Philippine Outsourcing Services

High staff attrition rate is one of the major challenges many companies are facing.  This cripples the operations of a company and therefore correspondingly affecting revenue.  The dilemma does not stop here.  Qualified employees are becoming a rarity as companies try their best to maintain these people or even try to poach them from their current employers.

After finding a qualified employee, there will always be a transition period during training.  As a result, though not as crippling as not having one, production is still affected during this period.  And from then on, employers can only hope that the newly-hired employee would be able to absorb everything as fast as possible as well as stay longer.

Now, these issues can be addressed by “outsourcing”.  The burden of closing the gap from the time a medical biller is lost to the time an employee completes training and being able to perform the assigned tasks is now the responsibility of the outsourcing provider. 

But take note, the location of the outsourcing providers plays a key role in the success of outsourcing these services.  

Why the Philippines then?

. . . . because of scalability.  The Philippines produces 380,000 graduates a year.  As of July 2007, the employment rate is at 92.2% where 33% worked for less than 40 hours a week only.  This 33% and the 7.8% unemployed Filipinos form a substantial pool for new jobs and positions.

. . . . because of quality.  Based on UNESCO’s Analyses of Literacy Data, the Philippines achieved 94% literacy for the year 2006.  In addition to this, the Philippines has a strong western affinity and is regarded as the third largest English-speaking country in the world.

. . . . because of turnaround time.  Because of the time difference, work assigned at the end of US business hours is processed immediately and claims are sent to insurance companies either immediately for electronic claims or at the start of the following day for paper claims.  Faster turnaround means faster reimbursement.

. . . . because of cost.  The competitive cost of living in the Philippines enabled outsourcing providers to price lower than their competitors.  This typically would result to 30%-50% cost savings enabling companies to invest on other areas such as business development, infrastructure and security. 

Though outsourcing medical billing services to the Philippines is slowly growing and has not reached its peak unlike information technology and the call center industry, nothing can stop the rise of this industry.  More and more medical service providers and medical billing service companies now experience the numerous benefits of outsourcing their medical billing tasks to the Philippines and the overall success this continually entails.

What are  the “secrets” that set apart a successful mortgage outsourcing from those that struggle. Let us share with you what we’ve learned from years of experience in operations and management of mortgage outsourcing and see the true value of outsourcing.

“Secret” 1 : Know Yourself.

    You’ve probably heard this so many times in so many context, that you dismiss this unconsciously. However, this is the basic tenet for success in nearly everything that we do in life. Disregard for this is one of the top reasons for  outsourcing failures. Just imagine how confused your outsourcing vendor will be if you yourself are not clear on what exactly it is you do.
    Before you even think about outsourcing, your core business should be crystal clear to you. As a rule of thumb : you can successfully outsource anything that is not a core function right from the start. If your market rests on a referral model, you don’t want to outsource your lead generation. If you are keen on underwriting, last thing you’d want is an outsourced underwriter or lead processor.
    You can start outsourcing your QA specialist, or some of your junior underwriting and processing staff, or your document management person. With today’s technology,  these functions can be performed literally from anywhere. Then you can focus on your core business  functions like expanding your market or underwriting that crucial loan application.
    Learn which of your business processes can be outsourced without hampering your operations in the transition period and you’ve started on the right foot. This will help in future house cleaning as it would be clear if an action is called for in your end or in  your provider’s.
   

“Secret” 2: Finding the Right Partner.

    Outsourcing is about people and relationships. There are quite a number of outsourcing vendors on and off-shore and finding the right partner may prove to be a task.  Like every relationships, finding that “fit” would spell your success or failure.  
    Cultural fit should be  in your primary considerations for finding a partner. This can cause difficulties not only in the management dealings but more so in operations especially if the process or work to be outsourced require customer interaction, It would be nearly impossible for your outsourced staff to deal with you and your borrowers and other service providers if they have no clue about your cultural and  industry nuances.  As an example, an average Californian moves to a new home almost every 5 years. In other parts of the world, people live in one home in  their entire lifetime. It would be tough for them to  make sense of someone moving constantly. Remember that what is right or common  in one culture may be unacceptable  or alien to another. In the same light, your borrowers may be sensitive to accents and this can sway their trust in you. There are offshore providers based in accent-heavy countries, but there are providers based in other countries like the Philippines where accent is not an issue.
    The capacity to recruit quality people in a timely manner is also an important consideration. Remember that recruitment is not confined at the project launch since you will need to recruit when someone leaves the company or when you expand.
    Experience in the industry is definitely a plus since it will contribute to a smoother transition period and better productivity in the beginning years. In the long run however, this will not matter as much compared to an upstart project since the people will become seasoned with time. In an industry where time is of the essence, if you feel that you don’t want to go through the transition learning curve, there are a few outsourcing providers who already have acquired experience in the mortgage industry.
    Only a minority of offshore outsourcing providers can strategically address these considerations, so you should take time in selecting your “fit”.  For example, Infinit-O is based in the Philippines, a country heralded as a prime outsourcing spot especially for the US due to its abundance of highly qualified people with western cultural affinity and a neutral or even flexible accent. The company is also one of the few that has a mortgage experience.

