Chennai, Dec. 6 Perot Systems has been selected by the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) to be its representative in South India.
Coding is a system used in medicine where only codes are the common language understood by service providers (hospitals) and payers (insurance companies). It is another KPO opportunity waiting to take off. For example, each disease and treatment given to it have a code for unambiguous communication between the hospital and the insurer.
AAPC is an education and credentialing association for medical coders. It provides certified credentials to medical coders in physician offices, hospitals and outpatient centres. Announcing this at a press conference here Mr T. Narasinga Rao, Senior Vice-President – Operations, Perot Systems (India), said as per the pact, the company is authorised to conduct exams for certified professional coders (CPC), certified professional coders-Hospital (CPC-H) and certified professional coders-Payer (CPC-P) credentials. Career option
“This would provide us opportunities not just to certify the coding specialists in the South India region, but also create alternative and meaningful career options for life-sciences graduates everywhere,” said Mr Shaji Ravi, Head-Account Management & Production, Perot Systems.
According to him, the company is also working with AAPC on an American rural coding initiative to serve coders in rural parts of the US. This would essentially mean that service providers with delivery centres in South India will be able to pursue new business opportunities in medical coding actively, he said.
According to Mr Rao, globally there are about 65,000 AAPC certified coders. Though there are about 500 to 700 coders in India, only 150-200 of them are certified by the AAPC. “As the US alone now requires at least another 40,000 coders, there is a great demand for certified coders at present,” he said.
Perot Systems plans to conduct its first exam in Chennai on December 8, for which “over 150 people have enrolled with us”, said Mr Rao. The company would conduct two exams a year. It expects at least 400 people would take up the exam next time. “We are also planning to conduct training programmes for aspirants as we proceed,” said Mr Ravi.
Source:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/12/07/stories/2007120756901200.htm
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