medical tourism

Thought I would share this with all of you!
I have copied and pasted the email here

In 2003 I noticed a growing trend called "medical tourism" where patients
from developed countries were traveling to countries such as India for low
cost surgery. Now a new term is gaining ground, it's called "global
healthcare".

"Global healthcare is coming and American healthcare, which
is pricing itself out of reach, needs to know there are
alternatives"

In the newsletter "Jerusalem's radiographers, Vietnam's architects" I
speculated that one day patients might not have a choice where their
surgery is done: "Perhaps HMOs will soon require US patients to fly to
India to get heart surgery." At that time patients were voluntarily going
to go to other countries in order to reduce their medical expenses, but
there were some things going on in Britain that indicated the voluntary
nature of offshored healthcare was going to change. That same year, a
delegation of Indian doctors went to London to talk to British Prime
Minister Tony Blair's medical advisers on the virtues of flying surgery
patients from the United Kingdom to Mumbai for low cost surgery. It was
only a matter of time before United States employers followed the trend.

Newsletters with more information:
http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/JobDestr ... ws2003.htm
2003 08-21 Jerusalem's radiographers Vietnam's architects
2003 10-08 Will UK and US Offshore Surgery

The following article is making the rounds in many newspapers. Just in case
you feel uneasy about the concept of medical tourism, I included a second
article that says this practice has been going on since the days of ancient
Greece -- so not to worry!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0816/p03s03-usec.html

or

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-o ... story?coll
=la-home-headlines

from the August 16, 2006 edition

Companies explore overseas healthcare
To cut its insurance costs, a US papermaker plans to let workers seek
medical care abroad in 2007.
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

ATLANTA
Carl Garrett, a paper-mill technician in Leicester, N.C., is scheduled to
travel Sept. 2 to New Delhi, where he will undergo two operations. Though
American individuals have gone abroad for cheaper operations, Mr. Garrett
is a pioneer of sorts.

He is a test case for his company, Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc., in
North Carolina, which is set to provide a health benefit plan that allows
its employees and their dependents to obtain medical care overseas
beginning in 2007.

"It's brand-new and nobody's ever heard of going to India or even South
Carolina for an operation, so it's all pretty foreign to people here," says
Garrett. "It's a frontier."

Garrett's medical care alone may save the company $50,000. And instead of
winding up $20,000 in debt to have the operations in the US, he may now get
up to $10,000 back as a share of the savings. He'll also get to see the Taj
Mahal as part of a two-day tour before the surgery.

His two operations could cost $100,000 in the US; they'll run about $20,000
in India.

With US health insurance costs soaring, cash-squeezed companies such as
Blue Ridge and poor states such as West Virginia are considering affordable
plans that may require their employees to travel to India, Thailand, or
Indonesia.

Critics say that limited malpractice laws in foreign countries makes such
travel risky as well as the prospect of spending 20 hours on an airplane
after invasive surgery. Despite the concerns, "medical tourism" is morphing
into "global healthcare."

"Global healthcare is coming and American healthcare, which is pricing
itself out of reach, needs to know there are alternatives" in order to
improve, says Alain Enthoven, senior fellow at the Center for Health Policy
in Stanford, Calif.

The average American hospital bill was $6,280 in 2004, twice that of other
Western countries, according to the National Coalition on Health Care
(NCHC) in Washington.

The cost savings have prompted a few hundred Americans this year to fly to
India, Jakarta, or Bangkok for serious medical conditions, receiving heart
stints and hip replacements. But most of the some 150,000 "medical
tourists" nationwide go for a tooth filling or plastic surgery and a week
at a sunny beach resort where the dollar stretches like lycra.

More companies - especially those with smaller company-run plans - are
investigating people's claims of good overseas hospital care. The
International Standards Organization in Geneva accredits these hospitals
and audits American hospitals, too.

Companies are also attracted to the relatively inexpensive price tag for
care at foreign hospitals, which have been reported to be up to 80 percent
less than in the US. In New Delhi, for example, the Apollo chain of
hospitals gives resort-style convalescence care for $87 a night.

. Insurers Health Net of California already contracts with medical
clinics on the Mexico side of the US border.

. A West Virginia state legislator introduced a bill this year that would
encourage state workers to seek treatment overseas using incentives such as
cash bonuses and family travel.

. United Group Programs in Florida, which administers self-insurance
programs for small companies, has contracted with a Thailand hospital for
its employer clients.

. Inquiries from self-insured employers are brisk at IndUShealth in
Raleigh, N.C., which specializes in offshoring serious medical cases such
as rotator cuff surgery and gall bladder removal to India.

"We're dealing mostly with companies that are self-funded and have
essentially run out of options," says IndUShealth president Tom Keesling.
"It's an amazing trend, and it speaks to the tremendous frustration people
feel with how to provide healthcare services in our current environment."

