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NEWSLETTERMedical Tourism Magazine
Newsletter |
Issue: Week of December 16th 2008 |
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"Medical off-shoring grows as
patients combine tourism and surgery"
The Examiner, Thursday December 4th 2008 by Dan Magder
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During his presidential campaign,
Barack Obama decried two seemingly
unrelated challenges: Factories
shipping U.S. jobs overseas and our
health-care crisis. But unless he
acts quickly, President-elect Obama
will face a threat that combines
these trends as high costs make
Americans seek health-care abroad.
Compared to health spending in other
industrialized countries, the U.S.
ranks dead last. At $6,700 per
person, Americans spend two times
the average. This money might be
worth it if we were healthier.
But the dirty little secret is that
Americans' health falls squarely in
the middle of the pack compared to
countries like Canada, the UK, and
France. U.S. life expectancy is
lower, infant mortality higher, and
recovery rates from typical medical
procedures are surprisingly average.
What's more, no other country asks
corporations to provide health
insurance for most of its
population. If health-care were
like any other service, these
corporations would revolt against
its inefficiency.
If the same service cost less in
another country, managers would face
enormous pressures to consider
off-shoring. Now, health-care seems
trickier since you can't import it
like oil. However, Americans and
American companies are still finding
creative ways to lower costs.
In August 2006, Carl Garrett, a mill
worker from North Carolina, agreed
to be sent to India for operations
on his gall bladder and shoulder.
The trip would save his employer
$50,000.
Instead borrowing $20,000 for his
surgery in America, Garrett would
receive $10,000 of the savings,
along with a tour of the Taj Mahal
and 24-hour private nursing during
his recovery. His trip was stopped
by the United Steelworkers union,
which feared the program would lead
to a two-tiered health system for
executives versus employees.
While this highly publicized scheme
was halted, the grassroots movement
toward medical off-shoring is
growing. An estimated 750,000
Americans traveled in 2007 for
"medical tourism" – coupling visits
to exotic locations with lower-cost
plastic surgery and dentistry.
Some travelers seek more serious
operations like heart stents and hip
replacements. An estimated 100
foreign hospitals have been approved
by the organization that also
accredits U.S. hospitals. Many of
these "destination hospitals" have
Western-trained doctors and boast
state-of-the-art facilities.
Medical tourism and off-shoring
address, in a backhanded way, the
supply side of the health-care
equation: U.S. health-care
providers, such as doctors,
hospitals, insurers and drug
companies, offer services at too
high a cost. However, most
health-care reforms focus on the
demand side, increasing co-pays and
using cost-shifting to make people
more selective in their health-care
consumption.
The demand siders' approach carries
a certain logic: If you don't pay
for that extra test or elective
procedure because insurance covers
it, why not get it? Yet no other
country relies on demand to control
costs – and none spends as much to
make their people just as healthy as
Americans.
U.S. corporations have certainly
taken note. Mercer Health &
Benefits has studied off-shoring for
three Fortune 500 companies. United
Group Programs in Florida, which
insures small businesses, offered to
send patients to Thailand for
medical care. Both Blue Shield and
Health Net of California now offer
lower-priced insurance that allows
members to seek care in Mexico.
Corporate wellness programs are
another innovative approach to
control costs. Beacon Mutual
Insurance of Rhode Island
distributes monthly health magazines
to employees, offers one-on-one
nutrition counseling, and intranet
updates with monthly themes.
Compared to companies covered by the
same insurer, Beacon Mutual saved
13.6 percent on outpatient care,
13.3 percent on inpatient care, 12.8
percent on diagnostics, 4.2 percent
on prescription drugs, and 1.7
percent on surgical procedures. The
company attributed half these
savings – roughly $300 per person
per year – to its wellness regime.
More than 120 companies drew praise
in 2007 from the Wellness Council, a
non-profit focused on workplace
wellness. The innovators ranged
from small companies to behemoths
like Merrill Lynch and IBM, whose
programs have saved millions of
dollars per year.
At a recent CEO Forum, Obama's new
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
challenged companies to support
health reform. But Obama risks
falling behind these same CEOs
unless he learns from their
successes.
The President must also look at
other supply side reforms – or else
Americans' health-care, like the
toys we buy for Christmas, will
increasingly be stamped "made in
China."
Dan Magder, an investment banker
and former economic policy analyst,
has published his research through
the Peterson Institute for
International Economics.
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"A look back...Fall Recap"
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The Medical Tourism Association had a very busy fall 2008! Our
fall season began with a bang in September at the 1st
Annual World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress. The
congress was a tremendous success with 850 attendees and 53
exhibitors from over 40 different countries. Thank you to
everyone who was able to come out to San Francisco and we hope
to see you all next year in Los Angeles in October 2009 for
another great conference!
This Fall the Medical Tourism Association welcomed our newly
elected officers, Fall 2008-2010, for the Medical Tourism
Association:
Brad Cook is the MTA Secretary and
Strategic Development Officer for Latin America. He is
considered an expert in global healthcare and medical tourism
and is in charge of the International Patient Department of
Clinica Biblica in Costa Rica. Brad can be reached at
Brad@MedicalTourismAssociation.com
Jim
McCormick, MD, MBA now serves as the MTA Assistant Secretary for
the Medical Tourism Association. Dr. McCormick has his board
certified medical background in Emergency Medicine. He
completed his Masters in Business Administration at Pepperdine
University. His company, Premiere Medical Travel Company, LLC,
is targeted to formally launch operations in early 2009. Jim
can be reached at
Jim@MedicalTourismAssociation.com
Vivian Ho is
the MTA Managing Director of the Asian Pacific Region. She
is the Founder & President of the Academy for Global Health
Philanthropy (AGHP), a 501c3 organization that develops and
facilitates global health philanthropic ventures. With over
twenty years of professional experience in both the private and
global health sectors, she also serves as a Senior Advisor to
select philanthropic foundations, individuals and corporate
entities. Vivian can be reached at
Vivian@MedicalTourismAssociation.com
Jonathan Edelheit was reelected as MTA President and Renee-Marie
Stephano, was reelected as Treasurer and Chief Operating
Officer.
