Due diligence
The ten questions your vendor review will ask me, answered.
The questions your procurement and compliance teams will ask, answered in advance.
Independence, confidentiality, data handling, and a fee that only exists when savings do.
When a payer considers a new cost-containment relationship, a vendor review asks the same questions everywhere: identity, authority, incentives, data, deliverables, limits. Here they are, answered before you ask.
01 · Who exactly am I dealing with?
Dr Hossam Elkholy, an Egyptian physician and former medical director of a private hospital on the Red Sea coast. I am independent: no hospital employs me, no assistance company retains me, and my only client in any engagement is the payer.
02 · What is the service, in one sentence?
An independent, in-country medical and pricing review of Egyptian hospital invoices, delivered before you settle them, with every challenged line grounded in the clinical record.
03 · What medical authority stands behind the review?
The review is physician-led. I read the complete clinical record against the invoice and against the protocols of the region where the care was delivered, and I can question medical necessity with an Egyptian chief physician as a peer, which a non-medical bill reviewer cannot.
04 · How are you paid?
Only as a share of what I remove from the bill, never a percentage of the invoice. If the bill does not fall, I earn nothing. There is no retainer and no fee for the first live case.
05 · What does the engagement ladder look like?
Five earned steps: one free live case; several cases until the result is proven on your own files; a standing mandate above an agreed threshold; independent pre-operative review before operations; and in time a local office handling your whole Egyptian book.
06 · How is medical data handled?
Under your terms, not mine. An agreed secure channel, the minimum file needed for the review, your confidentiality and data-processing terms signed before anything moves, and deletion when the case closes. I will sign your NDA and processing agreement before the first document is exchanged.
07 · What do you need to start a case?
One Egyptian hospital invoice and the clinical summary that came with it. A guarantee of payment and the complete clinical record help, but neither is required to begin.
08 · What do we receive at the end?
A written review: the lines that hold, the lines that do not, the clinical basis for each position, and a settlement recommendation your team can act on and defend if it is ever questioned. See the specimen report for the exact format.
09 · Where are you deliberately small?
I am not an alarm centre and I do not replace your assistance partner. I carry no 24/7 call operation, no transport network, and no claims administration. I am the independent medical reading layer beside your existing chain, which is precisely why I can challenge what the chain produces.
10 · What languages do you work in?
Clinical records are read in full, in the language they were written in. Reporting reaches you in clear English by default, or in the language your team works in. It is 2026, and language is the easiest part of this work.
Dr Hossam Elkholy
Physician, Former Hospital Medical Director, Red Sea, Egypt
Independent Medical Cost-Containment Consultant
hossam@elkholy-consulting.com · +20 10 1034 4449
Every answer here is in writing and survives procurement. The fastest check is still one live file.