Outsourcing Patient Care

As the recession continues to drive businesses to adapt and innovate, many organizations have found it much more cost effective to outsource what were once considered "in-house only" services. These sentiments are also being felt throughout the healthcare industry as new healthcare reform laws begin to take affect. However, while the current recession plays a significant role in the outsourcing of individual positions within the healthcare industry the main reason for this rise in outsourcing is not financial, rather it has to do with the availability of qualified professionals to fill these roles. Even more interesting is that the majority of these outsourced jobs pay as much (even more) then a typical U.S. based position. These factors combined with the ability of foreign professionals to be trained, educated, and licensed in the U.S., it isn't a mystery why so many positions are being filled by others outside of the U.S.

Take for example an Altoona, PA hospital. Only a few years ago, the number of nigh time cases in need of interpretation by a radiologist got so bad, the seven on staff members had to consistently work 60+ hours per week just to cover all the work. All this changed when the hospital began to outsource their work to a small Bangalore, India firm called Teleradiology Solutions. This firm is operated and owned by Dr. Arjun Kalyanpur, who happens to be educated at Yale University and licensed in the U.S.

It's extremely perplexing to find an industry that is not outsourcing due mainly for financial reasons, but rather mainly due to a severe shortage of professionals within its own borders. How did this "telemedicine" trend begin? Many researchers point to the sharply rising demand for IT professionals to tackle the Y2K "bug" of the late 1990's. This demand led to many foreign students (particularly from India) to migrate to the U.S. for education and training. This trend became such the norm, that US officials often joked that "President Bush had sacked the elected members of Congress and was replacing them with staff hired in Bangalore" (Chithelen, 2004).

So what is an HR department to do? On one hand you have very qualified, American trained/educated/licensed and English speaking professionals ready and capable of working when everyone else is sleeping. On the other hand, you still need to pay them just as much (considering the need, possibly even more), you need to educate yourself with foreign laws, and deal with the possibility of high turnover (over 50% in service sector jobs outsourced to India). These problems coupled with recession, and the incredible need from Americans to find skilled, well paying positions it can only give you a glimpse of the massive problem this recession has created.

While the rest of the world was willing to work hard, sacrifice, and become better trained, American workers simply lacked the understanding to make more savvy career moves and HR administrators could not for see the future needs of the industry. However, even with this problem the reality is that the need is still needed. This need creates the oppurtunity for the American worker to receive the same kind of training and (considering their relative vicinity)more then likely receive preferential treatment when filling these positions. Even in the midst of the "Great Recession" there is still oppurtunity and hope left; all that HR administrators can do is hope that others see this as well.

References:
1.) Outsourcing to India: Causes, Reactions, and Prospects. Chithelen, Ignatius. Economic and Political Weekly. 39:10 (2004), pp. 1022-1024.


Source:
Some U.S. Hospitals Outsourcing Work: Shortage of Radiologists spur Growing Telemedicine Trend. msnbc.msn.com/id/6621014