“Secret” 3: Test, test, and more importantly, test.

    Another main reason for outsourcing failures that is recognized and addressed by successful companies is the lack of a formal strategic measurement framework. Simply put, most companies that failed outsourced without even knowing how to check if it works or not. They only know something is wrong when it is already too late or too big. As any key business strategy, you should know how to test if your outsourcing endeavor works to your advantage. This is one thing that successful outsourcing companies are good at. Why? By having a formal strategic measurement framework, you will be able to accurately pinpoint problems and glitches even before they wreck havoc on your operations giving you time and resources to address them. It will also enable you to recognize what works and how you can further improve it.  
    There are already more than enough compliance requirements in mortgage that having another testing framework may seem to be the last thing you need. A good outsourcing partner can and should help you set up your measurement framework that is beneficial for both parties. An  ISO certified outsourcing provider can do this with ease and comfort. This practice may also help you implement a similar framework even for your core functions and processes.

    These “secrets” are not kept away behind lock and key in some company’s R&D. Rather, these are just some of the few brute facts that got lost  when an outsourcing deal gets ridden with self-made complications. These are general tips to help you on your way, but things are ultimately different from one business to another.

To deny the fact that there are a number of companies around the globe turning to outsourcing companies whether be it onshore or offshore for their accounts payable management is to deny reality.

Managing the Accounts Payable process is a crucial procedure in financial accounting.  Managing accounts payable is never an easy task and has a significant effect on profits. If these expenses are not processed accurately and paid on time, these will cause inconvenience to a business and impact as well on its reputation.

When you own a business, managing processes such as Accounts Payable can become very critical and difficult. Nevertheless, this is a significant area of any business that needs to be reviewed from time to time as it guarantees proper control of cash resources.

A solution to the proper management of the accounts payable can be found from Finance and Accounting Outsourcing companies that offer accounts payable services.

The outsourcing of the Accounts Payable process has various benefits. One of the many advantages is that you can save multifold revenue through the outsourcing work. Outsourcing accounts payable also allot business owners more time to focus on core tasks and managers can concentrate on their regular work.

Some of the benefits of outsourcing accounts payable :

    ■ Payment of the invoices on due time.
    ■ Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual reports are easily made available.
    ■ Tax related activity is done without loss of man-hours at the company level.
    ■ Compliance to SOX is automatically carried out.
    ■ The expenditure connected to the provider would be lower and will remain constant for a particular period of time.

Accounts Payable Outsourcing is an effective way for a business to maintain all its accounts in perfect order. Start now and earn revenue for your business by outsourcing your accounts payable.

Medical billing is the process of submitting claims to insurance companies in order to receive payment for services provided to a patient by a healthcare provider. 

As simple as it sounds, the same cannot be said about the actual cycle of a claim.

The process starts when a patient visits the provider’s office.  Depending on the patient’s diagnosis and the services provided, a certified coder translates these into alphanumeric codes which are internationally recognized, International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition (ICD-9) and Current Procedural Terminology,4th Edition (CPT-4).  From this, a billing form is generated which is then sent to the patient’s insurance company either by paper or electronically. 

The challenge starts when insurance companies deny or pend the claims submitted.  The list of possible reasons for denial or pending of claims continuously grows as laws, regulations and guidelines are formed or changed.  Human error plays a large role as well.  Depending on the State, the top billing errors may vary, but a few of the common errors include duplicate claims, medical necessity, beneficiary eligibility, non-covered services and bundled services.  Whatever the reason for the denial, bottom line is, the revenue of the healthcare providers is extremely affected.

In this regard, more and more healthcare providers outsource their medical billing process to avoid the headaches and pains medical billing may bring.  This also enables them to focus more on their core business which is providing medical services.

The success of obtaining the maximum reimbursement for the services rendered by the provider, however, lies in the capability of the outsourcing companies. For this reason, healthcare providers should consider working only with an outsourcing company that have demonstrated efficiency in the medical billing industry .