Outsourcing in healthcare facilities Assignment

Outsourcing in healthcare facilities - Assignment Example For effective operation and achieving of the outsourcing objectives, healthcare facilities have to find reliable business associates who will offer cost-effective and quality services that meet patient expectations. Prevalence and trends of outsourcing in the healthcare industry The prevalence of outsourcing in the healthcare industry is low as compared to other industries though it is picking up at a fast rate due to increasing financial pressures and demand for better services by patients. The trends of outsourcing in healthcare are increasing as evidenced by the decreasing restrictions on the types of services being outsourced by healthcare facilities. Many outsourcing relationships now are like long-term strategic partnerships instead of arrangements that are tactical and single-purpose in nature. This indicates increasing interest in outsourcing by healthcare facilities. Hospitals are the main types of organizations in healthcare which utilize outsourcing to a greater extend. Ho wever, there is a difference in the trends and prevalence rates among the for-profit hospital settings and the not-for-profit hospital settings. More of the profit-oriented hospitals are outsourcing as compared to the non-profit hospitals. Currently, profit-oriented hospital settings outsource up to 25% of their services and their non-profit oriented counterparts are expected to reach this level in the near future (Harris, 2001). One of the areas in which outsourcing is utilized in healthcare is medical transcriptions. This is done as a strategy for dealing with the increasing need to document medical records hence it is a more-cost effective way of adding to back offices. Outsourcing in this area is growing at a significant rate of 15% annually. The third most commonly outsourced service in healthcare facilities is linen/laundry services. This is driven by factors like increasing costs of operating a laundry and upgrading efficient laundry equipment. There is also increasing laundr y volumes due to the increasing number of patients (Harris, 2001). Ambulance services, gift stores, and security services enjoy a moderate level of outsourcing in the healthcare sector. The most recent service to be outsourced services is IT services. EHRS outsourcing is picking up even as physicians are being encouraged to adopt and use EHRS. The complexity and urgency of implementing and maintaining EHRS is the driving factor behind its outsourcing. The healthcare industry has also begun contracting for software applications. These services are offered by 3rd party application service providers (ASP's) (Kirchheimer, 2005. Other services that experience varied levels of outsourcing include management of facilities, feeding of patients, transportation, health information management (HIM) and clinical services. One of the companies offering medical transcription services is Chromolume Transcription, a company located in Santa Monica, California. Hospital TeamCare provides physician o utsourcing whereas Precyse Solutions provides HIM outsourcing. Experience of healthcare organizations that have tried outsourcing Some of the healthcare organisations that have tried outsourcing include Launceston General Hospital and Westbury Community Health Centre. These hospitals outsource their linen services to Northern Tasmanian Linen Service