Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insurance Company has announced that will pursue contracts with selected healthcare providers accredited by the Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program, an independent accrediting body that seeks to improve patient experience and care received by patients who travel for medical treatment.
 
Launched in September 2016, The GHA program complements existing national and international clinical accreditation programs. While these programs traditionally focus on the clinical aspects of care for the entire organisation, GHA conducts a deep review of the International or Global Patient Services program, or the entity within an organisation that serves the medical travel patient.

GHA currently has eight accredited facilities located in Croatia, Greece, Mexico, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the US.

Saudi Enaya offers private medical insurance and aims to provide affordable quality solutions to manage group and individual health risks.

Dr. Essam Masoud, Saudi Enaya's chief medical officer, said: "We are always looking for opportunities to offer our members better value through expanded access to high-quality physicians, facilities and care experience by utilising robust care insurance products. Including GHA accredited organisations in our network is good news for our members, as GHA validates that healthcare providers have policies and procedures in place designed to facilitate a high quality patient experience across the entire care continuum including those important touch points that occur before the patient arrives at the hospital and after he or she is discharged. This collaboration with GHA aligns well with our ultimate goal to enhance the patient experience, improve health outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs."

Karen Timmons, chief executive officer of the Global Healthcare Accreditation Program, stated: "Medical travel or medical tourism, as it is also known, can be intimidating for patients. There are travel details to be arranged in the midst of managing an illness or medical condition. Patients are often not familiar with the new environment and may feel disoriented and confused due to language and cultural barriers. GHA helps travelling patients navigate an incredibly complex system by validating quality across the medical travel care continuum and by ensuring that the healthcare provider has instituted processes that are customised to the medical travellers' unique needs. We are pleased to collaborate with Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insurance Company in support of the medical travel patient and we applaud its commitment to provide its members with access to healthcare solutions that prioritise the patient experience for medical travellers." - TradeArabia News Service