This fall the MTA introduced new member
benefits to be added to the existing ones. These benefits came
from speaking with existing members as to how the MTA can help
members reach their goals. Through careful thought and
deliberation within our team we feel we have some exciting new
benefits to offer new and existing members. They are all listed
on the website:
http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com/join.html
Along with some of the new member benefits
the MTA reestablished six committees. These committees each
focus on a different aspect of the industry. We were pleased to
have members on each of the committee calls for their opinions
and input on many issues. Some of the committees have even
started gathering information for patient surveys to gather
research for the industry. Through our member involvement we
hope to gather some real numbers on many different areas.
Information about the different committees and which members are
on each of the committees is available on our website:
http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com/committees.html.
The MTA also
launched the pilot program for certification
for medical tourism facilitators who are involved in the
coordination of patient care for patients traveling from one
country to another. This pilot program will be open to Medical
Tourism Association members for a period of six months.
We are very excited about launching this program and we hope
that many of our facilitator members will take advantage of
helping to develop of a set of best practices for the industry.
Information about certification is also on the website:
http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com/certification.html
The Medical Tourism Association launched its bi-weekly
newsletter to help keep the industry up to date on breaking news
and to continually educate on Medical Tourism. Keep an eye out
every other Tuesday to read great articles from Worldwide News
and from the Medical Tourism Association staff! The Medical
Tourism Magazine has launched its online version of the Medical
Tourism Magazine at
www.medicaltourismmag.com . Readers of the
online version of the Medical Tourism Magazine will be able to
read the full version of the magazine online for free and view
past issues. The Online Medical Tourism Magazine will have
special features that aren’t in the printed magazine such as:
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Audio Interviews with the advertisers, where readers can
learn what services and benefits they provide in more detail
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Access to medical tourism videos and other relevant news
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Expanded readership into the hundreds of thousands in over
50 countries
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Advertisers in the print subscription of the magazine will
automatically receive free advertising on the online version
of the Medical Tourism Magazine. All issues of the magazine
will be available online to readers
Due to the tremendous exposure and readership for our
advertisers at the online website, the Medical Tourism Magazine
will reduce its 2009 Magazine budget and now become a bimonthly
printed magazine. The online subscription will be free of charge
and the hard copy subscription will be $100 USD annually.
Medical Tourism Association Members and World Medical Tourism
Congress attendees will receive a free annual subscription.
Medical Tourism Association will use the subscription fees to
cover the cost of printing and shipping.
Thank you to everyone for your participation in the new
committee calls and those who have already taken advantage of
some of the exciting new member benefits. 2008 has been a great
year for the Medical Tourism Association and we are looking
forward to an even better 2009!
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"Outsourcing Health Care
to India"
Wall Street Journal, Monday December 15th 2008 by Uday
Khandeparkar
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There's nothing like an
economic crisis to spur companies to take uncommon steps --
such as incentivizing employees to travel halfway around the
world to get medical treatment.
It's outsourcing of a
different kind, but the aim is familiar: to save money.
[Year-to-date performance]
Indian hospital groups are
betting the economic crisis will transform the medical
tourism industry from one tailored to individual patients,
to one that targets corporate America's soaring health-care
costs.
If this sounds far-fetched,
recall that Indian back-office services were resisted until
about a decade ago.
Next month, Apollo Hospitals,
India's biggest health-care company, will for the first time
treat employees of a non-Indian company, Wisconsin-based
Serigraph Inc., for certain elective procedures.
The costs will be picked up
by Serigraph's insurer, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Employees will receive travel and concierge help, including
free plane tickets for patient and companion, plus
post-operative care upon return to the U.S. There will be no
co-payments.
It's a trial program, but the
economic benefits aren't in doubt: A cardiac bypass can cost
about $100,000 in a U.S. private hospital. Apollo says it
can do the procedure -- and accommodate a companion -- for a
tenth of the cost.
On a purely financial basis,
it's enormously appealing. The U.S., don't forget, is where
soaring employee health-care costs have helped drive the
auto industry into the ground.
"They desperately need to cut
costs. And what's true for auto makers is true for corporate
America," says Vishal Bali, chief executive of Wockhardt
Hospitals, one of Apollo's India-based rivals.
About 150,000 foreigners
sought elective medical treatment in India last year. The
numbers have been rising by 15% a year as people reckon
India's just fine for joint replacements and root canals.
To embed themselves in
Corporate America, Indian health-care companies have to
prove their physicians are competent, tools and techniques
cutting-edge and blood supplies safe.
There's plenty of
competition: Singapore, Thailand and Costa Rica, to name a
few.
India's information
technology services providers faced initial resistance when
customers of U.S. companies were taken aback to find
themselves speaking with India-based telephone operators
with heavily-accented English.
As for the fundamental pillar
of medical tourism -- cost -- the argument is getting
stronger: Each U.S. dollar today fetches 25% more rupees
than it did a year ago.
