School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld, 4811, Australia; Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand.
Travel Med Infect Dis. 2005 Feb;3(1):9-17. doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2004.07.002.
Emergency assistance provided on behalf of travel insurance companies may include direct services such as medical advice, referral for local medical or dental treatment abroad, or aeromedical evacuation (AME) back to Australia or a third country. Little is known about the nature of these services provided by emergency assistance services on behalf of travel insurance companies. This study is designed to investigate the nature of emergency assistance provided abroad to travellers from Australia.
All travel insurance claims reported during 2001 to a major Australian travel insurance company were examined for those claims utilising the insurer's emergency assistance service.
Four hundred claims (25.3%) reported utilising emergency assistance Medical and dental claims made up over two thirds of claims requiring emergency assistance (275, 69.3%), with cancellation and curtailment, mostly for medical reasons, making up more than one eighth of claims (59, 14.8%). The most common nature of illness requiring emergency assistance was musculoskeletal disorders (87, 28.2%), followed by gastrointestinal disorders (45, 14.6%), dental conditions (42, 13.6%) and respiratory problems (36, 11.7%). The problem reportedly occurred at a median of 19.5 (range=281.0) days into travel. Emergency assistance provided included policy advice (395, 99.0%), claiming advice (394, 98.7%), civil advice or assistance (79, 19.8%), medical advice or GP referral (22, 5.5%), hospital emergency room (ER) review (58, 14.5%), hospital admission (46, 11.5%), medical or dental follow-up (25, 6.3%) and AME (10, 2.5%).
Use of the travel insurer's emergency assistance service was reported by about one quarter of claimants. In most cases, travellers sought simple claiming and policy advice, however, the emergency assistance service occasionally co-ordinated the provision of direct medical services. AME was an uncommon but expensive form of emergency assistance. Further research is needed into how useful the services provided by emergency assistance services of travel insurance companies were to the travellers that use these services.
代表旅行保险公司提供的紧急援助可能包括直接服务，如医疗建议、在国外进行本地医疗或牙科治疗的转诊，或返回澳大利亚或第三国的航空医疗后送（AME）。代表旅行保险公司提供的紧急援助服务的性质知之甚少。本研究旨在调查向澳大利亚旅行者在国外提供的紧急援助的性质。
对一家主要澳大利亚旅行保险公司报告的 2001 年期间的所有旅行保险索赔进行了检查，这些索赔利用了保险公司的紧急援助服务。
有 400 项索赔（25.3%）报告利用了紧急援助，医疗和牙科索赔占需要紧急援助的索赔的三分之二以上（275 项，69.3%），取消和缩短旅行，主要是出于医疗原因，占索赔的八分之一以上（59 项，14.8%）。需要紧急援助的最常见疾病性质是肌肉骨骼疾病（87 项，28.2%），其次是胃肠道疾病（45 项，14.6%）、牙科疾病（42 项，13.6%）和呼吸道问题（36 项，11.7%）。据报道，问题发生在旅行的中位数第 19.5 天（范围=281.0）。紧急援助包括政策咨询（395 项，99.0%）、索赔咨询（394 项，98.7%）、民事咨询或协助（79 项，19.8%）、医疗建议或全科医生转诊（22 项，5.5%）、医院急诊室（ER）审查（58 项，14.5%）、住院（46 项，11.5%）、医疗或牙科随访（25 项，6.3%）和 AME（10 项，2.5%）。
约四分之一的索赔人报告使用了旅行保险公司的紧急援助服务。在大多数情况下，旅行者寻求简单的索赔和政策咨询，但紧急援助服务偶尔会协调直接医疗服务的提供。AME 是一种罕见但昂贵的紧急援助形式。需要进一步研究旅行保险公司的紧急援助服务对使用这些服务的旅行者的有用程度。
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