cover in-app support for health companies with their own health services apps.
AI operations
Healthtech outsourcing lets health companies delegate processes that rely on AI tools (e.g., data entry, data collection, and transcription and annotation) to BPO firms.
Back-office processes
They can also entrust back-office procedures (e.g., ID verification and fraud detection and prevention) to BPO firms.
Outsourcing these processes leads to better outcomes due to the often better technologies that BPO companies own.
Factors to consider in healthtech outsourcing
Before adopting healthtech outsourcing as a business solution, there are important factors that you should consider.
These are some of the qualities you should look for in a BPO company before handing over your healthtech services.
High NPS
A high NPS, or net promoter score, signifies a BPO firm’s overall performance quality. It means their clients are satisfied with their services.
Quality talents
It’s vital to ensure that the outsourced staff who’ll handle your processes have the needed skills to excel in their job.
After all, it’s your company’s name that’s on the line (or at least in the eyes of your customers).
Regulatory compliance
Compliance is all-important in healthcare. Most BPO companies with clients in the health industry will at least be HIPAA-compliant.
However, it’s better to ensure you’re partnering with a company boasting more than a few compliance certifications.
