Omega Healthcare to ramp up workforce at 4 facilities
Omega Healthcare, an offshore provider of healthcare outsourcing services, is looking to expand its workforce to 9,500 by 2016 from current base of about 8,500 employees across four facilities - Bangalore, Chennai, Trichy and Manila.
Gopi Natarajan, co-founder and CEO, Omega Healthcare, says medical coding and billing has emerged as one of the attractive and successful careers, which probably has a good amount of deficit of talent in the sector. “With the transition of the medical coding process from ICD-9 to ICD-10, it will create huge demand for certified medical coders across the globe, especially in US, Middle East and in India,” he added.
Privately-held Omega Healthcare handles revenue cycle management and related work for large US-based companies, who in turn provide services to the hospitals and physicians. It expects the upcoming switch to ICD-10 to bring about structural changes in entire coding system. The transition to ICD-10 is occurring because ICD-9 produces limited data about patients’ medical conditions and hospital inpatient procedures. ICD-9 is more than 30 years old, has outdated terms, and is inconsistent with current medical practice.
“Almost all major IT firms have stamped their presence in the healthcare sector and are recruiting and selecting medical coders to help develop affordable, value-based technology solutions. Majorly, healthcare revenue cycle management firms working for US hospitals are recruiting hundreds of medical coders for their coding work in India. The United States bureau of labor statistics (BLS) released Occupational Outlook Handbook in 2013 revealed that the number of medical billers and coders is expected to increase by 21 per cent between 2010 and 2020,” said Natarajan.
Medical billers are in charge of making sure everyone is being billed correctly while medical coders are responsible for entering patient information into programs. The medical coder and biller often work together to make sure all invoices are paid properly. A fresher is paid Rs 10,000-14,000 on an average and if the candidate has an experience of 2-3 years, they are paid around Rs 25,000.
At present, India has more than 7,500 medical coders, out which Omega Healthcare has the largest share of more than 2,000 medical coders serving in their 3 facilities - Bangalore, Chennai and Trichy. Also, with only a few months left for the implementation deadline of ICD-10, certified coders are in huge demand. “As per the industry reports this demand will increase by 30-40 per cent in 2015. In a market that’s already strained with shortage of coders, this increased demand will pose challenges for hospitals and healthcare organizations. So, we are looking to expand workforce to 9,500 from current 8,500 and it will include medical coders depending upon the demand in the market,” he told Financial Chronicle.
Gopi Natarajan, co-founder and CEO, Omega Healthcare, says medical coding and billing has emerged as one of the attractive and successful careers, which probably has a good amount of deficit of talent in the sector. “With the transition of the medical coding process from ICD-9 to ICD-10, it will create huge demand for certified medical coders across the globe, especially in US, Middle East and in India,” he added.
Privately-held Omega Healthcare handles revenue cycle management and related work for large US-based companies, who in turn provide services to the hospitals and physicians. It expects the upcoming switch to ICD-10 to bring about structural changes in entire coding system. The transition to ICD-10 is occurring because ICD-9 produces limited data about patients’ medical conditions and hospital inpatient procedures. ICD-9 is more than 30 years old, has outdated terms, and is inconsistent with current medical practice.
“Almost all major IT firms have stamped their presence in the healthcare sector and are recruiting and selecting medical coders to help develop affordable, value-based technology solutions. Majorly, healthcare revenue cycle management firms working for US hospitals are recruiting hundreds of medical coders for their coding work in India. The United States bureau of labor statistics (BLS) released Occupational Outlook Handbook in 2013 revealed that the number of medical billers and coders is expected to increase by 21 per cent between 2010 and 2020,” said Natarajan.
Medical billers are in charge of making sure everyone is being billed correctly while medical coders are responsible for entering patient information into programs. The medical coder and biller often work together to make sure all invoices are paid properly. A fresher is paid Rs 10,000-14,000 on an average and if the candidate has an experience of 2-3 years, they are paid around Rs 25,000.
At present, India has more than 7,500 medical coders, out which Omega Healthcare has the largest share of more than 2,000 medical coders serving in their 3 facilities - Bangalore, Chennai and Trichy. Also, with only a few months left for the implementation deadline of ICD-10, certified coders are in huge demand. “As per the industry reports this demand will increase by 30-40 per cent in 2015. In a market that’s already strained with shortage of coders, this increased demand will pose challenges for hospitals and healthcare organizations. So, we are looking to expand workforce to 9,500 from current 8,500 and it will include medical coders depending upon the demand in the market,” he told Financial Chronicle.
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