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The US Healthcare market is undergoing major transformations, thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Also known as Obamacare, this Act represents the biggest change in American healthcare system since medicaid was introduced in 1965. Under the Act, more than 30 million additional Americans will have access to healthcare insurance.

The increase in access has resulted in the number of claims increasing. This additional workload has led to a surge in outsourcing of the US healthcare BPO market, according to a new study, ”U.S. Healthcare BPO Market - Payer (Claims Processing, HR Services, and Finance and Accounts), Provider (Medical Billing and Coding), and Pharmaceutical (Clinical Trials, Contract Manufacturing, and Non-Clinical Services) - Trends and Global Forecasts to 2018,” now available from Markets and Markets.

Other than the claims processing, another area that requires significant work is the ICD-10 conversion form. These areas require the presence of skilled personnel such as medical coders which the US lacks at this time. Moreover, many US companies engaged in claims processing downsized their business during the economic recession and these companies have not yet increased their capacity.

All of this has led to an increase in the Healthcare BPO outsourcing market which has increased sharply. And, these are big markets.  As the report states, currently the US healthcare payer market is valued at $11.1 billion, the provider market is valued at $6.8 billion and the pharmaceutical outsourcing market is valued at $65.6 billion respectively. These combined markets are expected to be worth $141.7 billion by 2018.

In short, the implementation of the  Act is going to continue to be a blessing for players engaged in the US healthcare outsourcing industry. Some of the prominent companies in this field are Accenture, Medusind, Lonza, Catalent, DSM (News - Alert) Pharma and Genpact. They are looking to expand their existing facilities and infrastructure to meet this growing demand for claims processing.

The good part about this increased workload is the higher employment opportunities that is likely to open up. However, a good number of these jobs is likely to be outside the US. Whether outsourcers intend to us Americans working in domestic facilities is going to be something that politicians are sure to keep a careful eye on.