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Manipal starts BPO firm with American JV

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGALORE: Indian healthcare and education major, Manipal Group has formed a joint venture with Florida based Sonix Medical Resources to form a U.S. based BPO company focussing on the healthcare sector. Christened Omega Healthcare Management Services, it will have offshore BPO center in Bangalore called Manipal Omega Healthcare Management Services. Sonix is a provider of outpatient diagnostic and treatment services,

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"This BPO will provide services including medical billing, medical coding, transcription and tele radiology to both healthcare providers such as hospitals as well as healthcare service providers. The administrative functions account for $11 billion of the $ 1.5 trillion US healthcare industry," said Om Soni, Chairman of Sonix Medical Resources.

Independent of its group company Manipal Infocomm- provides outbound telemarketing services and employs 240 people, the newly formed company has 30 people and plans to add 20 more by another month with ambitions to ramp up close to 700 by the end of 2005. It has signed up with two clients, the billing services division of Sonix and Healthcare Management Partners of U.S.

"We have been operating a BPO provision for our 40 odd clients in the US where we employ around 300. We are rapidly expanding, looking to add 100 more within the year and maybe all of them will be in India," said Douglas Cassel, Chairman of Healthcare Management Partners. When asked about whether job functions from the US will be shifted, Cassel said that some will indeed be shifted and if everything works out right, he will look to move one third of the BPO work to India within a year’s time. He denied any job loss due to the same reiterating that people will be shifted to other functions as far as possible.

On investment, Soni said, "We will be initially investing $2 million for both the US and the Bangalore center and further add another $2 million in 2005. We are expecting revenues of Rs 15 crores in 2004-05."

(CyberMedia News Service)

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