WellPoint begins paying for medical tourism

Medical tourism has been the trendiest idea in medicine for years now. However, it hasn’t become a standard part of medical care for most U.S. consumers yet, in part because the patients have had to pay out of pocket.

Now, however, WellPoint is embarking on a new experiment that could, if successful, change the way employers and health plans think about medical tourism. The giant health plan is conducting a pilot with Serigraph Inc., a graphics company with several U.S. locations, under which Serigraph employees would have the option to travel to India for non-emergency surgery. At this stage, WellPoint is focusing the program on cardiac and joint-replacement surgeries.

WellPoint execs say the cost of care is about 80 percent lower in India, primarily due to strikingly lower charges for labor, drugs and medical devices, but that the care itself still produces equally good results.

If providers in India have their way, WellPoint’s experiment won’t be the last, by far. These kinds of arrangements are being actively sought out by Indian chains like Apollo Hospitals, India’s largest healthcare delivery system.

To learn more about WellPoint’s medical tourism initiative:
- read this Los Angeles Times piece

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Study: Substantial minority of Americans would try medical tourism

Medical tourism has been on the minds of health plans and employers for quite some time, though arguably, less so where average Americans are concerned. According to a new Gallup Poll, however, a growing number of U.S. citizens are getting interested in the prospect.

Gallup found that 29 percent of respondents would consider traveling to non-U.S. destinations for a major problem or procedure, 24 percent would seek cancer diagnosis and treatment overseas, 15 percent would travel for orthopedic procedures, 14 percent would go abroad for heart treatment and 10 percent would travel to get plastic surgery.

The poll concludes that the uninsured are the most interested in medical tourism options, with 37 percent of uninsured respondents saying that they would consider cancer care overseas. Only 22 percent of those with health insurance shared this sentiment.

All told, it seems that medical tourism is still a dicey proposition for those who have other options, but unless health reform covers everyone quickly, it seems likely that it will continue to grow in popularity among the uninsured.

To learn more about the survey:
- read this Health Leaders Media piece

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Study: 1M Californians per year get care in Mexico

Well, here’s a medical tourism tidbit that deserves more attention: According to a new UCLA study appearing in the journal Medical Care, almost a million California residents seek medical care in Mexico each year.

According to the study, roughly 488,000 of the 952,000 Californians who go to Mexico for healthcare, or about 51 percent, are Mexican immigrants. The study found that cost of care in the U.S. and lack of insurance were the two main reasons both immigrant and U.S.-born Californians crossed the border for care. Among non-Latino whites, the most common reason for making the trip was getting lower-cost prescription drugs.

Along the way, the study notes that almost one-third of Mexican immigrants who’ve lived in the U.S. for more than 15 years are uninsured, and 51 percent of those here for less than 15 years have no coverage.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

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SPOTLIGHT: Overseas surgery needs outcomes measures

In theory, getting cheap surgery at well-regarded hospitals in India and elsewhere sounds like a good idea. The problem is, it’s still something of a crap shoot, since American methods for measurement and accountability aren’t uniformly in place. Before Americans begin a huge migration overseas, we should begin looking at how to compare outcomes there with outcomes in the U.S., according to Dr. Arnold Milstein, Dr. Mark Smith and Dr. Jerome Kassirer. Article

Could medical tourism trend parallel fate of Detroit car industry?

Here’s an interesting take on medical tourism from the perspective of another business–the spa industry. Apparently, spa business executives are keeping a close watch on medical tourism, which they believe to be a good fit with international spa expansion. And as an editor with consumer spa site SpaFinder.com notes, spas and high-end medical services help each other grow their business. More importantly, they could be the means by which American healthcare providers are outfoxed, suggests editor Susie Ellis.

Ellis says that most mainstream American journalists view medical tourism with skepticism, noting that U.S. hospitals lose revenue needed to subsidize unprofitable services every time people get treated overseas; suggesting that there’s not enough oversight in foreign lands to guarantee high-quality care; and contending that poor people in other countries are essentially subsidizing the cost of care for prosperous Americans.

For her part, Ellis says that American providers should beware of this competition. She argues that if foreign providers are far less costly and offer comparable quality, the U.S. healthcare industry could suffer a fate similar to that of the Detroit auto industry, which was trumped by foreign manufacturers. In fact, she says that healthcare executives should think “U.S. car industry” every time they hear “medical tourism.” Though she may be exaggerating a bit, this definitely leaves us with something to chew on, no?

