3 questions for Dr. Bruno Juquel, Director of the Henner medical department

On World Health Day, Henner showcases its medical department and interviews the Group’s “Mr Health”, Dr. Bruno Juquel, Director of the medical department.

What is a “World Health Day” for?

It is an awareness day, dedicated to promoting health. And at Henner, health is a subject that is particularly close to our hearts given our line of business, which consists of designing and implementing health, life and disability insurance policies.

World Health Day has particular importance for Henner, which has its own medical department within the group. The department’s teams are made up of healthcare professionals, giving the Group the undeniable added value that allows us to support our customers and insured members with in-depth health expertise. It is an important responsibility to advise companies on medical aspects as well as to develop a network of quality care throughout the world. Because referring an insured member to a healthcare provider is a big responsibility and leaves no room for improvisation.

When you have a health problem, the quality of the care is essential.

What is the role of the medical department within the Henner Group?

Our role is to support our clients on matters of medical expertise. To do this, we have a multidisciplinary team made up of doctors, medical coordinators, nurses, dentists, orthodontists and pharmacists, spread all over the world, to meet the health needs of our customers and policyholders.

The medical department operates in France and internationally and has several missions:

First of all, medical. We support companies to provide their employees with medical coverage by setting up health checks for their regular employees as well as expatriates and senior executives. Our approach also takes into consideration the notion of “frequent flyer” employees. Internationally, our doctors analyse medical claims, control costs, negotiate prices with health providers, facilitate access to care, clarify and optimise the treatment plans of expatriate insured members, and direct employees to the most suitable healthcare providers in our network according to their medical situation. We are truly supportive of our policyholders when they are faced with delicate medical situations. We also establish analyses of sick leave and peak claims for example, to enable a comprehensive understanding of our clients’ profit and loss reports, enabling them to effectively manage their insurance policies.

Another of our missions is medical prevention. Henner helps companies to set up prevention and quality of life at work programs for their employees. We have developed specific modules in four distinct types of action: prevention and awareness-raising actions focusing on lifestyle habits, early detection of certain diseases, well-being in the workplace, and the fight against addictions. These actions are beneficial for the employees and their health, and allow companies to manage the costs induced by sick leave, for instance by preventing musculoskeletal disorders caused by repetitive tasks, and poor posture at the employee’s workstation.

And finally, we put policyholders in touch with the right practitioners around the world. Our mission is to facilitate access to quality care for our policyholders, wherever they are in the world. And to do this, the Henner Group has a dedicated team whose mission is both to maintain and develop our global network of healthcare professionals (1.6 million professionals in 189 countries) and to guarantee our policyholders quality medical care, at controlled costs thanks to negotiated rates and the implementation of direct settlement agreements.

Why is medical prevention an issue?

We all know the adage “prevention is better than cure”. The primary objective of prevention is to correct poor habits in order to minimise or even avoid pathologies by improving your everyday lifestyle (sports activities, nutrition, addictions, etc.). At Henner, we are convinced that prevention in the workplace is a major issue because it is can be used to educate employees and companies on public health issues. Our added value is to support HR with the implementation of targeted prevention measures (workshops, coaching, screening, etc.), in connection with the business issues of their employees, which we compare against sectorial data that we have access to thanks to the diversity of our customer portfolio. Each campaign is designed and built jointly with the company to best target the prevention and screening actions to be carried out in the interest of each stakeholder.