The Other Side Of Medical Tourism

Thanks to spiralling health care costs in Europe, the United Sates of America and Canada, medical tourism it would seem, has come to stay. Last year, according to statistics,more than 150,000 patients travelled abroad for health care because they could not afford the same in their own countries.
This makes medical tourism a lucrative business for above board investors and the not so scrupulous ones . Quality is very often sacrificed for higher margins, which puts the health traveller at risk.
There are more than 28 countries offering affordable health care and every day sees at least one more country joining the fray.
The internet is a useful tool for the providers of such services, to advertise what they have to offer. The unsuspecting customer searches through the net and selects a provider who he thinks is offering him the best deal: a decision the poor man might rue later.
The least that the governments of those countries that cannot provide their citizens with health care at home can do is make sure that they don't become victims of medical tourism;put in place some governmental machinery that will safeguard the interests of their credulous citizens.

Dont get conned

Bariatric surgery poised for growth

There is an increasing demand for bariatric surgery in the U.S. The American Society for Bariatric Surgery estimates 177,600 Americans had bariatric surgery last year, up from 36,700 in 2000.

Lap Band and gastric bypass are both popular, but Lap band is gaining the edge over the more radical gastric bypass which is more expensive and can result in complications leading to death.
Surgeon Todd Eibes at the Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines says that the surgery holds hope for those who have tried and failed to lose weight by other ways. He specializes in weight-loss surgery and has done at least 24 Lap-Band procedures in the last year with about 200 more patients signed up. Eibes who has performed close to 400 gastric bypass procedures, expects 85 percent of his future surgeries will involve the Lap-Band.
According to Eibes the band procedure has the added advantage of price.Band surgery costs about $15,000,and gastric bypass,$25,000; although weight loss in the former is not as quick.
The chief beneficiary of bariatric surgery will be the country's medical system. 60 percent of the obese patients who have diabetes get over the condition after the surgery. Once diabetes is brought under control health care costs could be cut drastically.
Dr. Scott Shikora,surgical professor at Tufts University in Boston and a member of the bariatric society's executive council, also foresees a growth in the popularity of the Lap- Band procedure .Shikora however says that the gastric bypass version is still a better option for some patients especially those with severe diabetes.
Bariatric surgeons at Des Moines' Mercy Medical Center who perform gastric bypasses, have taken training to perform the Lap-Band procedure.
They expect that the risks associated with gastric bypass will make more patients opt for the Lap-Band procedure.
It is to be noted that patients must stick to a program of dieting and exercise for banding to be effective. Gastric bypass patients lose weight weight even if they do not observe a strict regime.
If a second brand of gastric banding equipment,get the approval of federal regulators the resulting national marketing campaign would make bariatric surgery more popular.


Lap band vs Gastric Bypass

Escalating health costs in the U.S. promote Medical Tourism elsewhere

The rising costs in health care in the U.S leads to higher health insurance premiums, with the result that 46.6 million Americans are without health insurance, which in turn leads to serious health problems.

This is a literal case in which one man's poison becomes another man's meat :this phenomenon has given a gigantic thrust to Medical Tourism in countries like India, where medical procedures are done at a fraction of what they may have cost in the U.S.

The twist in the tale is the fact that the U.S is the country where some of the world's richest people come for medical treatment.



Health care in the U.S becomes unaffordable for the ordinary American

Thailand on Board

With the pot of gold that is medical tourism getting bigger and bigger the government and the private sector in one more country - Thailand - are joining hands to join the treasure hunt.

Thailand, not satisfied with being the hub of global tourism now wants to stake a claim to the title of 'Hub of Medical Tourism'.

As a step in this endeavour it is hosting Proud Asia 2007 which will show case all that Thailand and neighbouring countries have to offer in this industry.

Thailand will become the 'Hub'

Why not the Philippines too?

The Philippines which claim to have already carved a niche
in global Medical Tourism is now all set to 'aggressively '
promote the same.

Rising health care costs in the U.S are proving a boon for
countries like the Philippines who are already well

Philippines to promote Medical Tourism

UAE Getting Set for Medical Tourism .

Medical Tourism is the buzz word today and one more country is gearing
up to meet the demand.

UAE is the latest to join the ever growing list of countries that want to
take advantage of the expected unprecedented growth in Medical tourism.


Out of the 600 million global tourists in this sector, UAE expects to rope
in 6 million, keeping in mind a 15% annual growth in the industry which
will generate a cool 7.0 billion dirham by 2010.

