Ahmedabad: With the business process outsourcing (BPO) boom on, the huge healthcare sector in the US is looking India-wards in a major way for networking solutions.

An example of this trend is the recent move of the Nasdaq-listed Quovadx, one of the fastest-growing software companies in the US, to tie up with the Infotech Network Group (ING), a 15-member Indian entity, in order to utilise the services of the latter in areas like healthcare, media, entertainment and government and financial sectors.

But the major focus is going to be on healthcare. "Healthcare in the US accounts for 16 per cent of the country's GDP [gross domestic product]. Around 2 per cent of the turnover from healthcare is spent on IT solutions sector. With over 1,000 health insurance companies, 6,000 hospitals and over 5 lakh doctors, the network to be connected is huge. Even if 1 per cent of those jobs is done in India, it will mean a lot to us. We are looking at India mainly for medical transcription, billing, coding and processing of claims," says to David Nevisky, executive vice-president (sales), Quovadx.

"ING will utilise the services of its 15 component companies to provide tailor-made solutions to various segments. With the Qoovadx platform, users will be assured of the best possible end-result," says Madhavan Pillai, chairman and CEO, ING.

It has been estimated that foreign companies save up to 50 per cent costs in coding, 40 per cent on medical transcription and 50 per cent in processing insurance claims if they are outsourced to other countries. And if the jobs are outsourced to India, the companies are also assured of good quality.

According to industry estimates, the size of the BPO market of the small- and medium-business segment in the US is in the region of $56 billion. "But only a paltry portion of around $ 200 million has been addressed by the Indian IT-enabled services companies and a major chunk is untapped," says Pillai. And ING, through its 15 affiliates, hopes to address the untapped potential.

Talking about the education sector and the possibilities of working in tandem with the US companies, ING officials say in the educational system, all it takes to get going is a networking of the database that universities already possess.

"It will take less than 10 minutes to validate or verify authenticity of certificates, thus saving time and money. Also, simple things like getting a driving licence made, collection of tax revenues and the like can be integrated in an very uncomplicated manner," says K R Tripathi, director (business development), ING.