What key outpatient challenges does FastTrack solve for payers and patients?

Most people know that we are here to provide health risk management in the UK and Europe. It’s natural to focus on the high cost, high complexity cases where our team can help support the customer journey, at the same time as managing the financial exposure for the payer. Whether it’s a corporate or leisure traveller, someone with a private health insurance product, or someone travelling into the UK or Europe to get healthcare they cannot get at home – our European based team are here to help navigate the different healthcare systems.

However, it's not all about high cost, complicated cases. For more than 30 years we have been helping our clients with their high-volume, low-cost outpatient claims in Europe – we call this FastTrack.

FastTrack is our cashless outpatient service in Europe, which allows patients to seek the treatment they need without pre-approval and without having to pay out of pocket or seek reimbursement.

It’s a great solution for someone who is away from home, doesn’t want to spend their own funds on a doctor’s visit, and doesn’t have time to call their insurance company to get it pre-approved. Realistically, many people overseas (especially when they are on holiday) simply walk into an outpatient centre if they need emergency treatment, and don’t realise they have to pay for it. Therefore, from a patient perspective, it simplifies the whole process (no preapprovals, no out-of-pocket payment, no reimbursement claims, no delays).

For the insurer and their assistance and claims teams – it handles the simple cases and allows them to focus their efforts on the complex cases where their customers need specialist help and support.

For the medical provider, it gives them one point of contact who can interpret all the different policies and processes from multiple insurers worldwide.

Clients who have trialled implementing FastTrack on a particular product to see how it works, have generally expanded it to cover all their products

How does FastTrack streamline outpatient claims through technology?

These are high volume, low value claims – which means efficiency and a “light touch” is key. The medical providers have access to the FastTrack digital, multilingual form allowing them to notify us of the case in real-time, and the case is instantly visible in our claims system. This gives our clients immediate visibility into their claims and allows them to seamlessly integrate the data into their own systems.

Our claims adjudication allows the opportunity to review and approve or decline claims (i.e., this is not an open cheque book), and online payment portals improve the efficiency of payments and reconciliations.

We are always looking at ways to streamline the process – one example being the QR code we rolled out recently making it easier for either the patient or the medical provider to access the digital form.

In what ways does FastTrack help insurers control costs and boost transparency?

Aside from having immediate visibility into their outpatient claims exposure (i.e., no need to wait for the patient to come home and submit a claim), the FastTrack process also includes cost containment as an inbuilt part of the solution.

Our agreements and processes allow us to make significant savings on standard retail rates, meaning bottom line, measurable savings. It varies by country – but our clients can expect to achieve savings of more than 30%.

And of course, there are the “hidden” savings associated with having less assistance cases, less reimbursement cases, less provider calls, and less bank transactions to deal with.

Reporting is a key strength for Global Excel worldwide, and it’s no exception for FastTrack. Benchmarking, trending, real-time reporting, and in-depth analyses of results vs market are all things that help our clients to better understand the performance of their book of business.

What results and feedback has FastTrack received from providers and insurers?

The overall response is positive. Insurers really like the enhanced customer journey, the “loyalty” that this can build, the efficient process, the detailed reporting, and the bottom-line savings.

Clients who have trialled FastTrack on a particular product to see how it works, have generally expanded it to cover all of their products – which we think says it all.

While we work with the network to identify the clients and products that have the FastTrack benefit included, the biggest win is when our clients also encourage utilisation. Certain markets are used to simply “paying and claiming” – which means they are missing an opportunity to improve their customer's experience and save money at the same time. This is where working in collaboration is impactful.

Providers appreciate the responsiveness of Global Excel, the online tools that we have, the reduction in administrative costs for them, and the smooth payment processes.

FastTrack fits in nicely alongside other outpatient solutions (like telemedicine, or house calls) – giving customers a choice that suits them.

Medical providers have access to the FastTrack digital, multilingual form allowing them to notify us of the case in real-time

What’s next for FastTrack? Are there plans to expand its capabilities or reach into new markets?

The Global Excel medical network continues to expand to support the needs of its clients globally. For FastTrack, we focus on countries with high claims volumes in private facilities, where there is less “control” of costs. Travel patterns shift over the years, and currently we are seeing a big resurgence in travel to Egypt (where we have FastTrack), and of course Spain and Greece (also FastTrackcountries) are always at the top of our list. Last year, it was Turkey (also a FastTrack country) – so we continue to monitor and adjust accordingly.

Efficient, cashless, outpatient services are always in demand, and our technology combined with our local expertise and reputation allow us to continue to expand the areas in which we can offer this valueadded service.

While FastTrack was originally created to save money, it’s now the customer journey, data integration, and reporting that are driving growth.