Blue Ridge Paper Products, which makes the DairyPak milk carton, pleaded
unsuccessfully with providers for discounts for its 5,000 covered workers.
In the past five years, the company established its own clinic and
pharmacy. Blue Ridge decided to try overseas healthcare after it heard that
hospitals "rolled out the red carpet" to American patients based on news
reports and personal accounts from a North Carolina medical traveler
brought in by IndUShealth.

"We want to help our company but also help to drive healthcare reform,"
says Darrell Douglas, vice president of human resources. "We're very much
homebodies ... and the idea of going abroad for fun, let alone healthcare,
is foreign to some people. But we do have some adventuresome people, and
[Mr. Garrett] is one."

For critics, Americans heading overseas for care shows the severity of the
country's healthcare crisis - especially as employers' health insurance
premiums have risen 73 percent while average employee contributions have
risen 143 percent since 2000, according to the NCHC. Rising costs stem from
poor management, inefficiences, waste, fraud, and lack of competition,
critics say.

"We're seeing some employers who are seriously beginning to think about
doing [global healthcare] and not giving employees an option," says Joel
Miller, vice president of operations at the NCHC. "And that has
implications for quality of care, and what recourse people have if
something goes wrong overseas."

Hospital officials say only a sliver of business will be lost to overseas
providers. Yet going overseas for expensive medical services, such as heart
bypass surgery, cut into US hospitals profit centers - such as heart units
- that are used to underwrite emergency rooms and indigent care.

"[Global healthcare] will limit the amount of money that's available for
everybody else to have access to the system and starts to jeopardize access
to healthcare for everybody in the community," says Don Dalton, a spokesman
for the North Carolina Hospital Association.

Garrett, meanwhile, anticipates movie-star treatment in India. Doctors will
operate on his gall bladder and left shoulder, he says, and he will have a
24-hour nurse working only for him while he's recovering. Garrett's
experience could affect whether Blue Ridge will proceed with its plan to
give its workers the option of going overseas for medical care, the company
says. "Everyone can see this thing could really become a big thing, so
they're going to go out of their way to make sure everything is above and
beyond the average in the United States," Garrett says.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +

http://www.isnare.com/?aid=64170&ca=Medical+Business

Medical Tourism: Advantages Of Offshore Health Care
By: Christine Macguire

Medical Tourism can be defined as the provision for patients to travel
offshore in search of faster, cost-effective and safer medical and surgical
procedures. A combination of various different factors have led many people
from industrialized countries to migrate in order to get high quality
medical treatment. The various reasons are the cost issues, ease and
affordability of international travel, long frustrating queues in many
nations and above all improving technology standards of health care in many
countries of the world. Both the health sector and the tourism industry
help to facilitate the process in these countries.

The concept of medical tourism actually traces back to ancient Greece,
where pilgrims and patients from all over the Mediterranean came to the
sanctuary of healing god, Asklepios, at Epidaurus. In the 18th century the
wealthy Europeans from Germany traveled to the Mediterranean spas. The 21st
century has taken the medical tourism industry beyond the wealthy and the
desperate providing low cost treatment and transportation services. The
leisure, fun and relaxation together with health care attached to it have
made medical tourism a common form of vacation.

Medical tourism presents an opportunity for hospitals to tap the potential
of the international healthcare market and eventually leverage their
business. The advancement of medical technology, increased transportation
facilities and necessity of immediate quality healthcare has encouraged the
healthcare providers to go global. Medical tourists travel great distances
to seek world-class doctors and hospitals. The healthcare providers
worldwide are investing to acquire the cutting edge technology and venture
into the areas of latest medical research. They even provide lucrative
non-medical services such as hospitality services, spa facilities, and
pick-up services to facilitate the stay and treatment of their
international clientele.

One major reason that medical tourism is attractive to many people is that
it offers medical treatments at a comparatively low cost. Moreover the
public healthcare systems in developed countries are very much overburdened
and traveling to foreign land for immediate treatment is often a solution
to the problem. Medical tourism is popular and generally accepted because
it provides the patients with medical assistance accompanied by five-star
treatment and exclusive vacations. Thailand and India are among the
emerging popular spots for medical tourism. The Government of India has
successfully exerted its leadership to assist in the development of the
medical tourism industry in the country.

India is one of the leading players in the medical tourism industry today.
Cosmetic surgery and dental treatments is usually what the medical tourists
have been looking for, but recent studies reveal even eye surgery, kidney
dialysis and organ transplantation are among the most common procedures
sought by medical vacationers. In particular, India excels in open-heart
surgery, pediatric heart surgery, bone marrow transplants and cancer
therapy. Indian hospitals are equipped with the latest electronic and
medical diagnostic equipment. Indian pharmaceuticals meet the stringent
requirements of U.S. Food and Drug Administration and even qualify for the
American standards for quality of care.

The medical tourism in India has become one of the booming business
sectors. Marketing ones facilities with informative websites outlining the
transparent pricing schemes and availability of latest medical
accoutrements are the trend of the day. As more and more patients from
affluent nations look for effective options in India, the medical tourism
industry has been expanding at a fast pace. Developments will of course
lead to various other economic activities where the main element will
always remain quality.