Updated on December 5, 2023 by Jordan McGlone
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The United States is one of the countries that outsource services the most. The country approximately outsources 68% of its workforce to different industries. In the healthcare sector, the country outsources 75% of technology services.
One of the largest outsourcing markets in healthcare is medical billing, which accounted for USD 3.73 billion in 2022 and is expected to rise to 12.90% more in 2032. Other healthcare services that are outsourced include administrative tasks, such as transcription and insurance claims processing, and clinical services, such as laboratory tests.
Healthcare outsourcing trends are seeing stable upward growth because of their convenience and efficiency. Medical businesses can offer more services without expanding their facilities, therefore being cost-effective.
The shifting needs of healthcare providers drive the medical outsourcing landscape. This need also includes the increasing demands of patients for personalized patient care, even in after-hours settings.
Hence, it is important for healthcare organizations to carefully evaluate potential outsourcing partners to ensure compliance with data security, regulations, and service standards.
In this article, we discuss some of the emerging healthcare outsourcing trends.
Key Takeaways:
2. Healthcare outsourcing trends will focus on telehealth support expansion, remote patient monitoring, solutions to labor shortages, and an increase in digital health experience.
3. PatientCalls presents a perfect example of providing healthcare outsourcing services by helping you process patient care, schedule appointments, and educate patients about HIPAA quality standards.
Factors Affecting Healthcare Outsourcing Trends in Hospitals
The United States outsources about 300,000 jobs annually from different countries. These jobs mostly range from nurses and physicians to medical staff handling medical services such as post-hospitalization patient care and other follow-ups.
The decision to outsource healthcare jobs is driven by different factors, such as the opportunity to access a pool of talents and to save healthcare costs. In particular, outsourcing medical services allows healthcare organizations to meet patient needs while maintaining high-quality healthcare in a rapidly evolving market.
The following are more growth drivers in the healthcare industry.
- Improved patient care. Healthcare is unlike other sectors where profit is always king. In healthcare, patient satisfaction is always a priority. Outsourcing administrative tasks and facility management services such as medical billing and coding helps healthcare providers spend more time on patient care, which improves clinical efficiency.
- Cost reduction. Outsourcing skilled workforce in healthcare, including other administrative and clerical work, is a key strategy to lower costs. It allows healthcare facilities to save approximately 60% to 70% on recruitment, training, and employee retention costs. This solution offers critical services with lower operational budgets and solves budget constraints.
- Technological advancements. With the rapid growth of technological advancements, such as the use of AI in the healthcare industry, healthcare institutions need to adapt. This helps them achieve more innovative ways of streamlining processes and acquiring new talents efficiently. The growth of technology paved the way for services such as telemedicine, where consultations and appointment scheduling are done remotely.
- Data security. The healthcare industry handles many electronic patient information and other critical data. As more information is handled, the greater risk of data security threats likely increases. Outsourcing critical information handling ensures that patient data are free from human error and potential cyber-attacks.
- Rapid changes in healthcare. The dynamic nature of the healthcare industry influences outsourcing decisions. Outsourcing allows health institutions to respond faster to changes involving healthcare policies and delivery models. It also helps hospitals acquire more talent faster to address issues such as labor shortages.
These are just some of the major factors that drive healthcare outsourcing trends into becoming a highly competitive environment. Hospitals gain more access to professional skilled resources and expand their service offering efficiently.
PatientCalls is one of the top healthcare call centers in the hospital outsourcing trends in clinical services, especially regarding tailored patient approach. Our medical answering services, for instance, help answer patient inquiries without having to disturb doctors and other practitioners in their duties. We assess patient needs and summarize the information for a more efficient healthcare service.
Learn more about our HIPAA-compliant medical answering service.
Healthcare Outsourcing Trends in 2023
As the medical industry experiences higher demand for service and staffing shortages, healthcare outsourcing will continue to increase in the coming years. The United States healthcare outsourcing market is expected to register a compound annual growth rate of 8.11% from 2023 to 2032.
Below are some of the most prominent healthcare outsourcing trends emerging in the coming years.
Expansion of Telehealth Support
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted several shortcomings in the healthcare industry. Telemedicine and telehealth support proved effective in a setup where physical contact was highly limited.
