Thepatients_prot

HEALTH TRAVEL
Free Choice of Doctor
National regulations and the global challenge
Selecting a doctor
It is the basic right in most, but not
all, European countries for a patient to
select a doctor according to their own
free will. The insurance companies or
cost bearers do not have the right to
recommend or direct patients to a particular
doctor or clinic.
The reality is quite different of
course, as the patient is not left alone
by his General Practitioner with the
statement: “Its completely up to you
where you want to go! Here is the
yellow book of hospitals for your cancer
treatment…!” The GP counsels
the patient on where and whom to be
treated by.
Selling the patient
This situation is a bit of a two sided
coin. There have been recent scandals
in Germany where the referral against
payments between doctors have been
brought to the government’s attention.
Doctors in Germany who send patients
to colleagues, in order to receive
financial compensation for the
referral, can lose their license from
the chamber and face a law suit. The
whole procedure is a criminal act and
many cases are currently under investigation.
The best part about a doctor to doctor
referral is that in more than 85%
of cases there is quality control: the
patient is helped to meet an informed
decision and guided to the best medical
solution available to them in their
particular area, irrespective of commercial
advantages. These days patients
often try and find out health
information through the internet. In
almost all the cases where a patient
uses the internet for their health information
there is one simple piece of
advice: “Go and talk to your doctor!”
A patient cannot decide which professional
therapy to choose—not even
when they are a doctor!
International healthcare opens new
dimensions but also highlights new
gaps in counseling quality. Many
print magazines and newspapers offer
to close these gaps. Some of them
even try to attract readers by coming
up with a list of the “100 best doctors
in town” or the “500 top physicians in
the country”. These reports are then
repeated on a yearly basis with the
names and addresses constantly
changing. One suspects that the flexibility
of these lists is not just down to
the the normal fluctuation of doctors
in towns. Meanwhile the periodical
appearance of such reports are not
taken very seriously by the readers.
Institutes that refer patients from
abroad to high quality destinations
often seem to love these gazettes as
they serve them with a quick and easy
reference of where to send their patients.
The informed patient
Treatment Abroad, a provider of
neutral patient information, offers
guidelines for patients on what to
check before making a decision. For a
patient the question of “where to go”
before they appoint a doctor is a very
Source: Haderer, Dealing with malpractice
important one. It is not simply a question
of “Who is the best doctor?”
They need to consider the answers to
a complex set of questions.
We have asked Keith Pollard from
Treatment Abroad, what he recommends
a patient should consider before
making their choice. He says:
“Making the right choice of clinic or
surgeon for a treatment abroad involves
asking questions. Lots of
them! The responses will help them
make the right decision. If one is not
happy with the answers or the clinic
even avoids answering specific questions:
go somewhere else…” “Our
checklists may offer you 50 questions
or more. We still regard this as by no
means an exhaustive list but it gives
the patient an idea of the sort of questions
to ask”, says Pollard. Detailed
check lists for various conditions can
be retrieved from Treatment Abroad /
Intuition directly.
Hints and Tips
The Treatment
- is there a waiting list to be seen?
- what policies do you run to reduce
risks?
- what is the teatment methodolgy?
The Doctor
- detailed profile and background?
- qualifications and trainings?
- member of which associations?
- can I speak to the doctor directly?
The Clinic
- accreditations?
- level of fluency in English/home
language
- post operative infection rate
- documentation system for surgeries?
Quality and Track Record
- success rates on medical outcomes?
- can I speak to past patient´s expe
riences?
- are there patient satisfaction records?
- complication rates?
If something goes wrong…
- backup facilities inhouse? ICU?
- what kind of malpractice insurance?
- complications are covered with the
price?
- guarantees for treatment/materials?
Cost and Paying Arrangements
- total cost proposal, what is included?
- payment methods? Paying upfront?
Source: www.treatmentabroad.com
UWE KLEIN
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