Medical Tourism News Roundup!

Medical Tourism isn't just growing - it's exploding! If we somehow missed clarity, medical tourism is taking a trip abroad to find necessary or elective medical or surgical procedures at a much better price point. Like buying your prescriptions from Canada, but a little more involved.

Just in the last week we've seen a great number of news stories pop up on the web and I'll be tracking these stories every Wednesday and rounding up the important points to let you follow what the media is saying about the amazing world of medical tourism.

Most notably, Oprah has published a guide to medical tourism on her website that walks through most of the different procedures and options that are available abroad.

The New York Times addresses the subject of medical tourism in the shadow of current health care legislation in place. Their verdict?

No matter what Congress does with health care legislation in the next few weeks, one thing is already clear: the result will not do much to control the climbing costs of medical care in the United States.

And that is why many employers and insurance companies may seek savings by encouraging patients to travel abroad for treatment.

Offshore medical care is usually significantly less expensive than in the United States, and the wait times are often shorter. A heart operation that might cost $130,000 in this country could cost $18,500 in Singapore or $10,000 in India.

As communication and commerce becomes easier between great distances, borders dissolve and popping over to Mexico for a gastric sleeve surgery does not come across as that daunting.

From Reuters:

The World Egg Bank (TWEB), an international
agency for the donation of human eggs to infertile women, announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with a European fertility clinic to provide American women with in vitro fertilization (IVF) of donated frozen eggs at or less than the cost of staying home for such treatment.

If you were not aware of how much this industry has grown, check out the report on The Medical Tourism Association's 2nd annual World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress:

Over 60 countries participated in the conference which focused on the high quality of care and the investment in healthcare throughout the world. The conference also featured Ministers' Roundtable where Ministers of Health and Tourism addressed the opportunities and challenges of the industry in their respective countries.

We'll be bringing relevant headlines every week with some commentary as to what you should expect in the ever-growing field of medical travel and tourism.

Medical Tourism: Are Major Changes in Health Care Afoot?

A recent article posted by India Report identified several major changes in Health Care, more specifically, the medical tourism industry.

"Medical Tourism: Are Major Changes in Health Care Afoot?"

"According to a recent survey conducted by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, the practice of "medical tourism" -- traveling internationally for medical care -- will explode over the next few years. In fact, the survey forecasts that the number of people turning to medical tourism will increase from 750,000 to 6 million by 2010.

Patricia Look, an HR benefits subject matter expert with J. J. Keller & Associates, points out that the concept of medical tourism has been around for a number of years; however, escalating health care costs in the United States have caused it to become more accepted and even favored by some employers and insurers.

"While there are many factors to consider," states Look, "cost seems to be the biggest. It's easy to see the draw ... when a heart bypass procedure that costs $130,000 in the U.S. can be done at an accredited hospital in Singapore for $18,500 or in India for $10,000, for example."
So, what does this mean to our understanding of health care? "Change is in the air," says Look. "The American Medical Association (AMA) has acknowledged the impact of medical tourism on the health care industry by issuing guidelines for employers, insurance companies and other entities that facilitate or incentivize medical care outside the U.S.
Look goes on to mention three trends already emerging…” to view these trends, please follow the link to the rest of the article.

http://bit.ly/no17s

"WellPoint Jump-Starts Medical Tourism Trend"

September 14, 2009

While browsing for articles today I found a very interesting article entitiled "WellPoint Jump-Starts Medical Tourism Trend" written by Ken Terry (author of the book, RX for Health Care Reform) at bnet.com regarding medical tourism. The medical tourism trend will be huge in the years to come. Here are the first few paragraphs of the article with the link below to view the whole. In my opinion, bnet Healthcare is a great place to keep up with industry trends.

“Healthcare providers and insurance companies have long been at odds over reimbursement, coverage, and pre-authorization issues. Now, it appears, physicians and hospitals may soon have another bone to pick with health plans, over medical tourism.
Wellpoint, the largest U.S. health insurer, is conducting a pilot of medical tourism with Serigraph, a specialty graphics company with operations in Wisconsin, Mexico, and Asia. Serigraph employees have the option to travel to India for non-emergency surgery. Paul McBride, vice president of health care management and services for WellPoint, says that it makes sense to do these procedures in India, where the cost is 80 percent lower and the quality is just as good as in the U.S. WellPoint, which would like to expand its test, is focusing on cardiac and joint-replacement operations that require a two-week hospital stay.
Other health plans are also slowly beginning to cover medical tourism. Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, for instance, has created an international network of doctors and hospitals covering Thailand, Costa Rica, Ireland, Turkey and other countries. A number of self-insured companies are also letting their employees seek care abroad.
The AMA, which last year approved guidelines for U.S. residents who travel abroad for medical care, estimates that about 150,000 people did so in 2006. The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions estimates that this number will increase to 16 million over the next decade. That could cost physicians and hospitals billions of dollars in lost revenues. "
http://bit.ly/za7jW

