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What Should You Ask Your Medical Facilitator?

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In last week’s blog we discussed the value a Medical Facilitator can bring to you. If you have decided to hire one, you probably have more questions to ask that pertain to you and your safety. Having trust in your Medical Facilitator is one of the most important things required. They are there to assist you in your journey and make sure it is a well thought out plan.  This is to assure the decision you made was the right one for you. Here are 5 questions we feel you should ask to extend more trust in your decision.

  1. Is the facility you will be sending me to an accredited hospital?

    In the U.S., Canada, Australia and Western Europe it is standard practice that hospitals are expected to acquire accreditation in order to operate.  That is not the case for many international facilities. Inspection on the quality of care, infection control, medical and nursing credentials including training, patient rights, medication management, environment of care, education and ethical standards are items measured.This is so the hospital follows minimum standards for your protection that will reduce chances of infection, staffing error or negligence. The most well known accreditation organizations are: Joint Commission International (JCI) *This is probably the one most recognized International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) Healthcare Quality Association on Accreditation (HQAA) Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) The United Kingdom Accreditation Forum (UKAF) Australian Council for Healthcare Standards International (ACHSI) Trent Accreditation Scheme (U.K., Europe, Hong Kong, Philippines and Malta) If a hospital does not have the appropriate world wide recognized accreditation, you might want to keep shopping.

  2. Have you been to the facility you are sending me to?

    Deciding to travel for medical care is stressful in itself. You want assurance the facility is reputable, clean and safe. A good Medical Facilitator will have been to the facility themselves to do an onsite inspection. This due diligence is for your safety. Believe it or not but we have been to facilities that looked great on their websites.  After visiting them, we chose not to send our clients there for various reasons such as cleanliness, surrounding location and lost government funding due to poor quality.

  3. What Is Your Fee?

    When going to a facility within Canada or the U.S., you can be certain that the facilitator will not receive payment from the hospital or facility. That would be unethical and not in your best interest. You want to go somewhere that is going to benefit your needs, not the Medical Facilitators pocket. An industry standard is 10-15% of the cost of your procedure or surgery. Companies such as ours will cap the fee when the cost reaches a certain point.  Cancer treatment can be quite expensive. If the Medical Facilitators fee is low or free be wary.  It will be built in somewhere or they are being paid by the hospital to bring them patients.

  4. What happens if I have a complication?

    There are policies that can protect you from complications called ‘Complications Insurance’. This is different from a standard travel insurance policy. The standard travel policy will NOT cover you should you decide to travel for medical reasons. These policies will cover medical needs that arise while traveling not related to a pre-existing issue.

  5. Can I choose my doctor?

    Yes and No. If you have a preference or already have a doctor in mind, by all means, notify the Medical Facilitator of your wishes.  Most will be happy to accommodate. Many times the doctor will vary depending on which facility you choose, your needs and the doctor’s availability. All of our facilities review the client’s medical records and pair them with the doctor they feel would best suit their needs.

There are most likely more questions you will want to ask a Medical Facilitator because everyone has different needs and concerns. Health Vantis is always happy to answer any question you have. Contact us when you do have questions. That is what we are here for.

Health Vantis

www.healthvantis.ca

877-344-3544

info@healthvantis.com

How to Choose the Best Hospital For Your Surgery

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How to Choose the Best Hospital For Your Surgery

If your doctor determined that a surgery is necessary for you to get better, you are probably wondering where to have it done. With many options in medical travel care around the globe, how do you choose? In this blog, we will talk about some points to consider when searching for the best hospital to have a procedure done.

Like most people, you are probably looking to for a facility that has the best outcomes for the type of surgery you are seeking, offers quality care before, during and after the procedure and has comfortable amenities for recovery. We offer you some insights into what to look for and how to obtain the information needed.

Accreditations and Awards

First and foremost, ensure that a hospital of your choice is a reputable one. There are a few companies that offer hospital accreditations. The most known one is Joint Commission International (JCI), which is considered a gold standard in global healthcare. Other organizations such as Accreditation Canada and Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) provide for a way to tell that the facility has met the accredited body health care standards. Many good hospitals are also winners of various awards in excellent care. All this information can be found on the hospital’s website. Ensure you know what the accreditation and award organizations check and rate.

Important hospital statistics

The next step would be to look at a hospital infection, re-admission and mortality rates and compare it to a state, province or country average. This should also be available on the hospitals’ website. Some hospitals make it a point to tell their patients what they are doing about lowering those rates, which is an indicator of being proactive and caring about the outcomes.  Also, check with the states’ or provinces’ department of health. Many of them now require monitoring for serious reportable events or incidents (SRE/SRI) – preventable, adverse events that are unambiguous, and largely, if not entirely preventable, such as operating on a wrong body part, performing a wrong surgery and so on.

When researching a hospital, look for a number of surgeries performed a year for your particular type of surgery. It takes practice to become an expert and there is proficiency in numbers.   Ask the hospital if they have a floor for recovery and an operating room just for your type of surgery.  Nurse to patient ratio is also used to assess the quality and ease of access to pre- and post-surgery care.

Brand names vs smaller facilities

Famous names and large hospitals are not always the best for your type of procedure.  Smaller regional hospitals can do a better job at a better price. Smaller cities can be easier to access with less traffic, more parking and larger hospital rooms.  Many smaller independent surgical facilities employ surgeons that also operate at large brand-name hospitals.

Finding out the pros and cons of the different facilities can be time-consuming and confusing.  Health Vantis can do all the legwork for you and present you with 2-3 options so that you can focus on getting better.  Contact us for your free 1-hour consultation to learn more.

Health Vantis

www.healthvantis.ca

877-344-3544

info@healthvantis.com