Travel Assurance: Why You Need a Network of Trusted Physicians for Your Traveling Patients

Consumers choose concierge medicine because we can provide them with the high level of specialized service and personalized care that they can’t expect anywhere else in medicine.

And today, travel is coming back in vogue for these patients. The steady increase in mobile, globetrotting patients means concierge and DPC practitioners need to build networks of trusted physicians around the country and the world in order to maintain the high level of care that members value.

Let’s take a look at the trend of patient travel and how travel assurance networks can help. How do these networks benefit both members and practitioners, and how is ROAMD working to connect physicians with a coast-to-coast trusted networking alliance?

Provide Peace of Mind for Patient Travel

The world in general has become more mobile, creating a constant tide of patient travel unlike ever before. And concierge practices are uniquely positioned to meet this need.

People are traveling for many reasons — leisure and recreation, work, family — and there are many different kinds of mobile patients. Technology increasingly enables professionals to work remotely or take extended trips. With pandemic restrictions relaxing, people are eager to get out and enjoy their time.

Today, patient travel doesn’t just involve an elite class of “private jet owners.” It can include anyone.

ROAMD and the wider ecosystem of concierge doctors serve a new generation of traveling patients who want medical peace of mind when they travel. They want to know they can receive a certain standard of medical care even if they’re away from home.

A significant number of ROAMD practices have members who don’t even live in their cities or states, but who travel to the practice area regularly. Today’s mobile world allows them to ask not which doctor is closest to home, but which doctor is the best fit for their needs.

For example, a person who lives in Texas but visits a family member regularly in Florida may find the perfect specialized physician there, outside their home state. They simply decide to do telemedicine the rest of the year. Notably, the recent evolution and near universal adoption of telemedicine has been nothing short of surreal; in this post, we’re focused on care that requires a touch while patients are elsewhere.

The details and particulars change, but the core concept remains the same: Patient travel is commonplace, and physicians need to extend and expand the reach of their practice.

What Is a Travel Assurance Network? (And How Does It Benefit Patients?)

A travel assurance network ensures your patients receive continuity of care even when they’re traveling. A travel assurance network is, simply, a linked group of like-minded physicians around the country that you can trust.

Trust is the operative word here.

We’re not talking about taking the word of a few Google reviews or testimonials. Just because someone calls themselves “concierge” or “world-class DPC” on their website doesn’t mean they’re qualified to provide personalized care for your members.

Instead, a travel assurance network contains only hand-picked, screened, approved, and vouched for physicians. These are physicians you trust to provide the same standard of bespoke care that you provide for your members at home.

Contrary to what some think, travel assurance networks don’t facilitate “hit and run” health care. Rather, they allow concierge practitioners to ensure that their patients don’t become mere numbers in a large medical complex when abroad. They provide members with a warm handoff to trusted physicians who know their situation and who can provide the continuity of care and experience the traveling patient desires on an episodic basis.

There’s simply no overstating the benefit of the peace of mind patients experience when they know they can receive personalized care when they’re away from home.

For example, one ROAMD practice’s patient recently moved to London for six months for work. She was worried about having access to the high-level health care she was used to while abroad, and talked with her physician about her fears. The Texas-based practice was able to put her in touch with a concierge clinic in the ROAMD travel assurance network for the duration of her stay abroad.

Even though she didn’t end up needing medical care, the patient reported having the network at her fingertips was a major source of peace of mind.

Services Travel Assurance Network Physicians Do and Don’t Provide

Travel assurance networks are ideal for traveling patients who have medical problems that can’t be handled through telehealth, but which aren’t serious enough for emergency care.

For example, one traveling oncology patient who was a member of a West Coast concierge practice found herself on the East Coast with a problem with her central venous line. Instead of sending her to a busy urgent care or crowded emergency room, her primary concierge physician was able to call a doctor in the ROAMD travel assurance network, explain her situation, and ask if the physician would be willing and able to assist her. He agreed and was able to provide the care she needed in a controlled and comfortable environment.

Or, in a more minor instance, consider a member who has just started a three-week work trip in a remote location. The patient suddenly has a lymph node that doesn’t feel right. She knows it likely isn’t anything major but would still like to get it checked rather than waiting until she returns home. By taking advantage of a travel assurance network, her physician can help her avoid urgent care and receive personalized care by a trusted doctor in the area.

For traveling patients, the biggest benefit is peace of mind just in case something happens. Being in a different city outside your usual comfort zone can be intimidating enough without worrying about how you’ll access health care services if you need them.

Network physicians always retain the freedom to not receive a patient if they don’t feel comfortable doing so. It may be the complexity of the case, the resources needed (e.g. radiology equipment), or any other circumstance that makes the receiving physician feel they cannot perform at their best for this patient. No network physician is ever required to see another physician’s patient; this cannot be overstated.

The network also isn’t meant to be used for annual exams, prescription refills (if they can be called in by a primary), or other kinds of routine care. And the network is never a stand-in for emergency or severe trauma care.

How a Travel Assurance Network Benefits Your Practice

The peace of mind goes both ways in travel assurance networks. Your members get it… and so do you.

You get the certainty of knowing your patients receive high-quality care year-round whether they’re at home or on the road. This is what concierge medicine is all about — a continuous, personalized relationship between doctor and patient.

One of the ROAMD doctors in Michigan described the winter exodus there, explaining that during the coldest months many of his members pack up and leave for warmer weather. They go all over, and he says it’s critical for him to have boots on the ground in other locations and venues. Not only is the physician able to maintain and grow his practice, his patients are also free to flee the snow and get the same standard of medical care.

While business and finances take a backseat to patient care, we’d be remiss not to mention how a travel assurance network helps with marketing, revenue, and brand reputation.

Being able to offer your members this level of security and personalized care for travel is a hugely marketable asset that can be promoted to help you bring in new revenue. How you offer your services is up to you. Some physicians only include travel assurance in their most expensive tiers, while others market it as what differentiates their practice from competitors.

A travel assurance network also provides you with peer support. It allows you to be independent, not alone^TM. It gives you the autonomy to run your practice the way you want but with the added strength of a network of partners you trust.

Tips for Building a Network

Building a travel assurance network requires many of the same considerations and decisions as building a concierge practice.

~ Be picky. You have to be strict with who you let in. Make sure they possess the professional qualities you’d want in a physician you were hiring, and articulate these qualities clearly. For example, ROAMD requires our network members to be part of a membership-based medical practice, and we run background checks to keep the integrity of our network high. To do this right, you must be willing to say “no” when the wrong-fit physicians want in.

~ Start small. Build a tight initial group of physicians you respect and can learn from. These are the best of the best — highly trusted physicians you aspire to be more like. Make sure every single doctor in that core group is someone you would trust with any of your patients.

~ Be strategic. Make sure your network is geographically useful. Carefully select physicians from states and cities that make strategic sense for your practice. For example, start with the biggest cities that you know are common destinations for many of your patients.

ROAMD Has Already Built a Network

In developing our “white glove” curated physicians community, ROAMD has already built a travel assurance network you can take advantage of. Our network is already rigorously vetted and extends throughout the United States and overseas.