Managed Care - March 2008 - (Page 44)
Aetna and Hannaford Make A Singapore Connection Some insurers are taking tentative steps toward developing global provider networks for corporate clients By John Carroll Contributing Editor that could be hard to pass up. Now, any one of them who needs it can get a hip replacement in that city-state, halfway around the world, and Hannaford will cover the entire $8,000 tab — including travel for the patient and spouse — to make it worthwhile for employees to choose the foreign adventure. For Hayes, who began researching medical tourism at the beginning of last year and had the program running less than a year later with Aetna’s help, this is just the first step; more overseas procedures are likely to be added. But he is adamant that this new strategy isn’t just about saving thousands PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF AMBERG U ntil this year, the 27,000 people working for the Hannaford Bros. supermarket chain were on the hook for several thousand dollars in coinsurance if they needed a costly hip replacement. Yet the company was responsible for the lion’s share of the total bill — about $40,000. But after he toured Singapore’s National University Hospital last year, Hannaford health benefits strategist Peter Hayes offered workers a deal A host of services, such as orthopedic surgery, can be handled abroad economically, says David Boucher, once the CEO of a hospital, who set up a global provider network for BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. 44 MANAGED CARE / MARCH 2008
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