Roland Hohmann, Regional General Manager, Asia, Bangkok and Bodil Fricke, General Manager, Oceania & Japan, Sydney“We operate through designated local teams who understand healthcare trends, as well as local markets and we direct patients toward the most efficient and cost-effective treatments,” says Bodil Fricke, General Manager, Euro-Center Sydney.
The company has 11 regional offices worldwide and 3 alarm centers offering round-the-clock medical assistance. Due to this global structure, customers can collaborate with just one organization while still receiving services worldwide.
Established in 1971, Euro-Center focused on enhancing travellers’ experiences and medical care through local assistance. Over the years, it has evolved from exclusively serving tourists and business travellers to offering medical assistance and claims handling to local, regional, and international health insurances and corporate customers.
A global medical provider network
Since its inception, Euro-Center has relied on its robust network of providers to assist travellers. As its focus shifted to servicing medical insurance, it proceeded to expand its network of local suppliers, doctors, and hospitals, ensuring seamless operations in locations also relevant for expatriates and the international private medical insurance (IPMI) markets.
Euro-Center stands out due to its continuous involvement of its regional in-house experts in case handling. This ensures that local customs, regulations, and health systems are understood and enables a strong relationship with its network of providers and local medical professionals. Furthermore, transparency towards customers in pricing, claims costs, achieved discounts, and active cost containment is a core value of the company and has been a driver into expanding in new markets.
Local cost containment
One of the primary roles of Euro-Center is to contain and control costs for its clients. Euro-Center is a global third-party administrator (TPA) and, as a consequence, its clients enjoy global access to a network that spans all countries and seamless case management throughout the medical process. Be it emergency assistance or ensuring that claims are managed, and the final bill is passed with discounts where applicable in a timely manner.
Their cashless provider network is proof of Euro-Center’s extensive network and capabilities. In high-tourism areas, this is widely available at local medical facilities. IPMI and business insurance policyholders receive comprehensive guidance on where they can go without having to pay themselves. Euro-Center also sets up ‘flash the card’ solutions, meaning that a policyholder’s medical bill will instantly be forwarded to the relevant local Euro-Center providing a fast and seamless solution for outpatient claims. Setting up a global cashless network does come with challenges and may not be possible in some locations. However, Euro-Center always endeavors to make tailor-made network where required and possible.
Contrary to common understanding, in other regions public healthcare can be more expensive than private healthcare and Euro-Center can steer to equally appropriate high quality private healthcare and thereby enable reduced claims costs for our customers/insurers.
Alternatively, there are countries in the Asia Pacific region such as Thailand and Singapore where private healthcare is prevalent and geared towards international patients. Here, administration and cost negotiation is easier, especially as Euro-Center is considered a local provider having local offices, the company’s medical teams closely manages cases and weighs advantages of utilizing public or semi-public providers for equal or better medical outcomes at a lower price.
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We operate through designated local teams who understand healthcare trends and direct patients toward the most efficient and cost-effective treatments
Euro-Center embodies two significant forms of cost control; cost containment and transparency of records towards clients, both complementary to each other. To efficiently contain costs, Euro-Center has a team of claim specialists including in-house doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals dedicated to keeping costs down. Active case monitoring, which directs policyholders to preferred facilities, medical and administrative invoice audits, price agreements, and high-cost case negotiations, all contribute to cost containment. Euro- Center does not accept any kickbacks from providers and keeps its records ethical and transparent, maintaining full transparency towards its stakeholders. This builds a strong client/provider relationship and eliminates unnecessary treatment, over-servicing, and over medicating.
Case illustration: Effective assistance in the Philippines
The efficiency with which Euro-Center dealt with an expatriate policyholder in Palawan, Philippines, demonstrates the effectiveness with which it operates as a TPA: The policyholder was admitted to a nearby hospital, where a local doctor treated him. The doctor from Euro-Center Bangkok’s in-house medical team held a telephone conference with the local doctor and confirmed that the patient had a fractured left shoulder. Due to its extensive local expertise, Euro-Center already had records of the hospital where the policyholder was being treated. This allowed Euro-Center to evaluate the situation quickly and ascertain to all parties that no expensive emergency medical evacuation by air ambulance was necessary. The expatriate was seamlessly admitted to the ICU, and after discharge, Euro-Center arranged a medical escort to their home in merely three days.
Local assistance – worldwide
As a leading medical assistance provider with a global presence, Euro-Center strives to excel in every facet that makes a company successful in the claims management sector. In over five decades of operation, it has established itself as a specialized force to be reckoned with in various fields, including local expertise, global contacts, medical assistance, reimbursement, disease detection, and treatment. Holding a strong international presence with regional offices in 12 countries, Euro-Center aspires to continue improving its market efficiency by collaborating with an expanding number of providers and customers.
