Medical Excellence is the preeminent coordinator and facilitator of high-quality care for international patients seeking the finest physicians and health care facilities in the United States. The cornerstone of our approach to health is preventive in nature; we believe that the best health and longevity outcomes are achieved by avoiding altogether the need for catastrophic care, particularly when our clients are distributed across the globe in the pursuit of business, personal, or other endeavors, far from our academic partners.

​

Nonetheless, we recognize that the nature of medical and surgical illness is unpredictable. Even those with the best and most regular access to primary and preventative care can experience unanticipated illness at any time and at any age, by virtue of injury, accident, or a medical event that arises without warning. This can be true despite having had access to the finest preventative care available. We further recognize the geographic constraints created by the “global mobility” of our members, and the often-limited health care infrastructure in many of the countries where ME members travel and reside. However, regular rigorous preventative medical services significantly de-risks the potential and severity of major illness.

​

The global mobility of affluent individuals creates another problem that Medical Excellence solves: The health care experiences of high-net-worth individuals – from common colds to orthopedic injuries to unexpected hospitalizations – is typically scattered across the globe, and generally in an uncoordinated fashion. Medical Excellence network physicians augment the care provided by your local doctor, American Physician and Medical Center, whether you are at home, in the United States for your annual evaluation, or traveling anywhere in the world. We do this by understanding, chronicling, and conveying your up-to-the-minute “big picture” health status to your Physician at Home, in the United States, or someone rendering care anywhere in the world. And precisely when it has a bearing on your immediate medical situation.

 

WHAT WE DO AND WHERE WE DO IT

​

When You’re In The United States…

​

Medical Excellence Physicians and Our Personal Health Advisors Help You and Your American Physicians Make the Most of Your Annual Assessment.

​

One of the recurring problems for international patients seeking direct care or episodic telephone advice from Medical Centers in America is that their medical histories, physical examination findings, tests, and other data from medical records is conveyed incompletely, inaccurately, or erroneously. One common scenario is that a patient travels to an American Hospital for care based on conditions diagnosed elsewhere in the world. Well in advance, the patient is scheduled to see a group of eminent academic physicians based on the information provided. When he or she arrives however, early evaluation indicates that the wrong consultants have been lined up. An orthopedist was scheduled for arthroscopy, when the patient’s arthritis is from lupus and needs a rheumatologist. A pulmonologist is arranged for breathlessness when quickly it is determined that the breathing problem is from a heart valve problem and not emphysema; the patient needs a cardiologist not a lung specialist. There are countless examples. We minimize these missteps in the following ways:

 

• Medical Excellence network physicians review your medical information, tests, and other data in close collaboration with physicians at our partner institutions to make sure your visit to their campus is utilized most efficiently. To travel extensively, only to find that the wrong consultants have been recruited to care for you is wasteful for everyone. Sometimes additional blood or other testing, done in your home country well in advance of your annual US visit, can clarify what needs to be done. Medical Excellence network physicians coordinate this activity.

​

• We make sure the information from your local physician is conveyed accurately to your American physicians. Prior to your visit, your Medical Excellence physician will also communicate with your homeland physician both to (1) understand your medical history in detail, and (2) determine if there are ways in which we can assist your primary care doctor in caring for you. For example, there may be highly specialized consultations not available locally that would assist your physician in helping you to keep well.

​

After each annual visit to the US, we convey the results to your local physician so that the plan of care devised for you can be most accurately followed. A plan to maintain health devised in the US cannot be maintained if your local physician does not understand what is being recommended or the local health care infrastructure cannot support it. For example, specific lifestyle and medication recommendations to lower heart attack or stroke risk cannot be followed if cholesterol lowering medications or obesity drugs are not available in your country or your doctor is unfamiliar with them. Medical Excellence physician work collaboratively with your local doctor to make resources available – pharmaceutical, educational or lifestyle – so that a plan of care can be followed. 

​

We eliminate language barriers in this process. Few American physicians speak multiple languages, and for your local physician who may not speak English, we have bilingual physicians and medical translators who facilitate. Note that it is not sufficient to simply have bilingual staff; Medical Excellence employs bilingual individuals who are also “medically literate”.

​

When You Are at home…

 

While at home, routine medical problems, such as respiratory infections, rashes, minor injuries and sprains, are most logically and efficiently handled by your local physician. However, should there be questions about the severity of a medical problem being handled locally, or if what at first appear to minor symptoms do not subside after consultation with local doctor, we stand ready to assist; Medical Excellence physicians have relationships with physicians and hospitals locally. Medical Excellence Network Physicians and Personal Health Advisors are On Call 24/7 to help with minor medical problems if you cannot reach your local physician. Perhaps you develop cold or flu symptoms while home and cannot locate your physician or you are in another city. Bilingual physicians are available to recommend a course of action.

​

Medical Excellence Network Physicians can recommend local medical resources in most major cities and communicate with them if your symptoms do not subside. We have developed relationships with local doctors, hospitals and clinics where you can be seen for a medical problem that is not subsiding. In the event that this must occur, Medical Excellence will tell you where to go, who to see, and convey information about your acute illness and your medical history to that physician, hospital or emergency room.

