Grupo Catalana Occidente S A : GCO (Grupo Catalana Occidente) launches additional digital healthcare services

"Insured parties that take out health insurance will be able to use the medical chat and hold video consultations with specialist doctors, as well as access reports and electronic prescriptions via the app and website."

Seguros Catalana Occidente, Plus Ultra Seguros and Seguros Bilbao, which will soon become unified under Occident, have extended their health insurance with new digital healthcare services on the e-customer platform, which is available on both the app and website. In order to strengthen its commitment towards innovation and an omnichannel approach, as well as respond to the needs of its insured parties, Occident will be incorporating the Digital healthcare service, which includes a medical chat and a video consultation service with doctors of the most sought-after specialities. Thanks to this service, the insured parties will also be able to access their medical reports and electronic prescriptions.

By means of the medical chat, customers will be able to quickly clear up their doubts about any symptom, treatment or health issue related to general medicine or emergencies. Once they have selected the speciality, they may enter and send their request to be assisted by a doctor who specialises in the respective issue. The video consultation service will also allow them to schedule a remote appointment for general medicine, paediatrics, psychology or nutrition. Thanks to this new feature, customers can choose the date and time of the video consultation, as well as the professional who assists them without having to travel or worry about copayments.

They will also be able to access the medical reports of each consultation, filtering by date, type and speciality. These documents can also be downloaded if required.

Lastly, a section for electronic medical prescriptions has been added, which provides access to doctors' prescriptions and allows showing them at pharmacies, which by reading the QR code of the selected prescription will supply the corresponding medication.

These four additional services are supplemented by other existing features, such as consulting the medical directory, requesting authorisations for medical tests and consultations, requesting the reimbursement of medical acts and medication, and querying and managing policies.

"At GCO, we are committed to a constant innovation process that enables us to offer products and services that meet our customers' demands and the challenges we face as a society. In this context, digital healthcare services are strategic to us", explained GCO's Director of Traditional Business, Juan Closa.

Health, a fundamental pillar of GCO's business strategy

The customers' health and well-being are two of the fundamental pillars that make up the insurance group's value proposition. On this basis, GCO's traditional business companies, which will soon become unified under Occident, have a broad medical directory of more than 49,000 professionals and 450 centres to assist their insured parties. Through a comprehensive range of health products that meet the needs and preferences of customers, Seguros Catalana Occidente, Plus Ultra Seguros and Seguros Bilbao offer the insured parties all the medical and surgical specialities, primary care and diagnostic tests.

They also provide, through different categories, well-being and health services such as dentists, nutritionists, physiotherapists and cosmetic surgery, among others. Specifically, in the development and implementation of Digital healthcare, the insurance group has considered the healthcare services most sought-after by the insured parties. In this respect, emergency and primary medicine consultations were the most requested, with more than 25,000 assistance services between January and May, followed by the paediatric and psychology specialities.

It is also worth mentioning that the insurance group is committed to prevention, with the aim of detecting and reducing risk factors that may develop into a disease in the future. In this context, the speciality of nutrition has been included so customers can set healthy eating habits and patterns to prevent food intolerance, possible allergies or cardiovascular and kidney problems, among other pathologies. They may also receive personalised advice on the most suitable diet to follow based on their stage of life or during certain periods, such as pregnancy and breastfeeding. The speciality of preventive psychology has also been made available so the insured parties can set everyday targets and take on strategies to strengthen their self-esteem, efficiently manage time and acquire habits aimed at reducing anxiety and stress, among other actions.