Omega Healthcare scales up operations

The $72-mn outsourcing firm finds big opportunity in US

Omega Healthcare, a $72-million healthcare outsourcing services provider, has defined its growth trajectory for the coming year and a half, in terms of its manpower acquisition, customer acquisition and service rollout plans.

In an interaction with DH, Gopi Natarajan, CEO of Omega Healthcare, mentioned that the company will continue to remain focused on the US market. “The market in the US is full of opportunity, especially post the implementation of ICD-10.” The ICD-10 is the 10th revision of WHO’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. There has been a tremendous rise in the demand for medical coders, who are trained in the ICD-10, since its implementation in the US in October 2015.

Omega Healthcare, which is a leading provider of revenue cycle management services, has around 120 clients in the US. “Post the first 18 months of our operations, we have been able to acquire a client every month, and we plan to continue this practice,” he said.

The company, which currently works out of four centres — Bengaluru, Chennai, Tiruchirappalli and Manila — is set to open its centre in Andhra Pradesh in the next two weeks.

In accordance with its customer acquisition plans, the company plans to scale its coding team in India. “We are continuously expanding here. In addition to our largest facility in Tiruchirappalli, we have built a new facility, which will begin operations by February 2017. That takes the total capacity for coders there to around 5,000. By 2018, we should be able to hire enough people to fill these positions,” he said.

The company further plans to expand its talent pool in Bengaluru and Chennai. “We plan to add another 500 coders to the exisiting 3,200 in Bengaluru and about 800 to the existing pool of 3,000 in Chennai in the next 12 months or so,” he said.

On its Manila centre, which the company has dedicated towards patient interaction, the CEO said: “The centre has expanded nicely. Over the last 12 months, we have been able to scale from 180 to 500 coders there. Seeing how this centre is doing, we have initiated the set up of a centre in Cebu, which should be operative by mid-September,” he said. The company is growing at a steady rate of 30%, which it intends to maintain in the coming years.