Bespoke journeys to U.S. health care
For the patient,
and the family beside them.
A non-clinical service for patients resident in India whose care will take place in the United States. avāna Navigation carries the journey around the care.
After the decision
Sometimes patients reach the decision themselves. Sometimes the physician who has always cared for them recommends it. Either way, the care they need is in the United States.
That decision belongs to the patient and their physician. Almost nothing that follows it does.
- Records.
- Estimates.
- The hospital's letter for a visa application.
- Appointments in a sequence that can be kept.
- A number that answers.
- A familiar face in an unfamiliar hospital.
It is a great deal to carry, far from home, at a difficult time.
The name
avāna
noun · from the Sanskrit avana
- 1. protection.
- 2. the act of looking after.
Said ah-VAH-nah. Written in lower case, with a line over the second a.
avāna Navigation carries the journey around the care.
The navigator
One name. One number.
In Navigator and Presence, a designated navigator, from the first record request to the flight home. The patient's number sits in that navigator's phone under a ringtone kept for no one else.
- Navigator:
- on the telephone through U.S. business hours.
- Presence:
- reachable until 10 p.m. in the patient's time zone.
Hours and scope are set out in the engagement agreement.
What we do, and what we do not
We carry the arrangements. Everything medical stays with the patient's physicians and the hospital.
What we do
- Request the patient's records under their written consent, to be released by the patient or sent directly from one hospital to another.
- Engage the hospital the patient chooses and see the first appointment confirmed.
- The hospital's letter and cost estimate, requested and delivered for your own visa application.
- We assemble the hospital documents your bank asks for; you pay the hospital directly.
- Hold the calendar through reschedules, within the hours set out in writing.
- If the hospital keeps a cancellation list or can offer an earlier date, we ask for it on your behalf. We cannot promise one.
- Stay with the patient and their family in person through the first days, coordinating with the car and the arrangements the patient's household has made.
What we do not do
- Give medical advice or make treatment decisions.
- Choose or recommend a hospital or physician.
- Hold or forward medical payments.
- Accept any payment, commission or other benefit from a hospital, physician or other provider, or pay anyone for introductions.
- Promise a date, a cost or an outcome.
- Give visa or immigration advice, complete visa forms, or deal with consulates or immigration authorities. We are not lawyers; please consult your own immigration counsel.
Some of these belong to Navigator or Presence only. Each programme's scope is set out below, and in writing before anything begins.
Read the full answers
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One conversation.
The first conversation is about the patient's journey and how they would like it to run, not their medical details.
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A written engagement agreement and confidentiality undertaking.
If the patient decides to go ahead, a written engagement agreement and confidentiality undertaking come first.
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Records requested under a separate consent.
Records assembled under the patient's written consent: released by the patient, or sent directly from one hospital to another.
Connect · Navigator · Presence
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The hospital the patient chooses, engaged.
The decision belongs to the patient and their physician. avāna does not choose or recommend a hospital or physician.
Connect · Navigator · Presence
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The first appointment confirmed.
Connect closes here; Navigator and Presence continue.
Connect · Navigator · Presence
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The hospital's documents.
The hospital's letter and cost estimate, requested and delivered for your own visa application.
We assemble the hospital documents your bank asks for; you pay the hospital directly.
Navigator · Presence
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The calendar held.
The navigator holds the calendar through reschedules, within the hours set out in writing.
Navigator · Presence
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Arrival.
On arrival, we coordinate with the car and the arrangements the patient's household has made.
Presence
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The flight home.
Navigator stays with the patient until the flight home, within the hours set out in writing. Presence stays in person for the first four days and by telephone until the flight home, within the hours set out in writing.
Navigator · Presence
Programmes
Connect. Navigator. Presence.
Each programme builds on the one before. Each has one fixed fee for one treatment episode, covering a set number of hours, set out in writing before anything begins and paid only by the patient or their family.
I. Connect
Connect assembles the records, engages the hospital the patient chooses, and sees the first appointment confirmed. Connect closes when the first appointment is confirmed.
II. Navigator
Navigator adds a designated navigator on the telephone through U.S. business hours, and the hospital's letter and cost estimate, requested and delivered for your own visa application. We assemble the hospital documents your bank asks for; you pay the hospital directly. The navigator holds the calendar through reschedules, within the hours set out in writing.
III. Presence
Presence adds a concierge in person for the first four days, a navigator reachable until 10 p.m. in the patient's time zone, and an arrival prepared to the patient's own preferences. On arrival, we coordinate with the car and the arrangements the patient's household has made. If the hospital keeps a cancellation list or can offer an earlier date, we ask for it on your behalf. We cannot promise one.
avāna Navigation is a non-clinical service. It does not practice medicine, choose a hospital or physician, handle medical payments, or give visa, immigration or tax advice. Treatment decisions rest with the patient and the treating physician; no date, cost or outcome is guaranteed. Records cross borders only under a separate, explicit consent, and information is disclosed only as the patient authorises or as applicable law requires. Inclusions are indicative; the terms of any engagement are set out only in a written agreement signed before anything begins.
We are not lawyers and do not give visa or immigration advice, complete visa forms, or deal with consulates or immigration authorities. Please consult your own immigration counsel.
avāna never holds or forwards medical payments.
The programmes in full Compare the programmes Begin with one conversation
Presence · The small things
Before a patient travels, the concierge asks what home sounds like, what it tastes like, and how a name is said.
The first meal, right without being asked.
The kitchen where the patient is staying is told in advance about region, custom and restrictions.
A name said correctly at the desk.
A phonetic spelling of each name, sent ahead to the ward, the desk and the team.
Faces before names.
Photographs, names and contacts of the people who will meet the patient and their family, sent before the patient travels, wherever those people agree to share them.
Discretion
Kept in confidence.
Discretion, in writing
Every engagement begins with a written confidentiality undertaking. We share information only as your family authorises, or as the law requires.
- Where law and institutional rules permit, registration under a private designation on written instruction.
- Before an appointment is confirmed, we ask the hospital who the patient will be seeing, and tell you what we learn.
- Records cross borders only under a separate, explicit consent: released by the patient, or sent directly from one hospital to another.
- We never ask for medical records, passports or account numbers by web form, ordinary email or messaging app.
- This website sets no cookies and carries no advertising or tracking code.
Non-clinical by design · Fixed fees, settled with the patient and their family · No payment from any hospital.
Fees are paid only by the family. avāna accepts no payment, commission or other benefit from any hospital, physician or other provider, and pays none for introductions.
Acting for a patient
For family offices, physicians and institutions.
Medicine treats the illness. avāna Navigation looks after the patient's journey around it, and the family beside them.
Write to care@avana-navigation.com. We reply within two business days to arrange a first conversation at a time that suits your time zone. Initials are enough to begin. Please do not include medical details. The navigator will ask for what is needed, securely, after your first conversation.