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"Need Health Care? Go to
Mexico"
American Chronicle,
Monday December 1st 2008 by Robert Higgs
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Porfirio Díaz, the Mexican strongman of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth century, famously
described his country´s situation by exclaiming,
"¡Pobre México! ¡Tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca
de los Estados Unidos!" (Poor Mexico! So far
from God and so close to the United States!) I
cannot say whether Mexico is now any closer to
God, but its proximity to the United States is
definitely proving to be a godsend for many
Americans in need of medical and dental care.
Medical tourism is a rapidly growing industry,
estimated to bring in gross revenues now well in
excess of $60 billion per year, and Mexico is a
convenient destination for many Americans in
need of pharmaceutical drugs, dental work, and
surgical procedures. Prices may be as much as
two-thirds below those in the United States for
comparable goods and services. The Los Angeles
Times reports, for example, that at Los
Algodones, a Mexican town of about 10,000
population on the border with California,
"dental offices outnumber restaurants 49 to
nine. Add in the 26 pharmacies, 20 optical shops
and 14 physicians offices, and you´ve got
something of a mecca of medicine." Similar towns
may be found here and there along the entire
Mexican border, especially across from Texas.
U.S. hospital firms are now investing in the
construction of new care facilities in Mexico,
to serve Mexicans, to be sure, but also with an
eye toward the norteamericanos who are expected
to seek their services.
These developments are one of the many
unanticipated consequences of the jerry-rigged
interventionist nightmare known as the U.S.
health care system, which is geared to soak up
money from people with so-called health care
insurance (more accurately described as prepaid
health care, because insurance principles have
little to do with how the policies are
formulated or implemented). If, like me, you
have no insurance to cover noncatastrophic
health contingencies, you quickly discover that
the pricing arrangements for medical care in
this country savagely discriminate against those
who pay out of their own pockets. (Insurers have
made arrangements for the providers to accept
much less than I must pay on my own account.)
So, a huge potential market exists for
cross-border health care. Of course, too,
Medicare does not pay for dental work, so that
situation also draws many elderly customers
south of the border.
If the Obama administration moves in the
direction it has indicated it will seek to move,
toward even greater government intervention in,
or perhaps complete takeover of, the U.S. health
care system, look for the growth of the Mexican
health care industry to become extremely rapid.
As the United States has long been to Canadians
(who seek to escape from the national health
care system up north), Mexico may become to
Americans, who will need a similar refuge from
their government´s "compassion."
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"Photo Release: Bumrungrad hospital wins
first "Thailand's Most Innovative Company" award"
ThaiPR.net,
Tuesday December 9th 2008
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Bumrungrad International hospital has won “Thailand’s Most
Innovative Company” award in the first year of the event,
organized by Chulalongkorn University’s School of Business. The
competition considered over 500 publicly-listed companies,
narrowing them down on the basis of performance, innovation,
internal processes and management. Bumrungrad and PTT
Exploration and Production were named winners in the Service and
Manufacturing categories, respectively.
The award adds to a list of honors achieved by Bumrungrad this
year, including top medical tourism destination (Tourism
Authority of Thailand); top Thai company for quality of products
and services (Asian Wall Street Journal); and excellence in
information technology (Assoc. of Medical Directors of
Information Systems).
Dr. Chamaree Chuapetcharasopon (left), the hospital’s Medical
Director, accepted the award from Prof. Dr. Pirom
Kamol-Ratanakul, President of Chulalongkorn University.
Wissanun Kunplin (Palmy)
Public Relations Coordinator
Phone: +66 2667 2212
Email:
profficer@bumrungrad.com
www.bumrungrad.com
Bumrungrad International Hospital is a member of the Medical
Tourism Association.
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"Cleveland Clinic Completes
Nation's First 'Almost' Total Face Transplant"
FoxNew.com,
Tuesday December 16th 2008
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The nation's first near-total face transplant has been done on a
woman at the Cleveland Clinic, the hospital announced Tuesday.
Reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow replaced nearly all
of the woman's face — 80 percent — with that of a dead female
donor in an operation a couple weeks ago.
The patient's name and age were not released. The hospital plans
a news conference Wednesday to give details.
The world's first partial face transplant occurred in France
three years ago on a woman who had been mauled by her dog. Two
others have been announced since then — a Chinese farmer
attacked by a bear and a European man disfigured by a genetic
condition.
The nature of the injuries or disfigurement that prompted the
Cleveland case are not yet known. Such transplants are
controversial, because they are aimed at improving a patient's
quality of life rather than saving it, and require recipients to
take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their life.
"It is very important what kind of recipient they selected," and
how great the need was, said Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a surgeon at
Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, which
plans to offer face transplants too.
"There are patients who can benefit tremendously from this," he
said. "It's great that it happened. It is a major move forward.
Hopefully it will open the door both to the public and to other
centers" wanting to offer such transplants, Pomahac said.
Burn and severe trauma patients have long needed better options,
but "the ethics are really controversial," said Dr. Jeffrey Guy,
director of the Burn Center at Vanderbilt University.
The risk now is balancing two medical risks: the need to give
strong immune suppression drugs to prevent rejection, and
managing the risk of infection increased by taking such
medicines.
Rejection is a possibility whenever someone receives an organ or
cells from someone else because the body regards this as foreign
tissue. Two types of problems can result.
The first is graft-versus-host disease, which happens when the
new marrow attacks the body of the recipient (the host). The
second is when the host's body attacks the marrow or the
transplanted face, causing inflammation and other problems at
the site of the new tissue.
Either of these can be life-threatening. They can come on
suddenly, within days or weeks of the operation, a situation
called acute rejection. Or chronic, low-level rejection can set
in and slowly undermine the recipient's health. |
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Issue: Week of December 2nd 2008
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"Hollywood Here We Come!"
