Medical Sector Outsourcing Expertise – with Nicole Barrish of ISTA Solutions

In this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, Derek speaks with Nicole Barrish, Director of Operations at ISTA Solutions. ISTA provides offshore staffing solutions, but they have a large focus on medical clients. 

Nicole dives a bit deep into the healthcare side of outsourcing, as well as how ISTA Solutions is preparing to incorporate new technologies. 

ISTA Solutions

Nicole introduces ISTA Solutions. 

“We are an outsourcing [company] and call center. We service mostly clients within healthcare. Not all, but most. [We] do all kinds of different back-office and customer service-related tasks.

We really work like an extension of our clients’ offices. So it’s their workflow, their processes. But what we offer is a lot of management.”  

Between South Africa and the Philippines, ISTA Solutions has over 1600 employees. Meanwhile, 90% of their clients are US-based. 

She describes how tasks are assigned according to the specializations of both locations. 

“We’re using [South Africa] as more of an ancillary service to our Philippine operation. So clients that focus a little bit more on English skills in customer service. 

For the Philippines, you have the regular data entry, regular customer service-type of stuff that they can do. And they do great, and we do good work there.” 

AI and automation in outsourcing 

On the topic of AI, Nicole says “It’s the big word these days. It’s definitely the future.”

However, like many of who have already extensively experimented with the tool, she’s quick to point out its shortcoming. 

“It’s good, [but] it’s not there yet. It still does need a human component, somebody to look through it and make sure that what it spits out makes sense.” 

She doesn’t dismiss the technology, reiterating that it would be wiser to stay on the pulse. 

“Obviously, [we want] to stay ahead of the curve. And so it’s something that we constantly talk about. 

I have a whole position in my company called ‘Director of Innovation,’ and this is part of his job, to be researching and doing R&D and seeing the kinds of things that are out there that could benefit not just our clients, but ISTA also.” 

Nicole comments that it’s usually clients who try to initiate adoption of new tools. When this happens, ISTA tends to shift into a consulting role.

“If my client has a process or workflow set up that is not efficient or not good, [it] doesn’t benefit anybody. 

So this is something we’ve been doing since the beginning, this consultancy aspect. ‘Okay, this is your workflow, this is your process. Let’s make sure it makes sense.”   

Healthcare support operations

Nicole goes into detail about what she’s seen in regards to addressing healthcare staffing shortages. 

“Even post-COVID, the industry was pivoting towards ‘What can we do? It’s not even a matter of paying staff. I can’t find them. Where are they?’ 

And so we had some clients that turned towards technology and telehealth.” 

Additionally, ISTA has an “amazing virtual scribe program.” 

“We’ve definitely seen different enterprises, large and small, sort of try different things. And [the technology] is just amazing to me. To think that I can be in an office [or] in a room in a facility and there’s a nurse in the Philippines that’s helping to take care of me is incredible.” 

She’s hopeful that these types of methods will put a dent in the staffing problems. 

“I would imagine people will keep trying because the shortage is very real. And if technology can be a way to alleviate some of that and ultimately provide better patient care, I think a lot of companies out there [will] try to figure that out.” 

Feel free to check out ISTA Solutions’s website to learn more. If you’d like to get in touch with Nicole directly, you can reach her through her LinkedIn profile or email [email protected].  

For anything else you’d like to ask us, drop us a line at [email protected].