How employers are cautiously testing the medical tourism waters:
Despite the five-star facades of some hospitals — fountains, white marble floors, even a Starbucks and McDonald’s inside Bumrungrad’s lobby — the comfort of having a major surgery near home with family at the bedside is a far cry from the experience in the developing world, where culture shock alone can be stressful.
Pollution, poverty and insane traffic are all part of the experience when visiting hospitals like the Indian-owned Max Healthcare facilities in New Delhi, where it’s not uncommon to see people urinating along roadsides. Jet lag, traveler’s diarrhea and strange foods also can be coupled with the unpredictable, such as September’s bloodless military coup in Thailand, which ultimately had little impact on daily life.
Language and cultural barriers also can make communication with doctors and nurses frustrating for some Americans, who are used to being direct with their physicians, often peppering them with tough questions and expecting straightforward answers.
Some Asian cultures also rely more on hints and subtleties to communicate, and doctors in some countries are regarded as authority figures who often aren’t questioned. Follow-up care back in the U.S. also can be an issue for some patients.
“There are a lot of risks,” said Rick Wade, a senior vice president at the American Hospital Association. “What happens if something goes wrong?”
In countries like Thailand and India, medical malpractice claims are rare and multimillion dollar awards are nonexistent.
“If there’s a mistake, we fix it,” said Curtis Schroeder, an American who is group CEO of Bumrungrad hospital, which requires all doctors to carry malpractice insurance. “But the idea of suing for multimillions of dollars for damages is not going to be something you can do outside the U.S.”
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{ 14 comments }
The US is a net exporter of medical services and this is not likely to change anytime soon. The adventurous few will remain that. The most likely people in the US to utilize services in other countries will be dual nationals/immigrants from those countries without US insurance who go back to visit relatives and have their procedure.
interesting, i’d go for the sensible approach to mistakes alone.
I am Rudy Rupak, president and founder of PlanetHospital. While I respect your opinions it is hard to accept them when you are relying on 3rd party information and only seeing the industry from a remote viewpoint. As you will see from our website, we send clients to Singapore which has an infant mortality rate lower than the US, and is in all respects a developed nation on par with any modern city. We also send people to Belgium. I agree that India and Thailand are not for everyone. I also agree that the US has the best healthcare industry in the world — problem is that the majority of Americans cannot afford the best that the US has to offer but it does attract wealthy foreigners (last year I booked 11 foreign patients into the US, I could have booked 40 but immigration issues forced me to send them to Belgium and elsewhere).
What you have to understand is that until America’s healthcare can change to the point where people no longer have to take out a mortgage to save their health then we remain the only other viable (and I choose that word deliberately) option.
The use of “can’t sue for malpractice” as a threat to the sheep of the patient population is so audacious that it could only come from the American allopathic community. This is the same group that while using the lack of ability to sue foreign providers for malpractice as a scare tactic is doing everything in its power to protect the incompetents in its own ranks by limiting the power and ability of injured patients to recover from the healing care of our wonderful domestic butchers. Only in America and only with the MDieties could there be even an expectation that such a blatantly duplicitous double standard be one that is not subjected to scrutiny or discussion. I think what truely scares the domestic providers is the threat of competition. god forbid that the provider class have to compete in the global market instead of fiscally sodomizing tax payers, private parties and even large corporations such as GM and Ford secondary to the use of supply side restrictions and the use of legislative feat to create an insular marketplace. One can only hope that large corporations develop the ability to save themselves from the rapacious domestic provider bunch by incentivising overseas non-emergency surgical care.
Rudy,
I think you missed the mark. That rant belongs on a Law blog not a Medical one. We don’t treat patients anymore, we treat their lawyers.
Wow, lots of good SAT words there. Some of them might even be LSAT words.
“Can’t sue for malpractice” is not a threat by any means. It’s a fact. Maybe it is one of the reasons, even a small one, why care is cheaper offshore.
Here’s another fact: My patients can call me anytime, and get in to have a question answered, have a worrisome wound looked at, get a form filled out. Some of them even come in just to say hi to my friendly staff members, or to leave Christmas cookies at holiday time.
Yet another fact: I’m a lot easier to get to see if I have a previous relationship with a patient. When Jane calls and says, Dr. DB took my gallbladder out a few years ago. I now have a mole that I think might be skin cancer. Can Dr. DB take it off?” You bet he can, and gladly, even though it’s not a good use of my time. The answer may be different if Jane calls and says, “I had my colon cancer taken out in Singapore last year…”
That’s how I compete, by being available, competent, friendly, and, yes, reasonably priced for what I do.
Domestic Butcher, MD
“The US is a net exporter of medical services and this is not likely to change anytime soon.”
Agreed. People all over the world look to the American medical system as the best medical care money can buy–my uncle, 50’s-ish, recently had an acute bout of small bowel obstruction out of nowhere. See the full story on my blog (click my name, above). The price was astonishing, for a 7 day stay in the hospital–70 grand! My uncle, being a Spanish resident, “only” brought 50 grand with him, so my father had to pony up the rest. End result–colitis, not cancer.
On a different note, I hear positive things about tourist hospitals/ medical vacations. It’s like a resort, not a prison like we have. The food is much better, and all of the practitioners are relaxed and attentive, again, unlike NYC.
