Pointwest President Beng Coronel is HIMAP’s New President

Jig
February 10, 2016

Ma. Cristina “Beng” Coronel, President of Philippine IT-BPM firm Pointwest Technologies Corporation, is the new President of the Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (HIMAP). She was elected on 14 January 2016.

“This is a good way to make a difference in the industry we are in,” Ms. Coronel said. “The healthcare industry is one of the fastest growing sectors that provides huge opportunities for our country and people.”

Aside from her new role in the rapidly-growing Healthcare Information Management (HIM) industry of the Philippines, Ms. Coronel also sits in the Board of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), heading its Capability Development Committee since 2011. She served as PSIA President from 2008 – 2010.

Pointwest Technologies, the company that Ms. Coronel heads, is a leading 100% Filipino-owned company that provides IT and BPM services to top Fortune 100 and local business and organizations. The company has a large and growing business unit that handles Healthcare Information Management. One of the largest pharmacy benefits corporations in the United States is a client of Pointwest.

HIMAP was formerly known as the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc. (MTIAPI) and was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on 16 Oct. 2003. It was renamed as HIMOAP on August 2010, before rebranding as HIMAP in 2015. The organization serves the needs of local HIM organizations and promotes the country as destination-of-choice for healthcare information management outsourcing services.

Opportunities for Healthcare Outsourcing

The global healthcare outsourcing industry is a large and rapidly-expanding market that is expected to grow at a rate of 7.6 percent, compounded annually, from 2013. By 2018, the global healthcare IT industry is expected to reach $50.4 billion.

According to Healthcare IT News, the healthcare IT industry is “looking to the outsourcing model to enhance their focus on core business, reduce operational and maintenance costs, increase access to IT skilled and trained staff — further reducing hiring and training costs — share risk, and quickly implement new technologies.” Outsourcing is seen as a way to reduce the costs of healthcare as well as meet the demand for high-level care.

The Philippine HIM industry was known for the quality of its medical transcriptionists. Today, local players are exploring other areas of healthcare information management as the market expands, and is looking to provide higher-value services due to developments in the healthcare industry abroad.

Aside from its non-voice BPM services, Pointwest also designs digital tools for the industry. One of these is Easimed, a mobile application that helps users locate clinics, hospitals and medical professionals who honor one’s HMO provider. A browser-based version of Easimed was also recently-released by Pointwest Healthcare, giving HMO subscribers more choices on how to find the most convenient medical facility that recognized their HMO cards.

“When I introduced myself and our company before the HIMAP elections, I talked about our being both an IT and BPM company in Healthcare,” Ms. Coronel said, pointing to Pointwest’s experience in the Healthcare field. “We see where the industry is going and hopefully we can raise awareness of these emerging challenges as well as prepare the industry’s resources for the higher value services needed as we move forward.”