Cross-Border Healthcare on sureCova: A Guide for Personal and Prescribing Doctors

CROSS-BORDER HEALTHCARE

How to care for patients in other countries, work with locally licensed Prescribing Doctors, and manage cross-border consultations responsibly.

sureCova allows doctors to maintain Personal Doctor relationships with patients who may be located in a different country. This creates opportunities for continuity of care beyond geographical boundaries, particularly for patients who travel, relocate, or live outside their home country.

However, providing care across borders requires clear responsibilities. Medical licensing, prescribing rules, and the scope of permitted clinical practice may differ between countries.

This section explains the sureCova cross-border model, the responsibilities of the doctors involved, and the principles that guide safe and responsible care.

Understanding the Cross-Border Model

sureCova allows doctors to maintain Personal Doctor relationships with patients who are located in other countries. This enables patients to continue receiving follow-up care from their Personal Doctor even when they live or travel abroad.

In the sureCova cross-border model, the Personal Doctor remains responsible for the ongoing patient relationship, including consultations, follow-up, monitoring, and clinical guidance within their authorised scope of practice.

A locally licensed Prescribing Doctor becomes involved when a prescription is required. Every prescription generated for a cross-border patient must be routed to a locally licensed Prescribing Doctor in the patient's country for review and authorisation before it is delivered to the patient.

This is a mandatory step in sureCova's cross-border prescribing workflow, not an optional service or a process used only for selected medications.

The key principle is simple: the Personal Doctor manages the ongoing care relationship, while every cross-border prescription must pass through a locally licensed Prescribing Doctor before reaching the patient.

The Role of the Personal Doctor

As the Personal Doctor, you maintain the ongoing relationship with your patient. You do not need to involve the locally licensed Prescribing Doctor in every consultation or follow-up interaction.

Your responsibilities include:

• Communicating with the patient through sureCova.
• Reviewing symptoms, medical history, treatment progress, and follow-up responses.
• Providing appropriate clinical guidance within your professional authorisation.
• Documenting meaningful clinical interactions and treatment decisions.
• Monitoring the patient's progress and identifying when further assessment is required.
• Determining when a prescription is clinically indicated.
• Ensuring that every cross-border prescription follows sureCova's local prescribing authorisation process.
• Explaining the treatment plan and relevant next steps to the patient.

When a prescription is required, follow the designated sureCova workflow to route it to the locally licensed Prescribing Doctor. Do not bypass this process, even if you are confident in your original prescribing decision.

 The Role of the Locally Licensed Prescribing Doctor

The locally licensed Prescribing Doctor is responsible for reviewing and authorising cross-border prescriptions for patients located in their country, in accordance with the applicable professional and regulatory requirements.

The Prescribing Doctor is not required to participate in every consultation between the patient and their Personal Doctor. Their involvement is triggered when a prescription is required.

Their responsibilities include:

• Reviewing every cross-border prescription routed to them.
• Reviewing the clinical information necessary to assess the proposed treatment.
• Determining whether the prescription is appropriate and whether further information or assessment is required.
• Authorising the prescription only when clinically appropriate and legally permitted.
• Declining authorisation or requesting further assessment when necessary.
• Ensuring that their prescribing decision is appropriately documented.

The Prescribing Doctor must exercise independent clinical judgement. They are not simply approving prescriptions automatically or acting as an administrative intermediary.

Once the prescription has been authorised, it can proceed to the patient through the applicable sureCova workflow. If authorisation is withheld or additional information is required, the prescription must not be presented to the patient as authorised.

 The Mandatory Cross-Border Prescribing Workflow

Every prescription for a cross-border patient must follow this process:

1. Clinical consultation: The patient consults their Personal Doctor through sureCova.
2. Prescribing decision: The Personal Doctor determines whether medication is clinically indicated and prepares the prescription.
3. Local review: The prescription is routed to a locally licensed Prescribing Doctor in the patient's country.
4. Review and authorisation: The Prescribing Doctor reviews the prescription and relevant clinical information, then independently decides whether to authorise it.
5. Prescription delivery: Once authorised, the prescription proceeds to the patient through the applicable sureCova workflow.
6. Follow-up: The Personal Doctor continues managing the patient's ongoing care and follow-up as appropriate.

Every cross-border prescription must pass through local review and authorisation before delivery to the patient. The process must not be bypassed because of the medication involved, the familiarity of the patient, or the Personal Doctor's confidence in the prescription.

If the Prescribing Doctor needs additional information or declines authorisation, the Personal Doctor should follow the appropriate process to address the concern or arrange further assessment.

The locally licensed Prescribing Doctor's authorisation does not remove the Personal Doctor's responsibility for appropriate clinical assessment, accurate documentation, and continuity of care.