Phl healthcare, BPO sectors unfazed by growing competition

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is unfazed by the growing competition in the field of information technology – business processing outsourcing (IT-BPO) from emerging economies led by China.

Jeff Williams, chairman of Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (HIMOAP), warned that growing competition is a challenge to the country’s healthcare information management sector.

Williams said China has started to train its citizens to be competent in English.

However, he pointed out that the Philippines is unfazed by the threat due to the country’s skilled Filipino workforce.

“It’s a growing market so I don’t think it’s a threat to us. The Philippines has been teaching English for so many years and is ingrained in the American culture. These are the things that lured companies like my own in the first place,” he stressed.

HIMOAP, formerly known as the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines Inc. (MTIAPI), has also shifted focus from medical transcription alone to a wide array of healthcare services.

“It’s a matter of how well we do and are we doing the best that we can to make sure we provide the best to the rest of the world,” he added.

Data from international research firm MarketsandMarkets showed that the global healthcare information management would become a $329- billion industry by 2016.

This would be larger than the entire IT-BPO industry that is projected by the Everest Group to grow to $256 billion also in 2016.

In the Philippines, the health information management sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the IT-BPO industry that is expected to generate revenue of $433 million and employ 43,000 Filipinos this year.

HIMOAP has tied up with the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) to pursue all measures to sustain the industry’s growth.

DOST-ICTO deputy executive director for ICT industry development Alejandro Melchor pointed out that the healthcare information management sector stands to be bigger than what is projected in the entire market.

“These are tremendous implications for the Philippines. If you do the math, the country can build on the present market share which is eight percent of the global market; and all our clients are geared towards capturing a minimum of 13 to 15 percent,” he said.

The sector has evolved to provide services in all aspects of healthcare information management including clinical data management, disease management, revenue cycle management, pharmacy benefits management, electronic medical records, medical claims recovery, patient education, insurance processing, and quality assurance.

The range of services offered by the healthcare BPO has also provided employment especially to professionals and graduates of medical courses.

“Unemployed nurses turned out to be a boon to the industry. We actually conceptualized a plan, and we’re working with our very close partner HIMOAP as well as BPAP to grow the Philippine market share,” said Melchor.

HIMOAP president Juanloz Botor pointed out that the organization is working closely with the government to create a professional atmosphere where problems could be addressed as well as the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

“We also have the government as a support to create a professional atmosphere in which the problems of the government can join with the initiatives of the association. Aside from that, we have the BPAP. We’ve been doing umbrella work for all of us in order to make sure that they can deal with the large problems and initiatives,” Botor added.