Overseeing your organization’s travel risk management policies and procedures can be a challenging task. In addition to managing your travelers’ well-being and complying with duty of care regulations, you may also be responsible for helping to limit your organization’s financial exposure. That’s why aligning your organization’s risk management and insurance initiatives can be an effective way to help streamline processes and further protect the interests of your travelers and your organization.
For example, consider a fairly common scenario, such as an individual who needs to visit a local doctor and fill a prescription. When a traveler is abroad, finding a credible, English-speaking physician in an unfamiliar location can be challenging. Furthermore, not all travelers have the means to pay out-of-pocket expenses for medical care. If forced to pay medical providers before receiving treatment, a traveler may find themselves in a stressful situation. So the question becomes: how can you help to avoid this type of situation in the first place?
To help answer this question, think about a typical scenario when managing international medical expenses:
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A traveler in need of medical care reaches out to their organization’s travel risk management provider for assistance in finding care and paying for it.
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The sponsoring organization chooses to authorize the medical expenses on behalf of the traveler in order to secure care.
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The travel risk management provider pays the medical provider on behalf of the sponsoring organization. Some travel risk management providers will charge an additional fee for this.
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The travel risk management provider bills the authorizing organization for the authorized medical expenses as well as any administrative fees.
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This is a sound process in terms of facilitating medical payments quickly on behalf of travelers. In many cases, organizations make the immediate decision to secure care and address any resulting administrative consequences later. But those consequences may creep up later to pose administrative challenges, such as:
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A traveler is required to submit a claim for reimbursement to their primary health insurance provider, and the process is out of their organization’s hands.
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The traveler receives reimbursement directly from their insurer and the authorizing or paying party does not receive payment.
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Some organizations do not have an administrative system in place to collect reimbursement from the traveler.
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Not all travelers have medical coverage for expenses incurred abroad.
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If your travel risk management or travel assistance company charges case fees, health insurance companies typically do not reimburse them and there is no way to budget for this.
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If you’re looking for a program that offers full integration of international medical insurance and your organization’s risk management program, On Call International can help. This integration not only offers financial protection to your travelers and to your organization, but also helps you respond quickly and efficiently to a wide variety of traveler needs. Having medical expense coverage, medical and travel assistance services, and claims administration through a single provider streamlines the entire process. After all, when payment is arranged by your travel risk management provider at the time of service and no financial authorizations or claim forms are required, the process couldn’t be much simpler!
Want to learn more about how your organization can integrate its international medical insurance and risk management solutions? Contact us today.
For over 25 years, On Call International has provided fully-customized travel risk management and global assistance services protecting millions of travelers, their families, and their organizations. Contact us today and watch our video to learn more. You can also stay in touch with On Call’s in-house risk management, travel health and security experts by signing up for our quarterly Travel Risk Management (TRM) newsletter.