Abu Dhabi-based Gulf Capital has acquired a majority stake in Dubai-based Accumed Practice Management that provides billing services for healthcare providers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Accumed uses proprietary technology and processes to help public and private healthcare providers improve medical documentation, enhance billing cycles, optimise revenues and accelerate collections.

Gulf Capital says the firm is the first, and the largest, in the Middle East to offer revenue cycle management (RCM) services. It has managed more than nine million medical claims worth over AED4.1bn ($1.1bn) to date.

Accumed will continue to deliver its services under the current leadership after the acquisition and will be looking to expand its management team and add key executives to strengthen its operations.

The company is benefiting from the general growth in the healthcare market in the Middle East, the growing penetration of health insurance, maturing regulation and the growing outsourcing trend in the industry.

Gulf Capital expects the RCM industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 20 per cent in UAE and Saudi Arabia as hospitals shift increasingly toward outsourcing non-core activities and reimbursement standards are streamlined.

At present up to 95 per cent of all insurance claims in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are processed by in-house by healthcare providers. In more mature markets such as the US, up to 50 per cent of all insurance claims are outsourced to specialised RCM companies.