Medical Travel Statistics

The statistics for individuals willing to travel for medical care are incredible. I just found this artile that I thought was very intesting. To use some of the quoted figures:

"The number of Americans who would consider going abroad for treatment is a subject that comes up regularly. Many people who talk figures are only using wild guesses. Others rely on dubious research, designed to guarantee an answer that supports their sales pitch. The research trade calls these loaded questions ‘when did you stop beating your wife’ questions. This year we have two new independent surveys, not commissioned by anyone in medical tourism, but by top international researchers. The most recent is from Gallup. Results are based on telephone interviews in April 2009 with 5050 adults
the Gallup Poll found that up to 29% of Americans would consider travelling abroad for major medical problems. 24% would seek cancer diagnosis and treatment abroad. Americans are less likely to say they would consider travelling abroad for hip or knee replacement (15%), heart bypass surgery (14%), or cosmetic surgery (10%).
When the same question was asked, but on an assumption that costs are cheaper and the quality of treatment equivalent to the USA, the percentage prepared to travel increased to:
40% major medical problems
37% cancer diagnosis/treatment
27% hip or knee replacement
27% heart bypass surgery
20% cosmetic surgery
Asking the above of people with no health insurance increased to:
51% major medical problems
46% cancer diagnosis/treatment
41% hip or knee replacement
36% heart bypass surgery
30% cosmetic surgery

People in the Midwest are the least willing to consider obtaining treatments outside the country; those in the West are the most willing. Southerners are also below average in their willingness to obtain treatments outside the country, with the exception of hip or knee replacement.
The data suggest the 50 million Americans without health insurance are motivated by costs and would be more likely than those with health insurance to consider seeking medical care abroad. A sizable minority of Americans view th healthcare diagnosis and treatment available beyond national borders as something they would consider using."

To see the full article, go to the International Medical Travel Journal at:

http://www.imtjonline.com/articles/2009/americans-going-abroad-medical-care/

Your Medical Record

For those interested in Todd's information from yesterday's post go to www.lifetrackllc/todd.oldfield and view his web-site.

"Your Medical Record in Your Wallet"

I spoke with a colleague of mine today, Todd Oldfield. He is working with a fantastic new product. I called him after an e-mail he sent to me because I thought that it was a great companion to medical travel. This product is an electronic card that stores all of an individual's medical information in one place. Imagine travelling overseas for surgery and having to make several calls back to various physicians in your own country because the overseas physician needed more information. With this product, you carry your medical records with you everywhere (and not just overseas).

What a fantastic way to ensure coordination of care when you have multiple physicians. I can't tell you how many times I had patients that were receiving contradictory treatments from doctors because either the healthcare providers didn't communicate or the patient failed to tell their healthcare provider that they were receiving a different treatment for the same illness. (Unfortunately I believe it is usually the latter, patients don't know that every physician needs to know everything in which they are receiving treatment-but then, the healthcare provider also doesn't routinely ask about all other physician treatments either).

I took the below information from Todd's website. Please visit his web-site, it is listed below.

"More people die from medical errors each year than from colon cancer and breast cancer combined. The easiest way for you to protect yourself from these errors is to insure that the medical staff treating you have the most up to date, and accurate information possible, when you need it. LifeTrack allows you to have this information with you at all times.

The LifeTrack software has much more functionality than just a personal health record. It allows you to securely store information that you would need in the event of an emergency. You can store financial information and other critical information. You can also store information about your kids including photos and information on their after school activities. This could save precious time in the event they were missing."

www.lifetrackllc.com/toddoldfield

"Medical Tourism Primer for Physicians" -article review

I recently read an article entitled "Medical Tourism Primer for Physicians" from a web-site http://www.medicaltraveltoday.com/. The article is written by Laura Carabello. The introduction is what caught my eye:

"As healthcare in the United States has been changing rapidly over the past few decades, so has the manne in which healthcare has been provided, billed and paid for. There is an increasing need for Americans to reach beyond domestic borders to the international community for certain medical procedues, treatment, and care at more affordable costs. This impacts not only consumers and their physicians, but also employers, benefit plan payors, administrators, and other industrystakeholders-including America's hospitals. This article provides a framework for discussion points for physician-patient communications regarding medical tourism"

In the article, she provides costs comparisons, theorizes that more insurers will start taking advantage of global competition, discusses accreditation bodies such as Joint Commission, and other items of interest. It is a four page article, quick to read, with lots of information. It can be found at the following site.

http://www.medicaltraveltoday.com/MTTE08/Mar_Apr_2008_291-294.pdf