Tools & Checklists · Free pack
International patient desk starter pack
The nine stages of building an international patient desk, from naming the segment to saying no, with what each one needs in place.
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Why it exists
The problem it solves
Most international patient desks are assembled rather than designed. Someone is handed the enquiries, a phone number appears on the website, an interpreter is found when a family arrives, and the estimate is whatever the last one said. It holds until volume arrives, and then it fails quietly: slow first replies, estimates that do not survive arrival, and discharge summaries the doctor at home cannot act on.
This pack walks the desk as nine stages, in the order a case actually moves through them, and gives each stage a readiness list. It is a starting structure for a medical value travel desk rather than a description of anyone’s, and every line is meant to be argued with and adapted to your own units.
Inside
What you get
- Nine stages in the order a case moves, from naming the segment to deciding when the answer is no
- A short note per stage on what decides the outcome there and what usually goes wrong
- A readiness checklist per stage, written as things that must be in place rather than ambitions
- Stages covering the first reply, working in more than one language, the estimate, interpreting, money before arrival, the first hours after landing and discharge summaries that travel
- Prompts that force ownership: who holds the case, who confirms funds, who can convene clinical, billing and the front office
- Space to mark each line done, partly done or not done, with a name and a date against every gap
Audience
Who it’s for
For hospitals and groups in India setting up an international patient desk, or rebuilding one that grew without a design, and for the growth or operations leader who has to own it.
Method
How to use it
- Read the nine stages in order once before marking anything, because several later gaps are caused by earlier ones.
- Go back to stage one and name the segment properly, including who has the standing to convene clinical, billing and the front office.
- Work one stage per session with the people who do that work, rather than reviewing the whole desk in a single meeting.
- Mark each line done, partly done or not done, and give every gap a name and a date before the session ends.
- Use the regional briefing packs alongside it once the stages are in reasonable shape, to test the same desk against the markets you actually serve.
Related reading
Read alongside it
- Building an international patient desk for more than one language
- Why the first reply decides the case, and what it should contain
- The estimate that survives arrival: quoting a patient abroad
- When the answer is no: the international cases you should turn down
- An international desk that runs on your CRM
- Medical value travel to India: start here
Briefing pack · PDF
South Asia patient briefing pack
What shapes the journey from six neighbouring markets, and what the international patient desk must have ready.
Get the pack →Briefing pack · PDF
Africa patient briefing pack
What shapes the journey from five African demand patterns, and what the international patient desk must have ready.
Get the pack →Briefing pack · PDF
Gulf and CIS patient briefing pack
What shapes the journey from five Gulf and CIS demand patterns, and what the international patient desk must have ready.
Get the pack →Calculator · Excel
Hospital marketing budget calculator
Split an annual budget by service line and channel, phase it monthly and test it against OPD capacity.
Get the calculator →FAQ
Questions about this pack
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Nine stages in the order a case moves through them: naming the segment, the first reply, working in more than one language, the estimate, interpreting, money before arrival, the first hours after arrival, discharge summaries that travel, and deciding when the answer is no. Each stage has a short note and a readiness checklist for the desk.
That is the common case. Most desks are strong at two or three stages and have never looked at the rest, usually the estimate, interpreting and the summary that goes home. Working the checklist stage by stage tends to surface gaps that nobody owns rather than gaps that nobody knows about.
No. There are no figures in it. It asks who owns each part and what must exist before the next stage can work, which is the question that decides staffing anyway. A desk with one named owner and a written pathway usually beats a larger desk with neither.
No. It stays on the non-clinical side: process, ownership, language, documents, money and communication. Where a stage touches doctors, it is about how quickly a case reaches one and how the opinion travels back, never about the opinion itself or how care should be given.
This pack builds the desk. The regional packs test it against the markets you serve in South Asia, Africa, and the Gulf and CIS. If you are starting from nothing, work this one first, then take the regional pack for whichever market sends you the most enquiries.