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Many people
have asked us why we moved the World Medical Tourism & Global
Health Congress from San Francisco to Los Angeles. San Francisco
was an amazing premier city for the 1st Annual
Conference. An international city with unique restaurants,
shopping, and great fall weather! So why move a good thing?
“Los Angeles
was chosen as the destination for the Congress because it is the
second largest city in the United States, where over 224
languages are spoken, and because Los Angeles has one of the
largest amounts of health insurance agents/providers and
employers. This 2nd Annual Congress should see a significant
increase in the number of employers and insurance companies who
attend because of it’s strategic location which should be very
exciting”, said Jonathan Edelheit, President of the Medical
Tourism Association.
Los Angeles gives
the 2nd Annual World Medical Tourism & Global Health
Congress the room it needs to grow. We now have room for up to
2,000 attendees and over 100 exhibitors. Los Angles is another
great California city, with many fun and exciting things to do,
places to eat, and nightlife, you can read more about what Los
Angles has to offer on:
www.discoverlosangeles.com.
As the Medical Tourism industry continues to prosper and grow so
will in fact the top Medical Tourism Conference in the world,
the World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress.
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"American
Healthcare & Economic Crisis - What Does it Mean for Medical
Tourism?"
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Everyone around
the world is aware of the ongoing healthcare crisis in the
United States. While people know some of the statistics, such
as almost 50 million Americans have no health insurance and
hundreds of millions do have health insurance which costs
continue to rise, no on really knows the true cost of
healthcare.
The
recently released Kaiser Family Foundation report showed some of
the scary facts of where healthcare in the US is headed. The
average yearly cost of health insurance for an American family
is now
$12,680. That, in some cases, is almost twice the average annual
income that people make in some countries where medical tourism
is a destination. The average American pays for a single
person’s health insurance about $4,704 per year. In some cases
the employer pays for the cost of health insurance for the
employee, but not for the family, which means an employee may
have to pay as much as $7,976 per year to provide health
insurance for their family. For those that don’t have group
health insurance coverage provided through their employer, they
must pay 100% of all their health care costs which can exceed
$12,680 per year.
On a
personal note, I am a healthy young American with no health
conditions, and I rarely go to the doctor or hospital.The last
time I went to the hospital that I can remember is when I broke
my leg playing football in high school. Even being healthy and
almost never going to the doctor or hospital, my annual health
insurance cost is around $5,760 per year for just my own
policy. With that $5,760 I also have a $2,000 deductible plus
coinsurance and other out of pocket expenses if I needed to go
to the hospital or get surgery. Imagine the costs if I was not
in perfect health! Each year my health insurance costs go up,
even though I am not even using the coverage. It is slowly
reaching a point where health insurance is totally unaffordable
for the average American.
"We may
be seeing the tip of the iceberg of a trend towards less
comprehensive, skimpier insurance with higher out-of-pocket
payments for working people," said Drew Altman, president and
CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation. “That's bad news at a time
when workers are being by hit other economic pressures from
declining 401(k)s to higher food and gas prices and problems
paying the rent and mortgage."
In
1988, US employers with 200 or more employees had 66% of them
providing retiree health benefits, where as of today, only 31%
now provide that benefit, a clear sign that retiree health
insurance is on the decline and eventually may be phased out.
The
Economic Crisis
To add
fuel to the fire is the US economic crisis. We are seeing large
financial institutions failing such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac,
American International Group (AIG), Lehman Brothers, and others
all getting bailed out by the federal government. The US
government just did a $700 billion dollar bailout of companies
due to the financial crisis, and many estimate that the amount
could easily be over $1 trillion US dollars when it is complete,
and it is only a partial bailout, meaning only certain companies
will see the funds, others will simply receive no funds and go
out of business. Some are describing it,, that times are as bad
or could shortly be as bad as the Great Depression seen in the
United States many years ago.
Cutting
Credit
As a
result of the financial and economic crisis that is ongoing,
many banks have started to cut credit offered to both business
and consumers. Many US businesses operate on credit and borrow
money from banks and financial organizations to pay for existing
business expenses or to help finance long term business
projects. Some of these businesses are forced to scale back
their operations because of the lack of access to credit to
continue doing business. Some of these businesses will end up
cutting and eliminating health insurance benefits or shifting
costs to employees, and or raising deductibles and coinsurance.
Some may lay off employees, which will in the end significantly
increase the number of uninsured people in America.
$700 billion bailout
No one has even
addressed the effect the $700 billion bailout will have on the
American economy and also future proposed projects. Once this
money is spent, it will have wiped out monies that were meant
for other projects, healthcare, education, and other things.
This means that while the concept of universal or national
healthcare was not realistic, it will be impossible to
accomplish anytime for years to come, because there will be no
money left for it. It also means there will be less money
available to deal with problems with funding Medicare and
Medicaid. The $700 billion bailout simply means the healthcare
crisis in the US will continue to get worse and there will be no
resources for it. It could have much longer term affects such
as speeding up the timeframe of when Medicare may not be able to
be funded anymore, or result in cuts in Medicaid benefits.
A Bad US Economy?
In reality when
the US economy is not doing well, this is actually when
historically the health insurance flourishes and grows
significantly. Simply put, when the economy is great,
employers are not concerned with the costs of healthcare. When
the economy is in a decline and employers feel the pinch,
employers look for creative way to cut costs and save money.
Some employers
will accomplish cutting costs by raising deductibles and
coinsurance, some by shifting more of the cost of healthcare to
the employee and their family, and some taking the step of
simply eliminating offering health insurance to employees.
