best doctors employee brochure

8/12/2019 Best Doctors Employee Brochure

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With 125 years of looking after Australians,

were proud to be associated with Best Doctors,

available to clients with MLC Group SalaryContinuance insurance.

Were thrilled with the whole

Best Doctors service. Were still

going to the hospital every four

weeks. We sit on the day ward with

lots of other parents and weve told

everyone to change their insurance to

MLC so that they can get access to

Best Doctors.

Quote from a client who used the service.


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Best Doctors | 3

Medical information when you need it most

If you, or someone in your immediate family1, are

diagnosed with a medical condition, your primary

concern is always to get the best medical advice.

Having insurance can help provide financial

security, but we know the initial reaction at thisemotional time is to ask a number of

key questions:

Am I making the right decision

for my condition?

Is the diagnosis correct?

Is surgery the best option?

Are there any new medical options

out there we should consider?

Whats going to happen to me and my family?

To help you answer these questions, thanks to

MLC, you can speak to Best Doctors.

A unique specialist medical

information service

Best Doctors gives you, your par tner and

children, access to leading specialist

medical advice from around the world.

Theres no cost to you or your eligible

dependants for using this service.

MLC funds the cost of the exper t review,

including arranging for the collection and return

of all your relevant medical documentation.

It means you dont have to waste precious

time researching for leading specialists or

treatments (a Google search for Cancer,

for instance, reveals 741 million results, a

bewildering amount of information for anybody).

Best Doctors does it all for you.

MLC funds the cost of the expert

review while Best Doctors arranges

for the collection and return of all your

relevant medical documentation.

Please note:this doesnt cover the cost

of treatment or face-to-face consultations

with your treating doctors.

1

Family means you (as the insured), your spouse and yourdependent children.

From leading medical specialists from around the world.

I would definitely recommend

the Best Doctors service to

family and friends. To have

leading doctors in the world

reviewing your file is pretty

exceptional.

Client whose gastroenterologist

was amazed to discover that the

Best Doctors specialist was in

fact someone who he had studied

while in medical training.


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Best Doctors | 5

How the Best Doctors services work.

Best Doctors has already helped hundreds people in Australia with 96% of thosesaying they would recommend the service to family and friends.

Source: Best Doctors Quality Survey, August 2012.

How to access these services

Simply visit www.askbestdoctors.com/aus

InterConsultationTM

ConnectDiscuss condition withBest Doctors nurse.

Discuss condition withBest Doctors nurse.

Submit your question toa Best Doctors GP viathe member portal.

AnswerExpert report is sent toyou. Best Doctors nursecalls you to discuss thereports findings andoffer any further help.

Expert report is sentto you. If you needany further help youcan contact yourBest Doctors nurse.

GP answers the questionalong with supportinginformation and posts theresponse in your personalinbox. GP may suggest youcomplete with anInterConsultation or

AskTheExpert report.

AskTheExpert DocOnline

Investigate

If your case requires afull review of medicalrecords, Best Doctors willcollect all of your medicalrecords on your behalf andidentify key questions.

Medical history isreviewed by Best Doctorsmedical team and, ifappropriate, pathology willbe retested at a renownedpathology centre.

All relevant medicalinformation is then sent

to leading specialist(s) toanalyse the diagnosis andbest treatment options,as well as answeringyour questions.

If youre looking for fast

answers to questionsthat dont require a fullreview of your records,we collect basic healthhistory, details of yourcondition and then helpyou identify key questions.

Medical info andquestions are sent to aleading specialist who willanswer all questions.

Process takes 57 days. Process takes 48 hours.Process takes 1520

days after receiving yourmedical records.


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6 | Best Doctors Best Doctors | 6

FindBestCare

The Best Doctors service is fantastic: it gave me so much confidence. It reallyshows the value of using more than one medical team.

Best Doctors found this client a surgeon in America who had the necessary expertise.

Best Doctors understood our case right away. Their professionalism andaccuracy, as well as their human touch are unquestionable and they have beenessential to find a solution to such a complex case.

Best Doctors arranged ground-breaking surgery in America in bone reconstruction for

this client.

coordinating all the necessary information

with the medical specialists involved

continually monitoring the treatment process

to make sure the medical priorities are met

helping with the hospital admittance

process and medical appointments

arranging travel details, and helping with

reservations and accommodation, and

ongoing support and information for

your employee and their family members

during the treatment process.

