Some jobs now being sent overseas are clinical positions, such as pre-service nursing, a field where health insurance nurses assess patient needs.
Something else is different, too. Before, outsourcing was often done out of necessity or timeliness, such as time restraints for readings of diagnostic tests.
Now, however, the outsourcing is done for financial reasons, according to the report. The outsourcing of nursing positions is the newest development, according to the report, and one that many experts find risky for privacy, quality and safety reasons. Chuck Idelson, spokesperson for the California Nurses Association, called it a “very disturbing trend” in the report.
The report did not mention outsourcing on the provider side, although some major payors have made overseas moves. WellPoint, one of the country’s largest payors, formed the subsidiary Radiant Services to advance outsourcing and other cost-reduction strategies, according to the report. In the past 18 months, the payor has eliminated hundreds of U.S. jobs by moving them overseas.
Aetna has an arrangement with EXL Service, a company based in the United States with operations in Manila, Philippines, to provide care management support. Managed care company Health Net has outsourced administrative and information technology functions to India and laid off dozens of workers in IT and accounting, according to the report.
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