Medical Tourism
as a Solution
I am a firm
believer that 2009 will be the year of Medical Tourism in the
United States. With the severe economic crisis we are in and
severe health insurance crisis, employers and consumers simply
cannot afford to overlook the significant 50% to 90% savings
that medical tourism has to offer. As employers start raising
deductibles for health insurance, this simply makes medical
tourism incentives much more attractive to patients.
Some people in
the medical tourism industry have stated that because of the US
economic crisis less medical tourists will be traveling overseas
because of less monetary resources to do so. I think it is the
exact opposite. More Americans will travel overseas because the
cost of plastic surgery, major dental surgery, and major medical
procedures are simply too costly in the United States and their
only option will be to travel overseas. If you are the average
American worker, making $35,000 a year, and you are struggling
to pay for gas and pay the mortgage each month on your house and
you want or need dental implants, gastric bypass, or a knee
replacement you will either make the decision to hold off
getting the procedure done, until the economy turns around and
you have more disposable money, or decide to hop onto a plane
and get it done overseas.
Employers and
Medical Tourism
As employers
start to feel the effects of the financial collapse of large
financial institutions, they are going to be forced to look at
ways to be more creative in controlling their health insurance
costs. Most employers have been trying consumer driven benefit
plan designs or value based benefit designs. But consistently, I
am hearing from employers, health insurance agents, and
insurance companies these plan designs are not working.
Employers are seeing little to no Return on Investment (ROI)
from these plan designs and their health insurance premium costs
continue to skyrocket.
Medical Tourism
is the ultimate consumer driven tool that can immediately
provide a return on investment for an employer and it is not a
theoretical ROI, but one they can see in immediate hard dollar
savings when an employee or dependent goes overseas. As
employers understand the high quality of care available
overseas, they will implement this new “consumer driven”
benefit, because it allows the employee or dependent to make an
educated decision on where to go for medical care, based on
quality, price, and ease of access, not just in the US, but
wherever they want in the world.
While the
economic crisis we are having in the United States is extremely
bad for the US economy and Americans, it could be the door
opener that exposes Americans and employers to the benefit of
medical tourism and how it can help ease the economic crisis by
lowering the costs of healthcare to both employers and their
employees.
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"Medical
Tourism Magazine Issues and 2008 World Medical Tourism & Global
Health Congress Videos NOW FOR SALE!"
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Do you wish you could get a copy of all 6 of the Medical Tourism
Magazine Issues, or watch a full session or workshop from the
2008 World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress? Now you
Can!
Legal and Marketing Workshop videos, plus general session’s
videos are now for sale!
Short samples of the video clips are
available to view on our
website at
http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com/videos.html.
The World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress in San
Francisco was a huge success and focused on
advanced topics of Medical Tourism. The
conference also featured advanced workshops in the areas of
marketing, Building International patient departments, legal
issues, quality of care, medical tourism facilitator hot topics,
and more! Some of the panel session highlights were the Employer
panel session where participants from Black & Decker, Procter &
Gamble and Hannaford Brothers discussed their feelings on
medical tourism. Another exciting panel session was the
Insurance company panel session consisting of participants from
Swiss Re, United Healthcare, CIGNA, and Assurant Health
discussing both the negatives and positives of medical tourism
and the insurance company view of medical tourism.
You can also order all 6 back issues of the Medical Tourism
Magazine to complete your Medical Tourism Magazine library! Each
issue covers the world as a whole, but also has a special inside
focus on one specific country the first six issues included
destinations such as: Costa Rica, India, US, Monterrey Mexico,
the Philippines, and Korea. You don’t want to miss out on one
issue of these amazing magazines!
To purchase the Full Video Session DVD
sets and back issues of the
Medical Tourism Magazine,
please click here
www.mtamembership.com, from the home screen click on the
word Register to the right of “World Medical Tourism & Global
Health Congress Videos.” Once you do this, supply your email,
and your option to purchase videos and the magazine issue will
appear! Video orders may take 3-4 weeks to arrive.
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"Medical Tourism
Congress Announces Call For Papers!"
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The 2nd Annual World Medical Tourism & Global Health
Congress has released a Call for Papers. The Conference will be
held from October 26-28th at the Hyatt Regency
Century Plaza, Los Angeles, California.
Theoretical and empirical papers in all areas of Medical
Tourism, Medical Travel, Health Tourism, Health Travel, and
related fields are welcome. Papers must be submitted in English.
There are three ways in which to submit your paper or
presentation ideas:
1)
Submit your paper for
a chance to present at the Conference, either in single or panel
session
2)
Submit you paper for a
chance that it will be provided to all conference attendees
3)
Recommend A Panel
Session
The Conference is affiliated with The Medical Tourism Magazine.
The
Medical Tourism Magazine is a Bi-monthly Medical Tourism
industry magazine in both print and electronic versions. The
Magazine addresses important issues affecting the Medical
Tourism industry and has a primary focus on the quality of
healthcare available at leading international hospitals.
Papers submitted will also be considered
for publication in the Medical Tourism Magazine. The latest
issue of the magazine is available to read online at
www.medicaltourismmag.com/.
The deadline to submit your paper is
February 15, 2009. To read the submission guidelines and
download an application to submit please go to:
www.medicaltourismcongress.com |
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"Medical Tourism:
Patients Jet to Foreign Locales for Surgical Procedures and
Return Home for Follow-Up Care"
Nurse.com, Monday November 17th 2008 by Marcia Frellick |
The concept is enticing. Hospitals in exotic locales are
advertising packages for patients needing surgery that include
personal medical attention in luxury rooms, airfare, and the
chance to enjoy a vacation after recovery all for a fraction of
the same surgery cost in their home country.
