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Hospitals, pharmacies and other clinical service providers have traditionally looked at themselves as transactional partners of medical schemes, but that relationship is changing dramatically. As independent hospitals become parts of larger health systems, they have improved their leverage as partners and have transcended the role of the straightforward purchaser. If schemes try to cultivate more robust partnerships with clinical service providers, consumers can ultimately reap the benefits.
Having a plan that recommends using networks can affect your day-to-day benefits and the medical aid cover you have at certain healthcare providers. A programme that requires you to use specific hospitals, pharmacies, doctors or specialists in a network makes it possible for medical schemes to have arrangements that allow a lower contribution.
Medshield has partnered with specific providers and networks to ensure that your healthcare expenses remain contained, that you are not liable for any unforeseen co-payments and that your disposable income does not shrink due to unplanned healthcare expenses.
We partner with our stakeholders to enable access to sustainable, affordable healthcare through innovative products and benefits. Apart from our robust pharmacy, chronic medicine DSP, and SmartCare pharmacy network, Medshield has built effective networks with a diverse offering of clinicians. SmartCare, in particular, is available on all Medshield plans and enables members to receive virtual care and remote monitoring from a Family Practitioner via two-way video consultation – all administered in the presence of registered nurses at SmartCare-enabled clinics.
Our Medshield family practitioner network has over 3,701 doctors across South Africa, supported by an additional 2,790 opticians and 2,630 in the dental network. This robust offering gives our members assurance of being covered by a wide range of clinicians in any area around the country. Our specialist network is well-supplied, including an oncology network (ICON) of over 335 specialist oncology doctors.
At Medshield, we believe in value-based care (shaped by the idea that when care channels are disjointed, there will be challenges in reaching excellent health outcomes), an exceptional experience for patients and providers, and lowering costs. It is why a partnership network is essential to us, as it means we can enable a quality continuum of care across the value chain. We select all our networks carefully with the best intention to provide quality care and affordability across a wide range of plans within the scheme. Members who use these intentionally selected care networks of hospitals and pharmacies receive coordinated care within one health system.