The benefits of telehealth support are consistently breaking the limits of geographical barriers in healthcare. Patients now have more access to healthcare services that normally require physical participation through the help of healthcare outsourcing.
The telehealth support and telemedicine market is poised to reach USD 120.4 billion by the end of 2023. This estimation is expected to further increase to USD 285.7 billion by 2028.
This healthcare outsourcing trend is associated with the increasing demand for healthcare services and low-cost service offerings. Outsourcing tasks, such as consultations, inquiries, and appointments, to BPO industries consistently helps the healthcare industry to adapt to challenges.
Services such as distributing laboratory tests and consultations are projected to become more available with technological advancements.
Remote Patient Monitoring
One of the main benefits of healthcare outsourcing is it allows medical practitioners to extend their services to patients through different means. Outsourcing companies make it easier for patients to communicate with doctors and nurses without physically going to a hospital.
Healthcare outsourcing also ensures that hospitals can offer after-hours services to patients. Among the many services extended by outsourcing, remote patient monitoring is becoming more and more common.
The industry for remote patient monitoring is consistently rising as it offers comfort for patients while accessing healthcare. The industry was valued at USD 13.40 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach a worth of USD 31.3 billion, growing annually by 17.5%. Despite the consistent labor shortage, the healthcare industry is expected to be able to adapt to this growing demand for remote patient monitoring through healthcare outsourcing.
Increase in Digital Healthcare Experience
The rise of technological advancements has birthed services that make communication easier. This change includes processing healthcare needs, such as:
- making doctor’s appointments,
- encoding electronic medical records,
- monitoring insurance coverages,
- filing insurance claims, and
- paying hospital charges.
This trend will continuously become more available in the healthcare industry as outsourcing becomes a more popular choice. In the US, healthcare outsourcing is expected to reach USD 66 billion by 2025. Digitalization makes it even more possible to streamline the healthcare experience for patients.
Continued Staff Shortages
The healthcare industry is not exempted from the global problem of labor shortage. This industry is especially prone to burnout, therefore making experienced professionals more likely to quit their professions.
The labor shortage in the healthcare industry is not expected to be resolved in the coming years. In fact, 1 in 3 healthcare workers mention plans to leave the industry. This problem, tied with the estimated growth of the global healthcare staffing market, poses a significant problem. Luckily, outsourcing healthcare services is becoming a saving grace for the industry.
Healthcare outsourcing offers better working conditions for the healthcare workforce and helps in reducing workforce stress. More and more medical organizations are expected to outsource healthcare for cost-effective solutions to labor shortages.
Healthcare Outsourcing Trends in Dental Offices
The trend of medical outsourcing in dental offices is lower than in hospitals. In fact, only a few dental businesses have leveraged its benefits. However, what’s surprising is the increased number of registered dental services in the United States today.
In 2022, there were 185,993 dental registered businesses in the United States, which is an increase of 1.2% from the previous year. The dental industry is rising as much as the demand for better dental services is. Aesthetics and the need for high-quality dental care are the primary drivers for the business growth.
As dental industries continue to rise, healthcare outsourcing is also becoming apparent. Without healthcare outsourcing, dental practices miss roughly 35% of all new patients, which translates to a loss in potential monthly revenue.
A dental answering service like PatientCalls can help your business organization deal with these outsourcing trends in the dental industry and help practitioners deliver better services to patients. It drives efficiency and cost-effectivity throughout your business.
Fill in Trend Gaps with PatientCalls
As more healthcare businesses rely on outsourcing, the healthcare outsourcing market will continue expanding. Healthcare outsourcing solutions such as PatientCalls help deliver a tailored approach to medical services even during after-hour or post-hospitalization settings.
Quickly adapt to the healthcare outsourcing trends we discussed in this article with the help of PatientCalls. With our outsourcing services, you can leverage tech support and address issues, such as labor shortages, more efficiently. Ensure that your business can offer after-hour services, handle appointment scheduling anytime, and take care of overflow call handling efficiently.
If you need reliable after-hours medical outsourcing support, PatientCalls is the right partner. In all of our services, we prioritize providing excellent, sincere, and timely customer service. We also pride ourselves in ensuring that our services are HIPAA-compliant and highly understandable by our customers.
We are committed to helping medical institutions serve patients more efficiently and provide cost-effective solutions.
FAQs About Healthcare Outsourcing