Although Best Doctors arrange all these details

for you, youll need to pay the costs for medical

services, travel, accommodation and any otherassociated costs.

Going through medical treatment is a stressful

time, but having to do it away from home

presents a range of difficulties. Best Doctors

helps reduce the stress so you can concentrate

on getting well again.

FindBestCare, through MLC, helps you access

the optimum medical care in the world.

For the medical support you may need overseas.

If Best Doctors suggest an overseas treatment option during an InterConsultation,

then youll have the option of using this ser vice which includes:

Please do not act on this information alone.

You should always consult with your doctor for

medical advice.


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Best Doctors | 7

Accessing leading medical minds

Best Doctors was founded by doctors from the

Harvard Medical School in 1989 and has been so

successful its now in 30 countries, including the

US, UK, Canada and now Australia through MLC.

The foundation of Best Doctors success is

its unique network of 50,000 peer-nominated,

leading specialists from around the globe.

This network covers 40 specialities and over

400 sub-specialities and its the ability to

leverage these leading medical minds that

provides patients with the confidence to move

forward and tackle their condition.

The end result could change a life.

MLC has arranged for these great services to be

available for you and your family.

Best Doctors was founded by doctors from the Harvard Medical School in

1989 and has been so successful its now in 30 countries, including the

US, UK, Canada and now Australia through MLC.


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An Australian medical opinion

I want everyone connected to

Best Doctors to know how much

comfort I got from their work.

Quote from an Australian client who

used the service.

Through MLC and Best Doctors, Australians

now have the opportunity to access a

leading specialist to obtain additional

medical advice for their own information

or to share with their treating doctors and

feel more confident in the difficult choices

they face with their ongoing care.

There is increasing evidence that second-

opinion consultations provide benefits

to both patients and treating doctors.

In par ticular, patients report they received

new information at the second consultation in

relation to treatment options and prognosis,

resulting in improved satisfaction with the

level of communication and confidence

in making treatment decisions.

Dr John Aloizos,AM, MBBS, FRACGP, FAICDLeading Australian General Practitioner


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Best Doctors | 9

Best Doctors in real life

AlexisAlexis was born with

severe cardiac defects. By

six weeks she had developed

signs of respiratory distress,

congestive hear t failure, poor

oral intake and failure to thrive.

The family was told there was

nothing that could be done,and Alexis would soon die.

Hospice care, high doses

of morphine and cardiac

medications were star ted.

To Alexis parents it seemed

as if all their options had

been exhausted until

Alexis mother called Best

Doctors and they completedan InterConsultation.

The Best Doctors team

connected Alexis and her

treating physician with one

of the worlds top Paediatric

Cardiac Surgeons, chosen

from the Best Doctors global

network of 50,000 specialists.

The Best Doctors assigned

specialist recommended

a pioneering surgery

that would not only save

Alexis life, but also offer

her full life-expectancy.

A few weeks later, after

the complex surgery was

successfully completed, Alexis

heart worked per fectly and

she now lives a normal life.

Our baby is alive, her

little heart is fixed. Alexis

is playing with her older

brother, laughing and has

no more pain. Our family is

overwhelmed with joy. Thank

you, thank you Best Doctors.

The information contained in this casestudy is based on a real life case.

However, in order to preserve theprivacy of the patient, their personaldetails have been removed.

Jodieis married to Davidand they have a baby

son called Bailey.

Shortly after he was born

he got a red blemish on the

side of his head. They saw a

paediatrician who diagnosedit as a strawberr y birthmark.

They were told it would grow

a little bit, usually last for

maybe two to three years

and then disappear. And they

were advised there were no

treatment options available.

One day David checked on

Bailey who started to cry. Jodie

was shocked to see that he

was lying in a pool of blood.

Obviously, it was very

traumatic for them.

They heard of the Best

Doctors service through their

MLC insurance and decided

to engage their services.

When they got the Best

Doctors report it was

very professional, all thequestions that Jodie had

asked were answered.

The most satisfying thing

was that they had given

recommendations for

surgeons in Australia as well

as overseas. It gave Jodie

and David the confidence

to actually proceed with the

surgical treatment option.

Bailey is doing really well now

after his operation and has

made a speedy recovery. Hell

only have a little scar which,

in time, will be covered by hair

and he can do all the things

in life that all children do.

Jodie said, Thanks to

Best Doctors for giving us

confidence and allowing

us to seek the treatment

we received. Were reallyappreciative of the great

service they offer.

