Europ Assistance steps up medical operations
Europ Assistance has invested in new technology to further enhance the efficiency of its medical operations department.
As part of a wider Group project, Europ Assistance has developed a seamless medical assistance booking system which has been adapted to its specific requirements to assist the process of securing resources in the areas of flights, air ambulance booking and hotel accommodation.
Air Ticketing is an internal service developed by Europ Assistance allowing staff to check the availability of scheduled, low cost and some charter airline flights. In addition it allows staff access to rates negotiated with the airline, book seats themselves and monitor budget. The system also caters for medical requirements such as emergency clearance and wheelchair assistance. Coordinators are also able to view seat maps on specific flights to see if for example they have enough room for a stretcher. Air Ticketing has been created by combining the expertise of KDS for a self booking tool and American Express for payments.
3AT, a new Europ Assistance “Auction Tool” increases the speed of securing an ambulance operator, by allowing coordinators to obtain immediate availability and repatriation quotation from its network of European Air Ambulance providers. With the introduction of the new system, one message can be sent to all main partners in the ambulance field online. These providers then respond within a fixed timeframe with a price, quote and availability. Europ Assistance can then choose the most suitable provider to carry out the service. This frees up valuable staff time to focus even more on customers, as previously medical staff had to fax each supplier and physically chase for a response.
An adapted version of HRS (Hotel Reservations Service) allows staff to book hotels worldwide at preferential rates for customers, medical escorts and staff. Additionally, as part of the commitment to customer service at Europ Assistance, even if a customer requires assistance outside of the terms of their insurance they can still benefit from reduced rates which can be booked on their behalf and charged to their card, thus saving them money and taking some of the worry and stress away from them.
Comments Adrian Lawrence, Operations Manager, Europ Assistance. “This investment in a seamless solution allows staff to speedily source and secure the services they require, thus freeing up more of their time to look after the customer and more serious cases. Key to this solution is that we are self reliant and can manage most functions in house enabling us to more closely control our requirements in order to deliver the best level of service to our customers.”
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