​

After the episode of illness resolves (either with or without the need to see a local provider) Medical Excellence physician document the events that transpired as part of your Medical Excellence record, and are convey them to both your American and local physician. After “the dust settles” and you recover from your illnesses, medical records from the treating provider and translated and become part of your Medical Excellence record. Your American and local physicians receive an email, fax, or phone call the next day (depending on the severity of the event); you receive a cc. If symptoms are still lingering, we coordinate with your US physician to create a plan of follow-up care, which may or may involve a return to the US.

​

Medical Excellence Physicians can coordinate care in non-emergent but more Serious Illness requiring Live Consultation or Second Opinion. Sometimes a medical illness may be detected while you are at home, requiring urgent, but not emergent treatment, preferably in the United States. Examples include discovery of a condition that requires surgery within a matter of days or weeks such as an elective biopsy, or the need for a definitive orthopedic procedure (e.g., shoulder or knee surgery) after an injury that has been stabilized. In some cases, it is possible to electronically forward clinical materials (e.g. X-ray images, laboratory results) in an attempt to arrive at a more accurate diagnosis, obviating the need to travel back to the United States for what may be a trivial problem. As always, Medical Excellence Partner Physicians coordinate with your medical and local physicians, as well as with specialists who are brought into consult wherever they are in the world. A major advantage of Medical Excellence's network of academic institutions is our ability to call upon any of these partners to provide highly specialized care for your condition. For example, while your annual physical exam might take place at partner institution

A, it is possible that the world’s preeminent physician authority on your condition is a faculty member at partner institution B. In that case, care can be arranged at the facility with the most expertise in your condition. For conditions that are equally well handled at all our partner institutions, Medical Excellence’s network permits the fastest access to definitive treatment at the most quickly accessible institution.

​

Regardless of institution, your personal medical record travels with you. Should things become serious, Medical Excellence can facilitate Medical Evacuation either to the US or the closest Medical Excellence Partner elsewhere in the world. Imagine you are in a motor vehicle accident in Montenegro and the local hospital’s trauma service cannot handle your injuries. Or perhaps you develop an eye infection on Kilimanjaro that no local ophthalmologist has experience with. In those situations, we will coordinate with all teams caring for you: Your primary local physician, your American Physician, and local providers “on the ground”, to determine if you should be moved within your country, somewhere else in Europe (where we have extensive contacts), or to the US. This is after a careful consideration of what is transpiring with you or a family member clinically, and how far you can safely travel, and what the nearest and best resource is for your problem. 

​

 

While Traveling Anywhere in the World... 

 

Medical Excellence Physicians Are Available for Phone Consultation for Minor Medical Problems or Ones That Might Be More Serious. What if you’re in a hotel in Dubai and have severe stomach issues? Or when a business trip to London and get chest pain? Perhaps you are on holiday in South Africa and one of your children suffers falls from a horse? What is the best place to get an X-ray? If a bone is broken, how close is the most competent orthopedist to set it?

​

Medical Excellence Network Physicians and Personal Health Advisors are at the ready.

 Your Personal Health Advisor is ready to offer advice as to how to proceed. In some cases, this may simply be prudent medical advice on what you can do yourself. In others, it may involve seeking one of our partner physicians at a local office, hospital, or emergency room with whom we have established relationships.

​

No matter what the treatment winds up being, your medical history is conveyed to the physicians caring for you. And as always, Medical Excellence physicians communicate what has transpired to both your American and local Physicians and enter the medical encounter in your Medical Excellence digital medical record.​

​

Medical Excellence Network Physicians can also assist when you are seriously injured or Ill away from home. Nothing is more frightening you or a family member becoming seriously ill or injured while traveling far from home. Medical Excellence has relationships with vetted providers throughout the world. Our on-duty Personal Health Advisors can field a call from you, your family, or the local emergency room when you’ve experienced a life-threatening illness. We can locate the closest and safest hospital where you can receive the most appropriate care. 

 

If You Need Medical Evacuation,

Medical Excellence Team can coordinate this. Medical Excellence can arrange medical evacuation should you become critically ill or injured beyond the medical capability of the country you’re visiting, undertaking such transportation is a serious medical decision that requires an up-to-the-moment understanding of your condition, and weighing the risk of medical evacuation versus the stability of your condition at the time evacuation is contemplated. Another major factor is the medical capabilities of the hospital and country where you are being treated. Again, Medical Excellence Partner Physicians can determine those capabilities and convey them to your American and local physician.

​

And Even Before You Travel…

​

Medical Excellence Physicians have up to the minute information about the health and political risks about your destination and can arrange appropriate vaccinations as well as offer specific travel advice to keep you well before you leave as well as while you’re away. 

​

Your Medical Excellence Membership includes travel medicine support. Not only does your Medical Excellence record include a complete list of your vaccinations, we know what diseases are endemic in different parts of the world and can make sure you do the right things to stay well before you leave. Some examples:

​

•    Worried about a specific type of hepatitis in Indonesia? Perhaps you are immune and don’t need a vaccination. 

•    What antibiotics should you bring along with you in case of traveler’s diarrhea in Central America? 

•    What part of Africa requires malaria prophylaxis? 

•    Is the blood supply safe in Mumbai if I need a transfusion? I have an anemia that requires this from time to time.

•    I may have been exposed to tuberculosis on a plane ride to London?  What do I do?

 

Medical Excellence has the answers – at a moment’s notice.