Historically, innovation has been a catalyst for change and for improving products and services. In today’s business world, the most successful organizations must continually innovate to achieve their target metrics and produce relevant solutions. In healthcare, these solutions are aimed at facilitating greater access to care, greater quality of care, and improved patient experience. Medical tourism, where patients travel from one region to another for high-quality and affordable medical care, currently offers this sought-after trifecta. Yet many organizations seeking to innovate in this space lack the knowledge, skills, and relationships to do so.
For healthcare facilitators, linking international patients to the right medical travel provider and ensuring a seamless patient care journey from departure to discharge requires an enormous amount of experience and collaboration. This requires working with the right transportation companies, hotels, and software developers and identifying healthcare providers that can meet the needs of the patient. Failing to anticipate the patient and companion's needs or potential risks at all touch points of the patient journey can lead to a negative patient experience or, even worse, possible safety concerns.
Similarly for healthcare providers serving medical travel patients, meeting the needs of the medical tourist requires a much more comprehensive approach that not only meets patients’ treatment needs but also effectively accommodates patients’ unique cultural preferences, language constraints, and travel needs among others. These touchpoints require a strong understanding of the nuanced needs of the medical traveler and then refining your business model and program to meet these needs.
Healthcare providers might have the best intentions but may not understand the dynamics of the medical travel space and the market reshaping and remodeling they may require to be a top-choice destination for traveling patients and other international payers. To bridge this gap, Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) has launched HealthStars EXCELerator, a solution designed to accelerate innovation and maximize a business’s opportunity for success in the global healthcare space. Achieving success in medical tourism is ultimately about providing value to the patient. Patients are not only seeking healthcare providers that can offer top-quality treatment services alone but also healthcare providers and facilitators that can deliver a seamless patient journey. Reaching this all-important goal requires an interplay of innovative ideas, technologies, and services across all industry stakeholders. The HealthStars EXCELerator program drives strong collaborations and provides mentors, collaborators, and partners who guide and support in order to strengthen and advance corporate goals.
HealthStars EXCELerator is driven by a team of industry experts and stakeholders that have a vast experience in medical tourism and possess a strong network of partners with unique expertise, experience, and relationships to help take your business or business concept to the next level.
“HealthStars EXCELerator is a great tool for startups, healthcare facilitators, tech companies, and healthcare providers, whose key roles in healthcare can be harnessed to achieve defined healthcare goals.” Said Bill Cook, Global Healthcare Accreditation’s (GHA) Director of Business Development and Marketing. “We support organizations at every stage of development - from the inception of the idea to business modeling and launch to growth strategies to support scaling the business of health.”
Tech startups, including GlobalDoc, are already leveraging this innovative program to rethink emergency medical care. GlobalDoc provides access to elite, experienced, and Board-Certified Emergency Medicine Physicians to offer emergency services for traditional tourists, as well as medical travelers. Prompt medical advice is provided virtually and if a patient’s symptoms require a more in-depth medical intervention, the physician will guide the patient as to exactly what steps to take and where to go. This essentially brings the ER doc to you at the touch of a button.
“We are excited and honored to have been chosen to participate in the launch of the GHA HealthStars EXCELerator. This program offers a tremendous amount of knowledge and resources for healthcare-related enterprises. Although we have just begun, we are already impressed by the caliber and sophistication of the mentors and industry thought leaders that have been introduced to us. Thank you GHA! In the future, we look forward to mentoring future EXCELerator participants," said Shay Singh, VP of Operations, GlobalDoc.
HealthStars EXCELerator is a six-month program that takes organizations through a series of steps to help them define clear business goals, set out strategies to achieve them, and learn innovative approaches to solving common problems in the healthcare business. For example, participants are guided through an assessment of their current business and revenue models and how these can be refined to reposition them for greater success. Further, organizations learn how to identify potential clients and partners, and build strategic relationships to boost their business models and ultimately provide better quality service and patient experience.
Overall, the benefits of HealthStars EXCELerator include helping businesses to develop:
- New revenue models
- New potential partnerships
- Access to mentors to open up new market opportunities
- Improved customer/client conversion
- Expanded knowledge of the medical travel markets
Healthcare is going through a major paradigm shift, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a great awakening and has made patients more aware of the inefficiencies and barriers in how healthcare is being delivered. Organizations that want to succeed in the medical tourism and global healthcare space must make innovative moves to ensure they are providing solutions that break down barriers and facilitate a safe and high-quality patient experience. Moreover, for businesses that want to attract and retain clients from around the world, the need for the right business model and strategic partnerships cannot be overemphasized, and these and more are what HealthStars EXCELerator offers.
