Choosing a medical travel facilitator: what NABH empanelment checks

01

What the scheme is

NABH describes its Medical Value Travel Facilitator programme as aimed at organisations facilitating healthcare access for international patients. Its programme page says the framework is meant to ensure that facilitators operate ethically, transparently and in coordination with accredited hospitals. The same page says the programme verifies procedures for documentation, patient handling, coordination and communication.

The second edition of the NABH standards sets this out in detail. It has seven sections and a checklist of 43 objective elements. The sections cover general information, patient assistance, management, staff, finance, quality improvement and information systems. The standards add a section on quality and patient safety goals that must be met regardless of the other elements.

02

Why the facilitator matters so much

This matters because the facilitator is often the first and only contact a patient abroad has with Indian care before arrival, so its honesty shapes every later step. The facilitator suggests the hospital. It quotes the cost. It may hold the patient's money and records. If any of that is done badly, the best surgical team in the country cannot repair the damage to trust.

It matters to India as well. India setting a written standard for the people who sell its care to the world is the kind of checkable promise that earns trust. A patient in another country cannot visit a facilitator's office. They can ask whether it meets a published standard and what that standard requires.

The facilitator is the first page of India a patient reads.

03

What the standard asks for, in plain terms

Several points in the NABH standards are worth knowing, because they turn into good questions.

- Hospital choice. The standards ask for written guidance on how a hospital is recommended, using criteria such as scope of services, cost, accreditation, city and support facilities. They also ask for a fair distribution principle, and say the patient may choose a hospital from the available options at any time during the screening process. - Charges. The standards say the facilitator shall share its service charges explicitly and transparently with all stakeholders before the assignment. - Payment. The standards say the facilitator must tell patients that cash payment for any services is not acceptable. - Follow-up. They ask for a plan for follow-up after the patient returns home, including liaison between the local doctor and the treating consultant when required. - Prices. They ask for standard package rates on the agency's website, including charges on account of complication, if any, and a detailed quotation that can include the cost for attendants. - Language. They ask whether staff speak the patient's language and whether translators are employed or outsourced, with a written agreement for outsourced ones. - Staffing. They require at least three full-time staff, and at least one person with knowledge and experience in healthcare, preferably a doctor. - Limits. They ask for written guidance on liabilities arising from the facilitation service and for a disclaimer policy, so the patient can see what the agency does not answer for. - Checks on itself. They ask for internal audits at least twice a year and a management review at least once a year.

04

What empanelment cannot tell you

Empanelment is an assessment of how an agency runs. It is not a judgement on any hospital's clinical results, and it is not a ranking. I would not treat an agency without it as unsafe by that fact alone. Some good agencies have not applied. Some patients travel without one.

It is also a point in time. A certificate shows the agency met the standard when it was assessed. NABH's programme page refers to renewal before the end of each certification cycle. Between assessments, the patient's own questions are the live check.

05

How I would vet a facilitator

I would ask any facilitator, empanelled or not, five questions and expect each answer in writing.

1. How do you choose which hospital to suggest to me, and can I choose another one? 2. What is your service charge, and who pays it, the hospital or me? 3. How will I pay, and to whom? 4. Who follows up with me after I return home, and how do they reach my treating doctor? 5. How do I make a complaint, and who reviews it?

A good agency answers all five without discomfort. A vague answer on charges or on hospital choice is the one I would weigh most heavily. Those are the two places where a patient's interest and an agency's income can pull apart.

For a referrer, such as a doctor abroad, the bar is higher. I would ask to see the written guidance itself, not a summary. The standard asks the agency to hold it, so it should exist.