With patient care and safety emerging as a major concern, a US/UK healthcare company plans to launch a certification service for hospitals in India in early 2011. KEMP Healthcare Ltd plans to launch a Quality of Care certification service that will bring to a hospital evidence-based quality improvement measures that have been tried and tested in international healthcare systems as reliable processes. The company is targeting hospitals that are keen and committed to provide better care to their patients and want to build on their existing strengths to excel on the 5 stars of quality, safety, timeliness, effectiveness of care, and patient satisfaction. Appraisal of successful incorporation of these 5 stars by KEMP Healthcare would result in achievement of certification and the hospital could promote itself as a 'KEMP 5 Star Certified Hospital'.
The aim is to enable consumers of healthcare in India to make an informed decision when choosing hospital for themselves and their families. The company says it will give the hospitals additional credibility, confidence and visibility within an increasingly competitive market and claims to make them more attractive to foreign patients visiting India for medical tourism. KEMP Healthcare is a trans-Atlantic co-operation that brings US and UK healthcare expertise together, to provide evidence-based solutions to healthcare systems globally so as to improve efficiency and deliver quality. How a company that has no international track record in this sector, and with a name that means nothing to medical tourists or agencies, plans to compete with established international accreditors and persuade hospitals to use it instead, is an interesting question.
Mercury Healthcare
Mercury Healthcare of the USA has launched a UK subsidiary in London to help it develop in Europe and Commonwealth countries. It will provide training, consulting, and support services to the Central and Eastern European medical tourism markets and government agencies throughout the Commonwealth and the European Union. Mercury Healthcare is also a medical tourism agency with a network of hospitals and other healthcare providers in more than 25 countries, including more than 200 hospitals and over 15,000 doctors, dentists and allied health providers.
MedRetreat
With global growth and many newcomers attempting to enter the business, hospitals may find it hard to decide whether an agency is reputable and likely to bring it volumes of good business, or one just seeing the industry as a quick way to make money with little effort and no long term concern on whether patients or hospitals get what they want. Patrick Marsek, of MedRetreat, a US based medical tourism agency warns, "The best agencies have trained staff, industry experience, and proven processes that guarantee a safe and stress-free experience for medical travelers. Unfortunately, some may not possess the qualifications necessary to ensure a positive medical travel experience. To ensure that the medical tourism industry continues to flourish, overseas hospitals must take great care when choosing agencies as affiliates. A single patient mishap can effectively put an overseas medical provider out of the health tourism business for good. Even if a hospital has provided superior quality care, it may lose business if a medical tourist who is dissatisfied with the service speaks to the media about having a bad overseas experience. That there is no official accreditation agency to identify and evaluate quality standards for agencies makes it difficult for international hospitals to know which offer top quality.”
Marsek continues- “Until such an agency exists, all international hospitals should take the following five steps before agreeing to an affiliation with an agency for the purpose of attracting patients.
??? ?Develop an affiliation approval process.
??? ?Verify that the agency is a legitimate business in good standing.
??? ?Insist that the agent visit your hospital.
??? ?Ask them to disclose their processes and fee structure.
??? ?Determine the level of service the agency provides.
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