Necessary infrastructure at the government level is being developed for this.
No costs will be cut to introduce the latest and the best in terms of technology, training and service.
UAE gears up for Medical Tourism

Medical Tourism - boon for U.S. employers

More employers in the U.S today,prefer to send their employees abroad for health care,in order to curtail the huge dent made in their pockets for the same facilities at home.There is a marked change from the earlier trend, when individuals went abroad for less expensive medical procedures. Today, an increasing number of companies are availing of Medical Tourism to cut down on spiraling medical bills. Low priced quality health care in hospitals in Costa Rica, India and Singapore make them sought after destinations.
But all is not easy going for the companies. They have to convince the employees and the unions that the quality of the health care they receive so far away from the U.S. is in no way compromised.Companies are resorting to a carrot and stick
technique to encourage their employees to opt for medical treatment overseas; half the cost of the treatment will be met by the company if the treatment is done abroad and vice versa if not.
What ever the case may be, it does seem like Medical Tourism is all set to take off in the U.S.more on employers and Medical Tourism

Croatia Joins the medical tourism bandwagon...

Another month another country joins the circus called medical tourism. A little unfair to Croatia as its dentists were early adopters of foreign patients and have exploited the difference in price between Croatia and Western Europe.

There is not much sign of other procedures being performed in Croatia and as a whole the country suffers from poor air connections.

No surprise that most of the patients are Italians crossing the nearby border.

Croatia has the advantage of a great coastline of course for summer visitors but otherwise it is price war with the most established Hungarian practices.

more on the Croatian practitioners is here

Projections for Arthroplasties in the USA

This is a summary of a study (Projections of Primary and Revision Hip and Knee Arthroplasty in the United States from 2005 to 2030) which projects the number of primary and revision total hip and knee arthroplasties to be performed (or at least required to be performed) in the United States through to 2030.

The last decade (1995-2005) has seen a growth in the number of revision total hip arthroplasties and total knee arthoplasties performed in the United States .

The study discovered that these procedures consume at least 27% of the total annual Medicare expenditures for hip and knee replacement.

When one considers the number of years it takes to train surgeons and the complex task of planning for hospital capacity the projections made through this study become very important for policy makers in government, education and industry. Interestingly the study reveals that revision procedures consume greater economic resources than primary procedures.

The study hypothesizes that the demand for total hip and total knee arthroplasties in the United States will increase substantially over the next 25 years.
Data used for the study was obtained from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample-NIS – along with United States census Bureau data to quantify primary and revision arthroplasty rates as a function of age, gender, race and/or ethnicity and census region. Poisson regression was then used to make projections.

The results of the study show that in 2003, the year for which national implant procedure data was available from NIS, a total of 202,500 primary total hip arthroplasties: 36,000 revision total hip arthroplasties and 402,100 primary total knee arthroplasties 32,700 total knee arthroplasties were performed in the United states.

Between 1990 and 2003, the prevalence of primary and revision total hip and knee arthroplasties increased substantially. The projection of primary and revision total joint replacement was found to be highly sensitive to assumptions regarding trends in the prevalence of surgery.

On the basis of the NIS model, the demand for hip and knee replacement procedures is projected to show a substantial increase. Although more revision total hip arthroplasties than revision total knee arthroplasties are currently performed, the number of total knee arthroplasties performed was predicted to outnumber total hip arthroplasty revisions after 2007. The revision burden for total hip replacements was projected to be 16.3% in 2005 and 14.5% in 2030; the revision burden for total knee replacements was projected to be 7.8% in 2005 and 7.2% in 2030.

The results of the study underscore the importance of accounting for changes in the rate of surgery for future projections because the prevalence of surgery is changing rapidly over time.

The study has provided a quantification of the demand for primary and revision hip and knee arthroplasties in the United States through 2030. It projects a massive increase in demand for primary and revision total joint procedures over the next two decades- a demand that to be met , will need to be addressed with a combination of increase in economic resources, operative efficacy, technical capacity(additional surgeons) and implant longevity.

The study did not predict whether future orthopedic treatment technologies or newer non operative interventions can lead to a reduced demand for primary total joint replacements by 2030. It is also undecided on the extent the United States health care system will be able to finance the demand for arthroplasties anticipated in the study.

The Globe Health Tours perspective is that projected growth cannot be managed by organic system growth such as training more doctors at a time when increasing numbers of students are choosing not to practise as doctors because of costs and legal risks. In the United States and Europe the healthcare burden is already a pressure on government finances which will not diminish soon. Looking beyond national borders for healthcare resources will have to form part of the solution and so medical tourism will become a mainstream healthcare practice rather than a marginal adhoc patient process.

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