The healthcare outsourcing sector in India is gaining traction with increased spending in the US on healthcare IT services.

Tony Mira, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Ajuba Solutions India Private Limited, said American hospitals are investing in technology to increase efficiency and reduce usage of paper.

Automating existing processes and implementing the upgraded International Classification of Diseases (ICD) Version 10, which came into effect from October 1, present enormous opportunities for healthcare outsourcing companies.

Mira said the change affects the way insurance claims are processed as the medical coding is different. This requires training. The company has been training people for the past two years on the new coding system. “Currently $25 billion worth of claims needs to be processed and there are around $13 million from ICD-10,” he added.

Healthcare IT spend Stating that the company is growing at 18 per cent, Mira said technology spending will accelerate growth. According to a Gartner report of September, healthcare IT spend in the US — about $1,04,982 million in 2015 — is nearly 40 per cent of the global spending.

Healthcare outsourcing in India is in the range of $3.3-4.2 billion, out of which payer outsourcing is $700- 900 million and provider outsourcing $100-200 million. Ajuba specialises in provider outsourcing and has a market share of 7-10 per cent.

Future trends Mira said Internet of Things (IoT) will be the game changer in healthcare IT solutions as hospitals invest in Big Data and electronic micro records that would ease data gathering.

IoT also will facilitate creation of a smart environment for healthcare solutions, Mira said. To cater to this demand, the company is working on a Big Data strategy and is recruiting data scientists, technologists and high-level programmers to crunch data to help in patient management.

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