Following are some case studies based on real examples of where

Best Doctors made a difference.


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Best Doctors in real life(continued)

A 25-year-old man

from rural NSW

noticed a small

wart-like swelling

on his scalp that

would bleed from

minor events such

as a knock oreven a haircut.

It was diagnosed

by his local

specialist

as a malignant tumour known as eccrine

porocarcinoma which occurs in the sweat gland.

This is one of the rarest forms of skin cancer,

therefore knowledge and experience of working

with such a condition can be minimal.

Due to his rural location, and the rare nature

of this condition, he was slightly hesitant

and unsure about the proposed next step.

His local specialist was recommending

some investigative surgery known as

a wide excision to better understand

how aggressive the tumour was.

But this was invasive surgery that involved

the removal of two centimetres of skin

from the periphery of the tumour.

The patient needed to better understand

this condition and he also needed to be

sure that this was the right next step.

He also needed this information quickly as thesurgery was booked in for a for tnight later.

So he turned to Best Doctors who identified

a leading specialist on this type of cancer.

The specialist provided the patient with

the information and, more importantly,

assurance that a wide excision was

absolutely the right next step.

The patient went through with the surgery

and, after being given the next steps, he once

again turned to Best Doctors to under take anInterConsultation as he was no longer under

the time pressure to decide on the surgery.

The information contained in these case studies is based on reallife cases and is published with the permission of the clients.

Ive already recommended this

service to some of my work

colleagues.

Comment from one of the people

surveyed by Best Doctors.

An AskTheExpert true case study.


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Best Doctors | 11

Leadingspecialists

Medicaladviceabout

seriousconditions

Availableforimmedi

ate

family

What do people whove used BestDoctors think of it?

Some graphs from the regular quality survey by Best Doctors, with

MLC clients who have used the services, provide the best answer.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

73%

23%

5%

ValuableVery valuable Not valuable at all

Did the report respond to all of the

questions you raised with Best Doctors?

How valuable was the medical information provided to you by Best Doctors?

Do you intend to tell your friends

and family about Best Doctors?

94% Yes

6% No

96% Yes

4% No

Source:Best Doctors, Quality Survey Results, August 2012.


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12 | Best Doctors

Do you have a question?

What is Best Doctors?

Best Doctors is a company that connects you

and your family1with leading specialists to

provide medical advice regarding an illness,

without having to leave home.

Using a global network of over 50,000 leading

medical specialists (who have been nominated

by their peers), Best Doctors provides you with

comfort and reassurance when:

you may want to be sure about the condition

you suffer from

you may feel you need help deciding between

the various treatment options available,

especially at this stressful time

you may wonder whether you really

need surgery

you may feel sceptical or confused afteraccessing information from multiple sources

(for example, look up breast cancer online and

youre likely to find 34 million pages

of information)

you may not understand their diagnosis, or

you may question why the symptoms dont

seem to be improving.

The use of Best Doctors is entirely your choice

and is optional.

Who can use this service?

The Best Doctors medical advice service is only

available to members of the MLC Group Salary

Continuance scheme, their spouses and any

dependent children.

Which illnesses does InterConsultation

and AskTheExpert deal with?

Best Doctors will arrange leading specialist

medical advice about serious medical conditions

such as cancer, stroke and any other conditions

causing the member major discomfort or

disruption to a healthy and productive life.

The illness doesnt need to be a claimable

condition under your MLC Salary Continuation

scheme.

Please note:InterConsultations and AskTheExpert wontbe able to deal with acute care (emergency room) cases,pregnancy and mental health conditions.

Do employees need to make a claim to

use the service?

Eligible MLC clients can voluntarily access this

service regardless of whether theyve submitteda claim or the status of that claim.

Are there any costs associated with

the service?

MLC has paid for your access to this medical

advice service as part of the MLC Salary

Continuation insurance arrangement you have

with your employer.

Best Doctors doesnt employ doctors, but calls

on the appropriate specialist in their network to

review on cases in their area of expertise.

When one of these specialists par ticipates,

he/she is paid a consulting fee by Best Doctors

there is no charge to you or your family for

this process.

However, when accessing the ser vice, you may

have to pay for faxing or mailing any completed

information and consent forms to Best Doctors.

Doctors arent paid to be listed in the Best

Doctors network, nor does Best Doctors acceptpayments from doctors to include them in the

network.


