Source: www.tradingmarkets.com

Chennai-based Knowledge Process Outsourcing company focussing on content services for the publishing industry, PreMedia Global Inc, today said it has acquired US-based GGS Book Services.

Addressing a press meet here, Kapil Viswanathan, Co-CEO, said GGS Book Services generates Rs 80 crore in turnover and employs around 300 persons worldwide.

While the two companies would continue to operate independently, PreMedia would have the rights to use the GGS name and logo for an extended period of time, he said.

Kapil said an internal taskforce, comprising senior executives from both companies, would evaluate areas of synergy between the two companies and recommend an action plan for integration over the next six months.

PreMedia had earlier completed three Merger & Acquisition transactions over the past 18 months - Beacon Publishing Services in Ohio, Westwords in Utah and Prepress Company Inc in Massachusetts.

The company, in January, raised Rs 72 crore in equity financing from JM Financial India Fund for further overseas acquisitions.

Kapil said PreMedia would be expanding its Chennai operations with a new state-of-the-art facility at the Ascendas IT Park with a capacity to seat 750 persons over three shifts.

Source: sify.com

Coding, it is commonly understood, as programming and writing a lot of lines of software. However, in the healthcare BPO (business process outsourcing) industry, ‘coding’ refers to the conversion of paperwork, such as patient-charts created by doctors and hospitals, for reimbursement purposes.

“What is currently emerging is in-patient hospital coding,” says Gopi Natarajan, CEO, Omega Healthcare India Pvt Ltd. “As an offshored industry, India has been mainly doing outpatient coding for US hospitals and medical professionals. Now, the dearth of qualified resources in the US makes the offshoring of in-patient hospital coding a necessity.”

In terms of jobs that can be offshored, currently, only about 6 per cent of the US healthcare BPO industry has been offshored, Natarajan, told Business Line. “With 1,400 employees, Omega has about 16 per cent of the market in terms of offshored healthcare BPO jobs.”

The company provides medical coding, billing, accounts receivable management, claims processing, and healthcare revenue management.

What does in-patient hospital coding involve? And, how is it different from the outpatient work? Explains Natarajan, “In-patient hospital coding is more about the procedures that are done within the hospital, such as the use of beds, surgical equipment, and specialty care. These services are of much higher value in terms of dollars, compared to the outpatient category.”

Omega is working with its clients in the US to make a foray into in-patient hospital coding in the forthcoming fiscal. “We see this new vertical as a shift up the value chain,” says Natarajan.