Market Challenges And Opportunities

Global Medical Billing Outsourcing Market Drivers:

Increasing outsourcing in healthcare to underpin market growth

Another factor which is driving the growth of the global medical billing outsourcing market is the increasing outsourcing in healthcare. For instance, around 65% of medical billing companies have a positive outlook on the outsourced billing industry, according to a report by Tebra. Tebra's State of the U.S. Medical Billing Industry Report surveyed 277 medical billing companies to examine the outsourced billing landscape. Almost half of companies (43%) see outsourcing as a significant opportunity, while 42% see significant opportunities to expand services. This in turn is expected to augment the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Rapidly changing regulations to augment market growth

One of the key factors expected to augment the growth of the global medical billing outsourcing market during the forecast period is the rapidly changing healthcare regulations across the world. Many healthcare providers across the world are undertaking initiatives to facilitate smoother health data exchange and improve efficiency of healthcare systems. For instance, an initiative undertaken by healthcare suppliers in the United States to utilize paperless healthcare systems and incorporate HIT systems is expected to increase demand for medical billing outsourcing services in the U.S., driving the growth of market in the region.

Global Medical Billing Outsourcing Market Opportunities:

Federal mandate to implement digital record keeping by healthcare providers is expected to offer significant growth opportunities for players in the global medical billing outsourcing market. For instance, implementation of digital record keeping helps increase staff efficiency, reduce coding errors, and improve reimbursement rates. Integration of EHR and medical billing services enables seamless transfer of billing data from documentation system to billing company, eliminating the tedious task of entering patient data in two systems. Many governments around the world have set aside billions for an incentive program that encourages hospitals and providers to adopt electronic health record systems (EHR) to reduce the administrative burden on medical billing.

Rise in healthcare digitalization is also expected to offer lucrative growth opportunities for players in the global medical billing outsourcing market. For instance, technology is a key differentiator in today's healthcare systems, including localized healthcare systems that existed earlier. Digital development accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic had a positive impact on the market growth. Furthermore, the future of medical billing outsourcing looks promising as the healthcare industry is increasingly adopting different technologies. In October 2021, France government planned to invest over US$ 650 million to expand their digital health infrastructure on a national level. This in turn is expected to augment the growth of the market.

Global Medical Billing Outsourcing Market Restraints:

Data breaching to hinder growth of the market

One of the key factors expected to hinder growth of the global medical billing outsourcing market is the high threats of data breaching associated with medical billing. Data breaches have become a major concern. Protecting patient records and their confidentiality is critical in medical process outsourcing. With growing implementation of EHRs, the issues regarding data breaches are also rising. According to Becker’s Healthcare data, in 2021, around 50 million of the US population’s health data was breached, which is around 3 times greater than in the past three years.

High cost of outsourcing to hamper market growth

Another factor which is hampering the growth of the global medical billing outsourcing market is the high cost of outsourcing. Improper planning and budget allocation for outsourcing operations can have a detrimental impact on cost savings and business value that outsourcing may provide. Unexpected or hidden costs, such as on assessing and selecting a vendor, maintaining offshore contracts, process transfer, and increasing security & severance pay for employees, are not factored into financial plans of companies, when outsourcing their business operations.