Medical Tourism — A Passing Fad or New Reality?
As reported in Modern Healthcare recently, a study conducted by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found that U.S. healthcare providers will lose almost $16 billion in 2008 to those seeking treatment abroad.
Granted, that’s only about 3% of total U.S. hospital revenue right now, but that figure is expected to grow to $68 billion by 2010.
Why wouldn’t you go abroad for a hernia repair if it would cost $1,800 instead of $5,400? Or get knee repair surgery for $1,400 instead of $12,000? Increasing costs of healthcare, higher deductible health plans, and increasing co-payment rates are making it a more attractive option for many. Not to mention that you can build in a little vacation time while you’re at it — that’s why it’s called medical “tourism”.
And foreign hospitals are improving their quality standards as well. Many are becoming Joint Commission accredited and hiring physicians that are trained in the U.S. Yet questions about continuity of care and liability still loom. Some feel that U.S. hospitals won’t really be affected by medical tourism unless insurers begin to cover care received abroad.
What’s more, although foreign hospital construction statistics are hard to come by, the drive to improve quality standards and increase market share has to be creating a demand for new and improved facilities. At The Center, we’ve seen increased interest from abroad in our work in the past two years.
So, while we still have a lot of work to do here right at home, the message here is, there are opportunities abroad to design safer, more supportive, and healthier hospitals abroad as well.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Sara, There was a great article on medical tourism in Fast Company (most likely the May issue). Julie