The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is urging licensed nurses and graduates to seek employment in non-clinical yet medical-related job opportunities in the healthcare information management outsourcing industry.
?With the fast-growing and innovative trends and advancements in the healthcare industry, I encourage health professionals, nurses especially, to think out-of-the-box, beyond the traditional clinical jobs, and explore other emerging medical and health-related careers needed by our labor market today,? DOLE secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said.
The DOLE chief said that by 2016, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is projected to account for about 8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Citing a report from the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), Baldoz noted that the healthcare information-outsourcing sector of the BPO industry is considered one of the fast-growing sectors that offer over 100,000 medical-related jobs to nursing graduates.
Baldoz said the DOLE supports the implementation of the Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) Roadmap 2012-2016 that is expected to employ 1.3 million directly, and at least 3.2 million indirectly.
Under the roadmap, the industry specifically asks the government to implement the following policy and program interventions:
(a) enable structural changes, such as greater autonomy in curriculum design, to roll out talent interventions;
(b) expedite K-to-12 initiatives;
(c) enhance capacity in tertiary education;
(d) continue tax holidays; and
(e) align local ordinances with national laws.
It also proposes to fine-tune labor laws and practice to meet industry requirements; to create a department of Information and Communication Technology to provide greater status and autonomy; to build business process management-ready hard and soft infrastructure; and to scale up industry-academe research partnerships.
The Career Guides posted at the BLE website cites healthcare outsourcing careers such as medical transcriptionists; medical secretaries; medical coders and billers; medical assistants; medical representatives; and medical butlers that nursing graduates and jobseekers can consider as employment alternatives.
Nursing graduates may also apply as clinical research associates who monitor and administer health and safety protocols and related study training to assigned work sites.
The job requires the same skills with that of a nurse, including medical knowledge and skill in applying clinical regulatory requirements, i.e., Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines.
?If they are into clinical review and decision making, they may consider a career as a Clinical Appeals Specialist who abstracts clinically relevant facts documented in the patient?s medical record, reviews clinical cases, and responds to written medical appeals of patients and clients,? Baldoz said.
?I have emphasized, too, that workers in the said industry are not the ?common ?headset with microphone? type of worker in call centers, but those who process and analyze knowledge, information, and technical data,? she added.
The BLE Career Guides show that the healthcare outsourcing jobs have starting pays ranging from P14,000-P18,000 while clinical appeals specialists employed in the BPO industry receive basic pay of P20,000-P40,000.
The remunerations may even exceed depending on the hours of work, typing speed, and type of employment.
