By Naimeh Tanha, Vice President Network Development & International Operations, Satori World Medical

Establishing a solid foundation for any healthcare network is essential for ensuring the best possible quality, consistency and patient outcomes for its members. However, it’s also extremely challenging.

This is especially true in the present era of healthcare regulations. Today’s U.S. payors are under tremendous regulatory pressure to effectively manage a broad network of direct and indirect contractual relationships in order to maintain a top-quality healthcare network.

Certainly building and maintaining a superior domestic healthcare network in the U.S. present their own set of challenges. Imagine what is then required to build and maintain a successful international healthcare network from the ground up?

In most cases, U.S. payors simply do not have the adequate required resources (time, expertise, and personnel) to create and maintain their own successful global healthcare network. That is one of the biggest reasons why more U.S. payors are not already offering a global healthcare program to their members, in light of the enormous cost savings and other key benefits that can be achieved through medical travel.

So then how do U.S. payors start taking advantage of and embracing global healthcare without sacrificing quality? The answer is by creating strategic partnerships with companies like Satori World Medical that solely specialize in global healthcare network development.

When pursuing a global healthcare network partnership, selecting the right global healthcare company is absolutely critical. At Satori World Medical, we go to great lengths to ensure that the following standards are met by all participating hospitals within the Satori Global Network™. They are also the key attributes that any excellent global healthcare network must possess.

• Compliance through contractual relationships: All hospitals in the network must meet the same regulatory and legal compliance requirements as the best U.S. hospitals.

• Accountability: All network hospitals and providers must be held accountable for their specific roles and responsibilities in the overall healthcare delivery process including financial performance and data gathering.

• Quality Assurance: Quality assurance entails ensuring that all aspects of network quality are continuously being met. A high-quality global healthcare network will only contract with hospitals that are accredited by Joint Commission International (JCI), have a full-time Chief Medical Officer, quality assurance programs and staff, as well as perform onsite due diligence visits to all hospitals in the network on a continual basis.

• Medical expertise: The global healthcare network should only contract with international hospitals that offer their leading physicians, nurses and medical staff. Specific credentials to look for are U.S. /U.K. or equivalently trained and Board Certified physicians, registered nurses and medical staff that are fully fluent in English and trained to cater specifically to U.S. patients. All to be substantiated through a robust and transparent credentialing program.

• Continuity of care: The global health care partner must ensure that patient’s care will not be discontinued or interrupted regardless of circumstances outside of patient’s control while receiving health care services.

• Provider education: The global healthcare partner must also be readily available to help educate potential and existing healthcare providers in the network. Valuable ongoing training and expertise for all participating providers will ensure the most consistent and highest possible quality of care and services for patients.

Satori World Medical has created a global healthcare network that specifically addresses these core principles. As a result, we anticipate that over the next several years, the integration of medical travel programs among U.S. payors will only continue to grow.