Patients put their trust in a system of checks and balances that enable providers to safely perform healthcare procedures and administer services.
But around the globe, healthcare consistency can vary.
Perceptions of where quality care is available may be skewed. Uninformed choices can directly impact medical outcomes.
What are these checks and balances? How do they help ensure international travellers have the tools and information needed to receive quality care no matter the location?
Our team of intelligence analysts play a crucial role in collecting, analysing, and validating provider data.
This work is essential for aiding international brokers and clients in making more informed, evidence-based healthcare decisions that ultimately lead to better outcomes for international travellers and assignees.
Due diligence and provider credentialing
Healthcare often operates in a highly competitive and tightly regulated industry.
Conducting due diligence – detailed and holistic assessments of all known risks before engaging a third-party in the healthcare industry is critical, particularly when expanding into less familiar and high-risk territories.
Provider credentialing is just one of many diligences a carrier can employ. It consists of vetting providers’ backgrounds and current competency levels to ensure they are qualified to deliver services that meet international standards of care.
This applies not only to hospitals and clinics but to medical and emergency transport providers.
A medical evacuation, in any instance, adds another layer of risk to the patient and is often done when the local healthcare is deemed inappropriate or incapable of properly treating a patient’s condition, making them time sensitive to help ensure patient safety.
Our provider credentialing approach at UnitedHealthcare Global is holistic.
We use a tiered process that includes conducting in-house, rolling quality assessments to evaluate the consistency of services, capabilities, and outcomes.
This is where the value of having a holistic, clinically led provider assessment program for local clinics, hospitals and medical evacuation providers shines through.
It helps assure provider quality and member safety at the country, city and facility level. This also allows us to provide proactive resources and tools to help everyone involved make better decisions about healthcare.
In certain situations, a carrier can go so far as to conduct onsite clinical and logistics assessments. At UnitedHealthcare Global, we or one of our 30+ in-market physician advisers will physically visit the provider and verify their capabilities.
Physician advisers are practicing medical professionals who understand international standards of care as well as cultural competencies.
Their expertise provides us with solid data points to make sure that we don’t fail our members and evacuate them only when necessary.
Data collection and storage
Throughout the due diligence and provider credentialing process at UnitedHealthcare Global, healthcare intelligence experts validate provider information, checking for accuracy and legitimacy. The data gives us immediate access to information about local healthcare so members can be directed to a qualified facility that can offer the safest, most appropriate treatment for their condition.
Our data-driven approach ensures that we are objectively evaluating the quality of care, removing any unconscious bias or prejudice that could influence how we rate the quality of care for a country, city or facility.
A robust due diligence and provider credentialing program ensures that when local healthcare is appropriate, patients receive quality care where they are.
It also ensures that when local healthcare fails, the most appropriate medical evacuation transport partner, with the right medical services on-board, can be called in to assist.
About Helen Love
Helen Love is the vice president of networks and partnerships at UnitedHealthcare Global. With nearly three decades of experience in the international private medical insurance (IPMI) and assistance industry, she has extensive expertise in managing and developing international provider networks, with a focus on top-tier healthcare facilities and specialised treatments.