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Best Doctors | 13

Will my local doctor/s be familiar with

Best Doctors?

Yes, they should be. Best Doctors has formed

an Australian-based Medical Advisory Board.

One role of this Board is to help educate

doctors, at a local level, about Best Doctors.

From an operational perspective, Best Doctorscollects medical records, diagnostic tests and

pathology through departments of the hospital

where you or a family member has been treated.

If Best Doctors needs to approach your doctor

to request your medical records, they will fully

explain the service.

Best Doctors will also have to show they have

your permission to collect medical records, and

the reason/s for doing so.

Over the past 20 years, Best Doctors has

established itself in 30 countries worldwide

and has experienced acceptance with treating

physicians in about 98% of their cases.

How can Best Doctors help

local doctors?

These days, its vir tually impossible for

any doctor to stay informed of the evolving

techniques, medications and treatments for

every medical condition.

As a result of sharing your Best Doctors report

with your treating doctor/s (and with your

permission), leading medical specialists may

provide them with valuable insights.

These may be regarding complicated medical

conditions, and additional information on

innovative diagnostic and treatment protocols

that might not be readily available.

What personal information is provided to

MLC if I use the Best Doctors service?

MLC has arranged for Best Doctors to provide

you with this exclusive medical advice ser vice.

Rest assured your privacy is fully protected.

MLC will not receive a copy of the report or

question from Best Doctors.

Nor will we accept your InterConsultation

report in support of a claim.

Best Doctors will not share the names of

participants with MLC.

We will not ask you for a copy of the Best

Doctors report.

If a copy of a Best Doctors report is received

by us, it will be promptly returned to the

sender.

If received, a copy of a Best Doctors report

will not be retained on MLCs system.

The report wont be shared with your local

treating doctor, unless you choose to do so.

However, your local treating specialist

(with your permission) may use information

from the Best Doctors report when

submitting medical information to MLC.

Will the Best Doctors service affect an

insurance claim?

Best Doctors will not share their findings

with MLC and your use of the service wont

affect the assessment of a claim.

The Best Doctors report cant be used to

support a claim with us; nor will we ask for a

Best Doctors report in connection with a claim.

However, your treating specialist may,

with your consent, share information from

the Best Doctors report with MLC.

Please note: MLC reserves the right to withdraw the service orchange the terma under which its provided.

1 Family means you (as the insured), your spouse and anydependent children.


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14 | Best Doctors

If you have any further questions please

either visit mlc.com.au/bestdoctorsonline

or call Best Doctors on 1800 388 097,

visit www.askbestdoctors.com/aus ,

or contact your HR department.


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Important information

Best Doctors isnt insurance (including health

insurance) and it doesnt replace your relationship

with your current doctor or medical specialist.

Information about the history of Best Doctors and

choice of specialists was sourced from Best Doctors.

Copyright 1998-2011 Best Doctors. All Rights

Reserved. Best Doctors, the star-in-cross

logo and InterConsultation are trademarks or

registered trademarks of Best Doctors in the

European Community, the United States and in

other countries and are used under license.

This brochure has been prepared by MLC and

is intended to provide general information

only, without taking into account any persons

objectives, financial situation or needs.

MLC Limited (ABN 90 000 000 402,

AFSL 230694) of 105-153 Miller Street,

North Sydney, NSW 2060, a member of the National

Australia Group of companies, is the issuer of MLC

Group Salary Continuance (Income Protection).

An MLC Group Salary Continuance policy

does not represent a deposit with, or a

liability of, National Australia Bank Limited

(ABN 12 004 044 937) or any other member of

the National Australia Group of companies (other

than a liability of MLC Limited as insurer).

Neither National Australia Bank Limited, nor

any other member of the National Australia

Group of companies (other than MLC Limited

as insurer) guarantees or accepts liability inrespect of MLC Group Salary Continuance.

The content of this brochure is correct at

01/10/12 but may be subject to change.

No part of this brochure may be reproduced

without permission from Best Doctors and MLC.

This has been printed on paper sourced fromwell managed, environmentally sustainableplantation forests so theres a minimum effecton the environment. Its part of MLCs campaignto maintain our carbon neutral footprint andreduce global warming.


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How to access Best Doctors services

Call Best Doctors from anywhere in Australia

on1800 388 097 or visit www.askbestdoctors.com/aus

best doctors employee brochure

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