Abstract
This chapter outlines findings from interviews conducted between 1999 and 2004 with the chief executive officers (CEOs) and directors of operations of offshore outsourcing organizations supplying health sector related work in Bangalore, India. These case studies consider established instances of relocation of health sector related work from the USA to India and are considered in the context of two associated developments: the shift towards introduction, or increased levels, of outsourcing of health sector service work in the United States of America (USA) and their relocation internationally, in the form of telemediated work.1 The chapter attempts to identify some of the connections between the trends to commodification and outsourcing and offshoring of health sector services which are becoming increasingly well established in the USA and in doing so raises issues of relevance to similar areas of the health sector workforce in Australia.2
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (2004a) ‘Medical Transcriptionists’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004–05 Edition, http://www.bls.gov/oco/(Accessed 10 May 2004).
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (2004b) ‘May 2003 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates — Healthcare Support Occupations’ Occupational Employment Statistics http://www.bls.gov/(Accessed 11 May 2004).
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (2004c) ‘Health Services’ Career Guide to Industries, 2004–05 Edition http://www.bis.gov/oco/(Accessed 10 May 2004).
Bureau Of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department Of Labor (2004d) ‘Medical Records and Health Information Technicians’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004–05 Edition http://www.bls.gov/oco/(Accessed 11 May 2004).
Cant, S. (2002) ‘Sick Systems Plague the Health Funds’ The Age (June 4), p. 7.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2004a) http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/and Welcome to Medicaid and Medicare Information Resource http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicare/(Accessed 17 May 2004).
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2004b) The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) http://www.cms.hhs.gov/(Accessed 17 May 2004).
Connors, E. (2003) ‘Wooldridge Joins Health Services Group’ Australian Financial Review (29 May), p. 21.
The Contact Daily (2004) ‘Calls For Government Cooperation in Offshoring Solution’, (15 January) http://www.callcentres.net.
Danni, R. (2004) ‘Medical Billing ad Coding Profession’ http://www.thealli-need.com.
Department of Finance (1999) ‘IT&T Boost for Health Agencies’, Joint Media Release By Minister For Finance And Administration And Minister For Communications, Information Technology And The Arts (23 September) http://www.finance.gov.au/scripts/media.asp?table=MFA&Id=85.
Doctor’s Shopper (2004) ‘Bill of Health Services, Inc. — Outsourcing lets you Concentrate on your Patients’ http://doctorsshopper.com/(Accessed 7 May 2004).
The Economic Times Online (2004) ‘US Lawmakers Gang up against BPO to India’ (13 January) http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/.
Felstead, A. and Jewson, N. (eds) (1999) Global Trends in Flexible Labour (Houndsmill: Macmillan).
HayGroup (1999) Compensation for Medical Transcriptionists Report Prepared for the American Association Of Medical Transcriptionists (Modesto Ca.)
Harvey, D. (1990) The Condition of Postmodernity (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).
HealthSource (2002) ‘New BPO Company will help Health Insurance Funds cut Costs’ (30 September) http://www.Healthsource.com.au/.
India Infoline (2004) ‘Introduction to I.T. Enabled Services’ http://www.indian-infoline.com/.
Industry Commission (1997) Private Health Insurance Report No. 57 (Canberra: AGPS).
James, P., Veit, W. F. and Wright, S. (eds) (1997) Work of the Future: Global Perspectives (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin).
Kalyanpur, A., Weinberg, J., Neklesa, J., Brink, J. A. and Forman, H. P. (2003) ‘Emergency Radiology Coverage: Technical and Clinical Feasibility of an International Teleradiology Model’ Emergency Radiology, 10, pp. 115–8.
Leys, C. (2001) Market Driven Politics: Neoliberal Democracy and the Public Interest, (New York: Verso).
Lohr, S. (2004) ‘High-End Technology Work — Not Immune to Outsourcing’ New York Times (June 16) p. C2.
Luce, E., Merchant, K. and Roberts, D. (2003) ‘Service Industries go Global’ The Financial Times (20 August) p. 15.
Minogue, K. (2001) ‘Doctor.Com — On-Line Medicos — The Pros and Cons’ The Daily Telegraph (16 April) p. 94.
NASSCOM (2004a) ‘Resource Centre: Indian IT Industry’ http://www.nasscom.org/(Accessed 6 May).
NASSCOM (2004b) ‘IT Software and Services Market’ http://www.nasscom.org/(Accessed 8 July 2004).
NASSCOM (2004c) ‘Indian Software and Service Exports’ http://www.nasscom.org/(Accessed 8 July 2004).
National Office of the Information Economy (2001) National E-Commerce Scoping Study: Insurance@Risk (Canberra).
Nighthawk Radiology Services (2004) ‘Meet our Team of Experienced Radiologists’ http://www.nighthawkrad.net/radiologists.htm (Accessed 18 May 2004).
Pacific Outsourcing Solutions http://www.pacificsolutions.com.au.
Patibandla, M. and Petersen, B. (2002) ‘Role of Transnational Corporations in the Case of a High-Tech Industry: The Case of India’s Software Industry’ World Development, 30(9), pp. 1561–77.
Patty, A. (2000) ‘Australia: Logging on for Free Visit to the Doctor’ Daily Telegraph, (21 March) p. 14.
Pollack, A. (2003) ‘Who’s Reading Your X-Ray’ The New York Times (16 November) p. 31.
Risen, C. (2004) ‘Missed Target’ The New Republic (2 February) p. 12.
Sinclair-Jones, J. (2000) ‘E-Medicine and E-Work: The New International Division of Medical Labour?’ Annual Review of Health Social Sciences, 10(1), pp. 19–30.
Singh, S. (2003) ‘Cracking a Matrix’ Businessworld, (15 September) http://www.businessworldindia.com/.
Sonwalkar, P. (2004) ‘UK Authorities prepare to counter India’s Call Centre Challenge’ Hindustan Times (11 January) http://www.hindustantimes.com/.
Stock, S. (2000) ‘AMA says Net Medicine puts Patients and Doctors at Risk’ The Australian (15 May), p. 5.
Subramanyam, R. (2003a) ‘Healthcare Sector finds BPO Pill a Heady Mix’ The Economic Times (28 July) http://economictimes.indiatimes.com.
Subramanyam, R. (2003b) ‘Healthcare BPO gets a Pep Pill’ The Economic Times (24 July) http://economictimes.indiatimes.com.
Syberscribe (2004) http://www.syberscribe.com.
Thomson, J. (2004) ‘Low Fat, High Profits’ Business Review Weekly (29 April), pp. 50–1.
US Dep’t of Health and Human Services (2004) Office for Civil Rights — HIPAA At http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/
Young, S. (2000) ‘Outsourcing: Lessons from the Literature’ Labour and Industry, 10(3), pp. 97–117.
Young, S. (2002) ‘Outsourcing and Downsizing: Processes of Workplace Change in Public Health’ The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 13(2), pp. 245–69.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2005 Contributors
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sinclair-Jones, J. (2005). E-health Services: Is the Future of Australia’s Health Service Work in Offshore Outsourcing?. In: Stanton, P., Willis, E., Young, S. (eds) Workplace Reform in the Healthcare Industry. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230596009_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230596009_14
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-51808-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-59600-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)