To read Ellis’ column:
- read this SpaFinder.com blog

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AZ hospital helps Mexican moms have babies with U.S. citizenship

When U.S. citizens think about medical tourism, they envision a vacation-like trip offering heavily discounted procedures in lush surroundings. But medical tourism can also involve patients coming into the U.S.–and in the case of expectant moms, can confer benefits which few medical tourist get.

Of late, a growing number of well-to-do Mexican mothers have been coming to the U.S. to have their babies, who automatically get American citizenship since they were born on U.S. soil. One hospital that is capitalizing on this trend is Tucson, AZ-based Tucson Medical Center, which is marketing a “birth package” offering cutting edge technology, cozy settings and the chance for mothers to grant their babies American citizenship.

It’s one of 13 packages aimed at Mexican families, including some that advertise resort stays and shopping trips. Along with maternity services, TMC offers varied screenings and services, including mammograms and urology procedures.

The TMC birth package costs $2,300 for a vaginal birth with a two-day stay, and $4,600 for a c-section and a four-day stay. The hospital imposes a $500 surcharge for each additional child.

To learn more about these packages:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

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Global medical tourism market to hit $100B by 2012

We all knew medical tourism was growing, but over the next few years, volume should explode say researchers speaking at a conference in Singapore. According to one researcher, the global medical tourism market should climb to a staggering $100 billion by 2012. (This figure is in direct contradiction to a study done last year by McKinsey & Co., which contended that the demand for medical tourism had been understated by those in the business.)

The Asian medical tourism market, in particular, should be bolstered by rising quality standards and the growing demand for quality treatment, according to Andrew Keable, divisional director at Informa Life Sciences. After all, patients who undergo treatments in Asia often pay only 10 percent of the cost of similar treatment in the U.S. or United Kingdom, Keable notes.

What’s more, countries like Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and India have implemented state-of-the-art medical technologies that should improve care. Combine that with the increasing sophistication of the travel industry, and medical tourism growth has excellent fuel, he says.

To get more information on this trend:
- read this Healthcare Finance News piece

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SPOTLIGHT: Japan wants medical tourism bucks

You can officially add Japan to the list of Asian countries fighting for their share of the medical tourism pie. Japanese officials are planning to begin marketing its hospitals, which might not be much cheaper than the U.S., but enjoy an excellent reputation for quality, cleanliness and good service. Government officials hope to use the money to close budget gaps for the struggling facilities; right now, they pay 80 percent of the bills themselves. Article

India’s Fortis Healthcare buys 10 hospitals, bringing total to 38

Usually, we tend to focus on U.S. transactions here at FierceHealthcare, as it’s a big ol’ world out there and there’s too much to tell. But these days, given the increasingly powerful U.S./India healthcare connection fostered by medical tourism, we thought this deal was too interesting to leave out of our coverage.

Yesterday, private Indian hospital chain Fortis Healthcare agreed to buy 10 facilities from Wockhardt Hospitals for about $187 million, part of the chain’s larger expansion plans. With the acquisition, Fortis will own or operate 38 hospitals across India, which include 5,200 beds.

Fortis isn’t just a rapidly growing chain, it’s a profitable one, too. In July, the company reported that its net profit shot up by 700 percent for the first quarter of its fiscal year, ended June 30, 2009, and that revenue climbed 27 percent.

To learn more about the deal:
- read this piece from The New York Times

WellPoint begins paying for medical tourism

Medical tourism has been the trendiest idea in medicine for years now. However, it hasn’t become a standard part of medical care for most U.S. consumers yet, in part because the patients have had to pay out of pocket.

Now, however, WellPoint is embarking on a new experiment that could, if successful, change the way employers and health plans think about medical tourism. The giant health plan is conducting a pilot with Serigraph Inc., a graphics company with several U.S. locations, under which Serigraph employees would have the option to travel to India for non-emergency surgery. At this stage, WellPoint is focusing the program on cardiac and joint-replacement surgeries.

WellPoint execs say the cost of care is about 80 percent lower in India, primarily due to strikingly lower charges for labor, drugs and medical devices, but that the care itself still produces equally good results.

If providers in India have their way, WellPoint’s experiment won’t be the last, by far. These kinds of arrangements are being actively sought out by Indian chains like Apollo Hospitals, India’s largest healthcare delivery system.

To learn more about WellPoint’s medical tourism initiative:
- read this Los Angeles Times piece

Related Articles:
Health plans begin to cover medical tourism
Medical tourism or global healthcare?
Middlemen take uncertainty out of medical tourism
Patients, employers choose overseas care

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