Media Release: March 18, 2011
Guardian Life of the Caribbean and Mobile Surgery International Reach Agreement for Urological and Orthopedic
Bundled Surgical Services
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD and AVENTURA, FLORIDA, March 18, 2011 – Guardian Life of the Caribbean (GLOC) and Mobile Surgery International (MSI) have reached agreement through which MSI will deliver specific bundled urological and orthopedic surgery service packages to GLOC members. This will make it possible for GLOC members to receive high quality, convenient care for such illnesses as prostate cancer, prostate enlargement, and osteoarthritis.
“GLOC has reached an agreement with MSI to provide specific, bundled surgical services – laparoscopic prostatectomy, transurethral prostatectomy, total knee replacement – to be carried out in MSI’s Florida centers,” said Rhea Tewari, GLOC VP for Employee Benefits. “MSI came to our attention when it demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, bundled surgical services on a mobile basis in Trinidad, our home base. Since many of our members travel to the United States for major surgery, our expanded agreement will allow our Caribbean members to access MSI’s services. For many of our members, this will represent a preferred choice. For GLOC, it represents significant financial savings and the convenience of a simplified and bundled administrative service.”
MSI first proved the viability of its surgeon-driven mobile surgical model in 2009, when it first sent an American prostate cancer patient and his American surgical team to Trinidad to carry out his operation. In so doing, MSI cut the overall cost for a laparoscopic radical prostatectomy by 60%, which opened the door to the preferred treatment for the patient in question.
“Patients face economic, cultural, and geographical barriers to choice and quality,” said MSI CEO Arnon Krongrad, MD. “Working with employers, insurers, and governments MSI is able to reduce administrative burdens at the time of illness. Our agreement with GLOC, a dominant insurer in the Caribbean, lightens the administrative burden for patients who would prefer to have surgery in our facilities in the United States.”
Over the past 2 years, MSI has developed and built bundled surgical services with a focus on quality for domestic and foreign clients. Total knee replacement service, for example, includes highly experienced specialists, US FDA-approved implants, and aggressive one-on-one physical therapy.
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Guardian Life of the Caribbean: GLOC, the flagship company of the Guardian Holdings Group, has a proud tradition of continuous service dating back to 1847, when Standard Life of Edinburgh, Scotland, started doing business in the West Indies. Guardian Life of the Caribbean is today engaged in the underwriting of all classes of long-term (individual and group) life, health and pensions insurance business as well as associated investment activities. For more information, see http://www.gloc.biz
Mobile Surgery International: MSI offers patients and payers surgical choice and quality with cost containment through its Centers of Excellence with Global Convenience™ in Kansas, Florida, Mexico, Panama, and Trinidad. MSI cuts overhead, recruits outstanding surgical talent, and identifies host surgical facilities, providing differentiating surgical programs and custom solutions with minimal regard to geography. Whether the patient comes to the surgeon, the surgeon goes to the patient, or patient and surgeon meet at a mutually convenient location, MSI coordinates all arrangements at a cost agreeable to the patient and/or the payer. For more information see www.emeseye.com