Once primarily focused on cosmetic surgery, the concept of
medical tourism now includes life-changing and life-saving
procedures such as hip replacements and heart bypass operations.
Patients are jetting off to Thailand, India, Mexico, and Costa
Rica, and the list of countries that want a piece of the market
is constantly expanding.
Insurers in the U.S. are taking notice, and a few are offering
coverage for foreign procedures. Advocates point to greatly
reduced costs, shorter wait times, highly trained medical
staffs, and more personalized care. But there are risks, and
patients need to do their research before going this route.
Ask the Questions, Weigh the Risks
Joshua Jacobs, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Rush University
Medical Center in Chicago and former chairman of the American
Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons Council on Research, says
questions should go beyond the qualifications of the surgeon.
Patients should ask about the availability of technology, sub
specialists, and services.
"Even if a physician is well-trained, what about the
availability of radiology, physical therapy, and blood banking
services?" Jacobs says. "Are the standards and regulations in
place for wrong-site surgery and prophylactic antibiotics?"
He says the patient likely will get follow-up care back home
with a doctor who was not present at the surgery. Also, drugs
prescribed overseas may not be approved by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, so medical professionals in the U.S. would
have to find substitute drugs with similar mechanisms.
"There is value to having follow-up care with the surgeon who
does your surgery," Jacobs says. "That can be lost with medical
tourism. Can it be measured in outcomes? There's no real
scientific data on that."
The other big question is liability. There's always a risk that
a procedure could go wrong, which could lead to navigating
unfamiliar legal systems. And who determines whether the
standard of care was met? Patient privacy rules also are
different abroad.
Medical tourism has caught the attention of the American Medical
Association, which this year issued nine guidelines for
patients, insurers, employers, and companies responsible for
coordinating travel. Among them are that patients should be
referred only to institutions accredited by recognized
international bodies such as the Joint Commission International
or the International Society for Quality in Health Care. Also,
before travel, local follow-up care should be coordinated to
ensure continuity of care when patients return to the U.S.
Patients first need to consult their home physicians on whether
a long flight would jeopardize their health. Those at risk for
developing deep vein thrombosis, for instance, are not good
candidates.
Next, patients should research which hospitals and physicians
are internationally accredited. A good start is the JCI, which
lists accredited hospitals on its Web site. Patients also should
find out where a doctor received training and how many times he
or she has performed the procedure.
Doing the research can be a small price to pay for the cost
savings. According to a study by the Medical Tourism
Association, a non-profit international association created in
response to the growing interest in medical tourism, the average
price for a hip replacement in the U.S. is $43,000. The cost for
the same procedure in India is $5,800-$7,100; $12,000 in
Thailand and Costa Rica; and $14,000 in Mexico. A hysterectomy
costs $20,000 in the U.S.; $2,300-$6,000 in India; $4,500 in
Thailand; and $6,000 in Mexico.
It's not just the cost patients should consider, but the value,
says Renee-Marie Stephano, chief operating officer and general
counsel for the MTA. "Do you go and get a Botox shot?" she says.
"No. Do you go for a minor procedure? Maybe, if you want to
incorporate a vacation."
Stephano says some people seek help overseas for the wrong
reasons, particularly cosmetic patients who have run out of
doctors willing to perform more procedures on them. "Lots of
chronic cosmetic patients go overseas and think, 'The doctors
won't know my history and they'll be willing to work on me.' "
she says. "But if five doctors here have told you it's not a
good idea, then that's what the doctors overseas are going to
say."
She points to reasons medical tourism is an attractive choice,
among them that doctors abroad may have more experience
performing procedures only recently approved in the U. S. "The
volume of patients coming through is higher than that of most
hospitals here," Stephano says.
A Personal Touch
Stephano says patients are drawn to the personal care. "Personal
nurse-to-patient ratios in private hospitals that are promoting
themselves for medical tourism have an average ratio of 1 to 3,"
she says. "Generally, in private hospitals (in the U.S.) that
number is 1 to 10. You also can get your doctor's cell phone
number — that's standard procedure overseas."
Terri Ingram of Edwards, Miss., had just that kind of experience
recently. She needed a vertical sleeve gastrectomy to repair a
stomach stapling operation. The operation was not covered by her
insurer, so she investigated alternatives for an operation that
can cost more than $20,000 in the U.S.
Ingram traveled to Clinica Biblica in San Jose, Costa Rica, in
June. She said her total costs for surgery, a nine-day stay in a
four-star hotel, plus airfare and related expenses were $12,050.
She was impressed with the accessibility of the staff and
follow-up visits by a home nurse who visited her at her hotel.
"The surgeon gave me his cell phone and his office numbers,"
Ingram says. "Also, a liaison or interpreter went from one
appointment to the next to make sure we got where we needed to
be. We never had a moment when we could not communicate with
someone."
The number of people buying into medical tourism is unclear
because of patient privacy issues and because of a lack of a
central agency tracking the reasons people are getting surgery
in another country. But all signs indicate huge potential for
growth in the industry as U.S. healthcare costs swell and the
number of uninsured and underinsured patients balloon.
Quantifying results of offshore medical procedures is more
difficult. "It would be really helpful if we had good scientific
outcome studies," Jacobs says. "As it is now, we are operating
in a vacuum. Medical tourism is happening and people are making
this choice, so it's something we should observe and monitor."
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Issue: Week of November 17th 2008
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"Medical Tourism Magazine Launches
Magazine Website"
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The Medical Tourism Magazine
has launched its online version of the Medical Tourism
Magazine at
www.medicaltourismmag.com
.
