SAGICOR LIFE Introduces Telemedicine Claim Benefits in Trinidad and Tobago

Insurance giant Sagicor will be accepting telehealth service related medical claims in Trinidad and Tobago. Sagicor is piloting the service for three months and will introduce telehealth claim benefits for the 1st time to Sagicor clients. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) May 23, 2020 - Trinidad & Tobago - Insurance giant Sagicor has announced that they will be accepting telehealth service related medical claims in Trinidad and Tobago. Online platforms have been helping medical services stay functional during the current situation with COVID19 pandemic, and has made the concept of telehealth and telemedicine more acceptable in Trinidad and Tobago.

Sagicor is piloting the service for three months and will introduce telehealth claim benefits for the 1st time to Sagicor clients. Sagicor aims to help their clients through the challenging scenario COVID19 has created. Mr. Robert Trestrail, the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Sagicor said, "The offering is really designed to help us build our experience and support our clients in these difficult times of COVID".

Mr. Trestrail was remotely joined by Dr. Alexandra Ames who shed some light on the effectiveness of Telehealth services and explained the process she follows to decide which illness can be treated via telehealth and which ones need patients to physically visit the doctor's clinic. Dr. Ames said, "I think communication is extremely important and this(telehealth) is just another way of communicating. We are taught in medical school that 80% of diagnosis is the history". "I believe in listening to my patient and part of being able to listen is being able to increase access and I think that's what it does". She added, "I back my video consultations up with the fact that if in the course of the consultation either the patient or I realize that this is much more complicated than we initially thought, and I actually have to physically lay hands on the patient, then I bring the patient down at no extra cost to do that."

In his interview with Morning Edition, Mr. Trestrail said, "from a Sagicor perspective, we had the issue of telemedicine, we've been reviewing for many years. It's not a new factor in the field of medical service providers. It's been something you've seen on the international market for many years. In fact, when Dr. (Alexandra) Ames speaks, she's a great advocate for this (telemedicine) and really a pioneer in Trinidad, and she has been promoting this type of engagement for the past, I would say 2 or 3 years".

To initiate the project, Sagico has provided Dr. Ames and ten other medical practitioners with an online form for the claim. Once the medical examination is completed the medical practitioner will fill in the form and share it with the patient. In the next step, the patient will print and sign the form and email it to Sagico along with the receipt. In case the patient does not have necessary technical support required to complete this step, Sagico will process the claim in good faith based on the form submitted by the medical practitioner.
Source: Morning Edition

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