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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 Much Does It Cost to Hire a Medical Travel Facilitator?

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How much does it cost to hire a medical travel facilitator? This is a question that is worth bringing up on our blog to make things clear. It is also helpful to know what a medical facilitator does, and services it delivers.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to facilitate means to make things easier. A facilitator is someone who helps to bring about an outcome by providing indirect or unobtrusive assistance, guidance, or supervision. In the field of medical travel where there may be very many unknowns, the service for medical facilitator can be vital.

Your medical travel facilitator should provide these 4 very important services.

1. Listen and assess your medical needs and requirements.
2. Present you with medical facility choices as a result of thorough research of hospital/treatment center, its credentials, and credentials of its doctors. If you would like to talk to any of the treating specialists, it should be easily arranged via phone or video conference.
3. Take care of all the logistics of your medical appointments and travel plans as well as follow up arrangements when you are back at home. Ideally, the facilitator should visit each medical facility he/she works with to vet it personally. Health Vantis does this with each and every surgical center or hospital that we recommend to our clients.
4. Treat your personal and medical records with confidentiality and according to the rules of the province you reside in.

In addition, your medical travel professional should be able to assist with referrals for medical complications insurance, medical financing, travel insurance and medical escort services if such is needed or desired.

What does a service like this cost? In general, it is 10-15% of the cost of your medical procedure. If you are going for a second opinion or diagnostics, the fee may differ. If you have come across facilitators that do the work for you for “free”, please keep in mind that it is not really “free”. In our next week blog, we will talk about “free” medical facilitation services, what to watch for and who really ends up paying for the service.