However, in my training, I have learned that any monkey can do surgery–it’s knowing when NOT to do surgery that makes a surgeon. Also, managing the small fraction of patients who have complications is critical, and demands proper follow-up, which is impossible if you have to travel 3000 miles for your appointment.
I enjoy looking at this blog from time to time mainly to read the comments. I get halfway through the criminalopaths first sentence and I recognized his diarrhea and immedietly skip to the next comment
Well DBMD, one can only assume that you are a great value for your patients. They should have every opportunity to choose you as their care provider. On the other hand, patients that wish to not pay the exorbitant fees charged by domestic providers should have the option of obtaining their healthcare elsewhere at far more resonable cost. Corporate entities as well, which provide a healthcare benefit (not a right as the socialists would have one believe) should have the ability to do so without bankrupting the company. Unlike most other fields in which competition is based on a global scale, healthcare provision is insular and thus the marketplace is dominated by high cost per service providers.
In any event, given the whining that one sees daily from providers about being “killed”, sodomites, etc. it is just amazing that providers would turn to the arguement of lack of legal recourse against foreign based providers when they are actively seeking to strip the patient class of legal recourse when it comes to domestic medical malpractice. The “patient safety” angle, while still fallacious at best, might work a little better than the current angle.
Chucky, stick with the allopathic worship. It is so becoming of one whose mind is apprently comprised of little beyond liquified excreta.
What doctor would see one of these patients once they come back to the US and have complications (or need additional work)?
It seems like a liability nightmare.
“What doctor would see one of these patients once they come back to the US and have complications (or need additional work)?”
If there was a complication, I wouldn’t touch them.
Rudy,
I suspect the vast majority of the savings are from the hospital bill side not the surgeon fee, since surgeon’s fees today are typically only 5% of the total bill. If medical tourism does increase for the lucrative surgeries (hips,hearts,etc) and starts affecting the bottom line for the US hospitals, the hospitals may need to start negotiating. In regards to surgeon fee, not much more to squeeze from that dry sponge.
pgbMD
“The price was astonishing, for a 7 day stay in the hospital–70 grand! My uncle, being a Spanish resident, “only” brought 50 grand with him, so my father had to pony up the rest”
Unfortunately this cost shifting is the result of the 100 indigent illegals that came through the ER with miscellaneous abdominal pain during the 7 days your father was hospitalized.
I never gouge people that have come from afar and are spending their own money. I consider it an honor and privilege to care for anyone who would travel all that way and spend their money to see me.
Surgeons have no problem taking care of their own complications. Someone else’s? Thats a whole other issue, add to that if they were done if a foreign country to try and save money. Good Luck finding a surgeon. By the way its a looong car ride to India.
A few deaths will nip this in the bud. If you are taking a 12 hour flight 2 weeks after a total knee replacement, fatal PEs are going to happen. Then is the employer at fault?
Indian Medical Tourism a Boon for German Patient. Rosemarie Lyntzberger, shares her experience with Southasia.de after her successful hip resurfacing surgery at Workhardt Hospitals, Mumbai, India
Rosemarie Lyntzberger, shares her experience with Southasia.de after her successful hip resurfacing surgery at Workhardt Hospitals, Mumbai, India
Rosemarie Lyntzberger, a German business woman based in Turkey shares her experience with Southasia.de after her successful hip resurfacing surgery at Workhardt Hospital in the western Indian city of Mumbai.
Early this year Rosemarie — who is into tourism business — encountered a leg ailment which curtailed her active life.
She made extensive enquiries with the Turkish hospitals. She wanted to know what exactly was wrong with her leg, what are the corrective procedures available, what are the latest advances in the field, what is the success rate and how long will it take her to bounce back to her active life.
Unfortunately she could not find a satisfactory answer to her queries.
Around this time, she happened to read “Stern,” a popular German magazine, which had a special feature on India. It featured India’s advancement in medical field.
After corresponding with Workhardt Hospital through mails and satisfied with the replies that she will have to undergo special hip resurfacing surgery, she landed in Mumbai.
Rosemarie speaking from Workhardt Hospital, Mumbai where she is undergoing post surgery physiotherapy told SOUTHASIA.DE that her entire medical experience in India was wonderful.
According to Dr. Kaushal Malhan of Workhardt who performed the surgery told SOUTHASIA.DE that the cost of the operation in India is only around Euro 5000, whereas it would cost a patient somewhere around Euro 35000 in US/ Europe,
Goodwill Ambassador
Lyntzberger is highly impressed by the dedication of the medical team which was headed by Dr. Kaushal Malhan and the medical standards at the Workhardt Hospital and would recommend other patients likes her in Europe and elsewhere to come to India for such surgeries.
She would be more than happy to be the ‘Goodwill’ ambassador for India.
Medical Tourism Destination
India is fast emerging a medical tourism destination mainly due to its cost advantage and world class medical facility.
Dr. Malhan of Workhardt Hospital said that patients from Europe and America are more and more choosing India for their critical medical treatment.
This segment is perceived as one of the fastest growing sector. The Indian government has already constituted a task force to assess the opportunities for further promoting India as a health destination.
The Health Ministry has agreed to give fast track visa clearance to the medical patients on arrival In India.
You can view our Article over here:
http://www.wockhardthospitals.net/news/indian-medical-tourism.asp
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