Medical Tourism
TEMOS
| Name | Temos, Germany |
|---|---|
| Type of organisation | Private |
| International or national | International |
| Period of validity | 3 years |
| Method of assessment | Self-evaluation of medical facility followed by an on-site inspection carried out by 2-4 Temos assessors, feedback and final report to be approved by Temos Medical Board. |
| Public communication | Mostly transparent |
| Target groups | Hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, dental clinics, governments, ministries |
| Price | Varies between programs from € 6.500 up to € 40.000 |
| Accredited by | Peer-reviewed, annually updated and approved by the Temos Medical Advisory Board and the International Expert Committee. |
| Participation | Voluntarily |
| Quality norm | Temos Quality Criteria Requirements |
| Founders | Evolved from a European research project |
| Objective | Certification of medical facilities involved in medical tourism and tourism medicine; first certification system worldwide specialized in international (emergency) patients and medical tourism |
| Profit or non-profit based | - |
| Accredited institutions | Hospitals and clinics, rehabilitation centers, dental clinics and practices |
| Special remarks | An own, national or international Quality Management System is a pre-condition to apply for the Temos Quality Programs. With the exception of the opening and closing meeting no audit plan is provided for the on-site visit. The visit is supposed to take place without preparation of the medical facility to give the assessors the best possible picture of the daily routine. Check of the whole system, pathways and processes within the medical facility. A certification of single units or departments is not possible. National norms, laws, different cultures, mentalities and quality approaches in different countries are taken into account for the overall assessment. |
Temos is a private organization that focuses on the requirements of international patients, hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies in the frame of medical tourism and tourism medicine. The certified hospitals value the system because of the neutral and professional way of the assessment. The users, such as patients, value the system because it is developing a worldwide brand for quality certification in the medical environment.
As a precondition of the Temos certification the hospital must already be accredited by a recognized certification institute such as the JCI, QHA or the ISO 9001. Only if a Quality Management System (QMS) is implemented and granted, a hospital can apply for the Temos certification. The procedure consists of different steps:
1. The first step for the hospital is to fill in the self-evaluation questionnaire which contains 25-35 pages, depending on the quality program. Most questions are simple closed questions, and the majority should be answered with “yes” to successfully pass.
2. The hospital has to send in the questionnaire, which will then be evaluated by the Temos experts.
3. A visit and assessment on-site is the 3rd step, depending on the results retrieved from the questionnaire. This visit will be carried out without preparation of the visit itself from hospital side because Temos wants to check the hospital during its daily routine, and not in the course of a pre-scheduled and planned visit. The assessment is dealing with both medical and with non-medical aspects and departments (e.g. communication to and accommodation of the patient and accompanying person; evaluation and inspection of the technical systems and procedures, such as the laboratory, diagnostics and the intensive care units). Additionally, Temos examines the billing procedures and different administrative processes of the hospital.
4. Occurring errors will be discussed directly and optimized with the responsible staff. This includes doctors, quality management specialists, nurses, technicians and administrative personnel.
The whole process lasts between 3 to 6 months and the certificate is valid for 3 years.
Temos’ uniqueness derives from the fact that it states that every country and every individual interprets quality differently, therefore the leading motto of Temos is: “Different hospitals worldwide should manage quality according to their cultures and their national norms.” It is important to mention that Temos does not consider itself as a QMS, it adds on top the quality criteria to be implemented for international patients to the already existing QMS of the medical facility.
Temos website: www.temos-international.com