Readers of the online
version of the Medical Tourism Magazine will be able to read
the full version of the magazine online for free and view
past issues.
The Online Medical Tourism
Magazine will have special features that aren’t in the
printed magazine such as:
·
Audio Interviews with the
advertisers, where readers can learn what services and
benefits
they provide in more detail
·
Access to medical tourism
videos and other relevant news.
·
Expanded readership into the
hundreds of thousands in over 50 countries
·
Advertisers in the print
subscription of the magazine will automatically receive free
advertising on
the online version of the Medical Tourism Magazine. All
issues of the magazine will be available
online to readers.
As the only Magazine and
publication in the Medical Tourism Industry, Medical Tourism
Magazine has had tremendous success in and is read by
thousands of readers from over 50 different countries,
including insurance companies, employers, health insurance
agents, medical tourism facilitators, hospitals, clinics,
governments and other industry participants. The Medical
Tourism Magazine is free for subscribers in both print and
electronic versions. The Medical Tourism Magazine addresses
important issues affecting the Medical Tourism industry and
has a primary focus on the quality of healthcare available
at leading international hospitals. Each issue of the
medical tourism magazine covers the world as a whole, but
also has a special inside focus on one specific country.
We are always looking for
stories, articles, authors and input for our magazine. If
you would like to submit an article or story idea or would
like your hospital or country featured in our magazine
please contact us at
info@MedicalTourismMag.com
The Medical Tourism magazine is
the industry magazine for the medical tourism, medical
travel and health tourism industry.
If you don't have a subscription to the magazine, sign up
today for a free subscription. If you are not an advertiser
in the magazine and would like to advertise your company,
hospital or clinic, please contact us today!
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"Sonora Mexico The Rising Goal of Medical
Tourism" |
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Raymundo Lopez Vucovich, Secretary of Health Tourism, Sonora and
Jonathan Edelheit, President, Medical Tourism Association, & Dr.
Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos,
Secretary of Health Mexico
Hermosillo,
Sonora Mexico
November 6th and 7th
Invited attendees from Mexico and the United States gathered in
Sonora Mexico for the first International Forum on “Sonora
Opportunities and Perspectives of Health Tourism”. The forum
featured 200 delegates over two days of panel discussions to
help promote Medical Tourism in Sonora Mexico. The keynote
speaker was Dr. Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos, Secretary of
Health in Mexico who spoke about the upcoming challenges that
will be faced in Sonora and about their goals for the future.
Two representatives from the Medical Tourism Association were
present for this forum, President Jonathan Edelheit and Melissa
Skelton. Jonathan Edelheit was a speaker for the panel session
on Global Market Trends for Providing Healthcare Services to
Foreigners and also spoke on Medical Insurance for Foreign
Patients. One of the hot topics at the conference was
accreditation, since currently there are only 3 JCI accredited
hospitals in Mexico. Many hospitals were waiting until they were
accredited before they started marketing in the US to bring
patients. The misconception for many is that a hospital needs
to be JCI accredited before they can start receiving overseas
patients.
The Medical Tourism Association representatives took two
hospital site tours. The hospitals they visited were CIMA
Hospital Hermosillo and Hospital San Jose. Both hospitals were
busy preparing for accreditation and eager to bring US patients
to their hospitals. Hospital San Jose was built two years ago
and is preparing to build an International Patient Department.
During both tours they saw a lot of positive steps in the right
direction, from top of the line technology being used, plans for
remodeling/expansion, and building for the future.
The forum was a step in the right direction for Medical Tourism
in Sonora. Health Tourism of Sonora was a Bronze Sponsor at the
World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress where they
networked with many of the speakers that spoke at the forum. |
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" Medical Tourism Association Launches New
Certification Program for Medical
Tourism Facilitators" |
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A
breakthrough certification system for medical tourism
facilitators gives
patients and insurance companies an
additional level of transparency.
Medical Tourism Association Certification Logo
After over a year in research and gathering input from the
members, the Medical Tourism Association has launched a “Medical
Tourism Certification” program specifically to provide
information to patients, insurance companies and employers about
international patient services offered by Medical Tourism
Facilitators. This is not designed to certify quality, but will
serve as a source of information about the international patient
services offered to foreign patients by medical tourism
facilitators. This will include things like languages spoken,
informed consent forms, transparency in pricing, transparency in
legal recourse and more. What about medical tourism
facilitators? Are they more than just a website? Do they have
protocols in place to assist patients with appropriate aftercare
facilities? Do they provide assistance for aftercare? Are they
transparent regarding the price of their services?
The certification for Medical Tourism Facilitators is valuable
in assisting patients, employers and insurance companies to
identify which facilitators have benefits suitable for them.
The Medical Tourism Association Certification focuses on the
international patients’ services and protocols currently being
utilized and marketed to foreign patients.
The Certification system will be open to
Medical Tourism Association Members. To learn more about how you
can get MTA Certified please contact us at
info@MedicalTourismAssociation.com
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"Medical Tourism Conference Tackles
Monterrey Mexico" |
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Monterrey, Mexico
The Medical Tourism Association is proud to announce the Latin
America Medical Tourism Congress which will take place in
Monterrey Mexico April 27th, 28th and 29th,
2009 and will feature up to 300 attendees and over 15
exhibitors! This conference will focus on the growing trend of
Medical Tourism in Latin America and will also feature site
visits of the top hospitals and clinics in Monterrey, Mexico.
Monterrey is known as one of the top destinations of medical
tourism in Latin America, has many JCI Accredited hospitals and
is the location of one of the first established “Healthcare
Cities” in the world.
