Hikos accompanies you on your healthcare journey.
You will likely have questions after your visit to your GP or specialist. And that is precisely when the Hikos specialists can spend the time with you to help prepare you for your next appointment.
“I almost got lost in a complex healthcare system”
Hikos was founded by Jacqueline Timmermans, a doctor and patient herself. In 2017 during her pregnancy, she was suddenly confronted with a medical problem for which she needed to be hospitalized. Her research online into her own problems came up with so much confusing information that she saw how easy it is for many people to get lost in the healthcare maze. During the unsettling time that followed, she realized how beneficial it is to be able to spar with medical specialists when in such a position. And though her own attending physician was excellent, she benefitted immensely from the contact with other specialists that she knew from within her own network. They helped Jacqueline prepare for and formulate the right questions for her subsequent consultations. Because her sparring partners were experts in the field, she felt more confident and in control while going through her ordeal. And so was born the idea for Hikos: a service that enables convenient (virtual) consultation with a medical specialist. With an emphasis on easily accessible, as if the specialist were your neighbor.
Hikos can help you if you want to know which hospital has specialized knowledge about your specific complaint or if you’ve just left your appointment with your regular doctor and another question pops up. Hikos is also there if you want to know what to expect from upcoming appointments in your treatment or if you are simply feeling lost in the Dutch healthcare maze. We are here to make specialist medical knowledge accessible to everyone and offer a safe place to ask questions outside the consultation room, in order to help better prepare you for your next appointment.
How can Hikos assist you?
Finding your way in the Dutch healthcare system
For many conditions, there are specific medical specialists or hospitals that may be more relevant for you. You would like to be treated where there is a lot of knowledge and experience. We work with you to find the best specialist for patients in your situation.
Preparing for an appointment
After you meet with your own doctor, you may still have questions, or perhaps you have received a diagnosis for which there are several treatment options. Our specialists can spar with you and explain the pros and cons of various treatment courses, helping you to more actively participate in decisions about your treatment.
Custom designed medical advice
You have a medical problem and need to go to the hospital. Often it does not end with one consultation and you’ll have several appointments with the attending physician. To get the most out of these discussions with your doctor, you must be well informed. The information you can find online is never precisely applicable to your situation. Moreover, your doctor often has little time available for you. In many cases there are several treatment options, but it is often not possible to fully explain all those options during one consultation. At such times you have questions about the process and the choices that need to be made. Questions that cannot wait until the next hospital appointment. At such moments Hikos has time for you.
Our vision
An ever growing group of patients want to take a more active role in deciding (together with their doctor) about about their course of treatment. When people develop health complaints, they eventually end up in the healthcare community: an increasingly complex maze. Patients are becoming more critical, and are more eager to understand exactly what is happening and what treatment options are available. Patients increasingly expect a personal approach from the healthcare system. However, due to the pressure on the healthcare system as a whole, these expectations are not always met.
Our mission
It is our mission to empower patients to better direct their own medical journey though the healthcare maze (patient empowerment), by helping them become better informed. We do this by offering patients the opportunity to exchange ideas with a medical specialist. This feels like a good conversation with a friend who also happens to be a medical specialist, and therefore knows what he or she is talking about. Our goal is for patients to feel more in control, to be able to make better medical choices, and as a result to be more engaged in their eventual treatment.
What you can expect from Hikos
Always available and flexible
We are easily accessible by telephone and e-mail. When you schedule an appointment with us, you choose a date and time yourself. This can also be on weekends or in the evenings.
Tailored advice
Everyone can use our services. It doesn’t matter where you are insured.
Independent
To guarantee independence, we will never advise just one medical specialist or hospital, but always two or more.
Appointment in 3 steps
Scheduling a virtual appointment with one of our specialists is safe and simple. You choose a suitable day and time with the appointment planner and then you pay using iDeal. You will then receive a confirmation email and questionnaire, with which you can prepare for the discussion and provide the Hikos doctor with sufficient background information. You will then be invited to join a video consult at the time of your choice.