Bumrungrad International Hospital (BIH) (https://www.bumrungrad.com/en), a popular choice for traveling patients, located in Bangkok, Thailand, is the first hospital in the world to be awarded Global Healthcare Accreditation’s Certification of Conformance with COVID-19 Guidelines for Medical Travel Programs. The idea is to keep patients safe and redefine travel medicine in the time of COVID.
The Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program For Medical Travel Services issued the free Guidelines (https://www.globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/gha-covid-19-guidelines) in early July of this year to assist organizations in the medical tourism and health tourism industries seeking to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infection for both domestic and traveling patients and their companions. The guidelines are unique in that they focus on the entire care continuum, including providing guidance for travel, as well as interactions with the healthcare organization, hotel and ground transportation.
Ms. Artirat Charukitpipat, Bumrungrad’s Chief Executive Officer stated, “From the very start of the spread of the coronavirus, Bumrungrad moved quickly to implement internal, as well as national and international protocols and guidelines designed to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infection for patients and staff. While the pandemic continues to be an ongoing challenge, I am extremely proud of the work our entire team has done and continues to do to keep patients and staff safe. Achieving GHA’s Certification of Conformance with COVID-19 Guidelines for Medical Travel Programs is a very important step for us to help increase patient trust in our medical travel services and also to validate the work we are doing to keep medical travelers safe during this difficult time.”
The Certification of Conformance (https://www.globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/certification-of-conformance-with-gha-covid-19-guidelines-for-medical-travel-programs) for hospitals and ambulatory centers is a three-year Certification with annual reviews, which signals to medical travelers, referrers, and other payers that the organization has implemented the recommendations in the guidelines as a proactive risk mitigation strategy to ensure patient safety and wellbeing during and post-COVID-19.
According to Karen Timmons, Chief Executive Officer, Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA), “The COVID-19 Certification of Conformance provides a seal to patients, buyers and other key stakeholders demonstrating that a medical travel program’s operational protocols, practices and procedures have undergone an external review and reflect international best practices designed to keep traveling patients safe. One of the key objectives of the Certification of Conformance is to enhance transparency and encourage ongoing communications with patients, which is even more important during this challenging time, and which ultimately helps to increase patient trust in the organization. We congratulate Bumrungrad International Hospital as the first hospital in the world to achieve the GHA’s Certification of Conformance and for its unwavering commitment to patient safety.”
The Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program For Medical Travel Services Guidelines (https://www.globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/gha-covid-19-guidelines) are free and the Certification of Conformance (https://www.globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/certification-of-conformance-with-gha-covid-19-guidelines-for-medical-travel-programs) is a process that is accomplished virtually and usually within a three to six week period of time.