Meet US Insurance Carriers, US insurance agents, providers and
medical tourism facilitators, as well as Latin American
Healthcare Leaders, and Industry players from over ten Latin
America countries. The Conference registration will be $399 USD
for early bird registrations.
The medical tourism conference will feature many exciting
educational sessions from insurance providers and hospitals and
will highlight the quality of care available in Latin America.
For
more information please email
info@MedicalTourismCongress.com
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"Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Introduces International Medical Tourism Pilot Program" |
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Anthem Blue
Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin (Anthem) today announced a
new international medical tourism pilot product that will allow
members to access benefits for certain common elective
procedures at designated facilities in India. Beginning in
January 2009, Anthem will pilot the program with Serigraph Inc.,
a Wisconsin-based global provider of printed decorating
solutions.
Under the
pilot program, Serigraph members planning to undergo certain
procedures can enjoy access to an extended network of respected
hospitals and health care providers in India. By electing to use
the international benefit, members can receive care at
accredited facilities at lower out-of-pocket costs for common
non-emergency procedures that could result in thousands of
dollars in total savings. The pilot program includes coverage of
certain common non-emergency procedures such as major joint
replacement, upper and lower back fusion, and other procedures
that have significant cost differences between domestic and
international providers.
"Anthem Blue
Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin is committed to finding
innovative solutions to our nation's health care challenges, and
we are continually evaluating new concepts," said Dr. Michael
Jaeger, managing medical director for Anthem in Wisconsin.
"Increasingly, our employer clients have expressed interest in
accessing foreign providers as a means to reduce their claim
expenditures, because they see medical tourism as a promising
option for improving access to affordable, quality health care.
"We're proud
to partner with Serigraph, a leader in workplace benefits
innovation, on this pilot and believe the plan design we've
structured will not only empower members to be more involved in
the care they receive, but also help employers better manage
their health care costs."
Members who
choose to access this international option will have a dedicated
case manager who will coordinate all medical arrangements,
including scheduling and concierge travel service. All travel
arrangements will be booked and paid for, for both the member
and a travel companion. The case manager will also help make
arrangements for any necessary post-operative care upon the
member's return to the United States.
All
hospitals within the international program are accredited by the
Joint Commission International, whose accreditation standards
are based on international consensus standards and set uniform,
achievable expectations for structures, processes and outcomes
for hospitals. The program also complies with American Medical
Association (AMA) guidelines for medical tourism.
"The market
for many products and services has gone global -- why not health
care," said Linda Buntrock, senior vice president at Serigraph.
"It will be interesting to see the competition for customers in
the market for medical services and how many employees in our
medium-sized company take advantage of this opportunity once we
have the program in place. We hope our employees choose to
access the international medical tourism option, which has the
potential to greatly benefit their household budgets by cutting
down out of pocket costs while retaining their ability to
receive quality care."
About
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin
In
Wisconsin, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name
used by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin ("BCBSWi") and
Compcare Health Services Insurance Corporation ("Compcare"),
independent licensees of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
(R)ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance
Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols
are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association. Additional information about Anthem Blue Cross and
Blue Shield in Wisconsin is available at
www.anthem.com
.
Blue Cross
Blue Shield of Wisconsin ("BCBSWi") underwrites or administers
the PPO and indemnity policies; Compcare Health Services
Insurance Corporation ("Compcare") underwrites or administers
the HMO policies; and Compcare and BCBSWi collectively
underwrite or administer the POS policies.
About Serigraph
From the
company's beginnings in an entrepreneur's garage in 1949,
Serigraph Inc. has become one of the largest specialty printers
in the world. Serigraph has grown to global leadership in screen
and offset printing on plastics. The company employs over 1,200
people in the U.S., Mexico, and Asia to service companies with
operations all over the world.
Co-workers
at all levels of manufacturing, sales, executive management and
support areas have an unmatched work ethic, coupled with an
eagerness to learn and build quality into their work. A
commitment to community involvement and activism are integral
philosophies at Serigraph, with leaders from throughout the
company involved in public and private organizations outside of
work.
Serigraph's
environmental ethic extends beyond meeting and exceeding
regulatory edicts. The company has taken steps to retain the
remaining rural character of its home in Washington County. Upon
completion of the company headquarters in 1997, Serigraph
undertook a prairie restoration project on the property.
Preservation of green space and natural resources in the
community are core values of the company.
"2nd
European Congress on Health Tourism 2009"
Building
on the success of the first European Congress on Health Tourism
in 2008, the 2009 Congress will focus on the leading issues
facing key players in the European health tourism sector. More
than 500 people are expected to attend representing all in the
industry.
The
European Union’s plans for cross border healthcare and
empowering patient choice could mean that Europe will lead the
way in developing globalized health care system. The impact of
these changes affect healthcare providers across Europe and the
rest of the world; the 2009 Congress is the ideal opportunity
for you to find out what these changes mean, how they might
affect your business and the opportunities that to present.
The
Congress offers an attractive mix of educational workshops,
conference sessions, networking opportunities, and briefing
sessions where delegates and visitors can present their
business proposals and services to a forum of experts and
investors. The Congress has earned the support of government
institutions and commercial organizations across the world
including the Medical Tourism Association, Treatment Abroad and
the Ministries of Health in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The 2nd
European Congress on Health Tourism is the leading event in
Europe – 1. – 3. April 2009 in Budapest.
The online registration is open. All
information on
www.congress-echt.com
Hotline: +49-89-66676 898 25 / 26
info@congress-echt.com
For investor briefing sessions check
out especially:
www.congress-echt.com/arena.htm
We have talked enough about it – your
pragmatic input is requested – healthcare in the EMEEA countries
is on a hub – do not miss the chances.
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