IEEE is a well-established brand and represents a large (375,000 members in 160 countries) professional association focused on engineering and technology.
Naturally, we at PreviMed were delighted to be singled out by a blog on its beacon publication IEEE Spectrum which highlighted PreviMed’s presentation at an industry event.
Perhaps the writer was in a hurry, or not very familiar with the concepts around medical tourism. So, to make the post more meaningful, we at PreviMed provided some comments.
To IEEE Spectrum’s credit, our contributions were quickly added in the comments section of the original post and appear below in entirety:
As the founder of PreviMed, I am really surprised with this post as some key facts are left out and gives the reader an unfair portrayal.
Tekla, I wish you, or someone else from your team, had connected with us before posting, just so we could share with you what we are doing and how it is soooo different from what your post conveys.Health related international travel (aka medical tourism) is not a fad but a strong, growing trend - especially for US patients getting treated overseas.
We all would like to get major medical treatment in our home town, surrounded by friends and family. For many people, this is just not possible, primarily because of the costs involved and these folks have to travel overseas if they want to get better. Their only other choice, as we clearly showed, is not to get any treatment at all and just to live with the diagnosed discomfort/pain.
Currently, these patients are subject to - not always but many times - slick misleading presentations from slimy sales agents.
Patients, wanting to resolve the pain, frequently accept the contract without many other characterizing facts and with price as the only factor.
PreviMed changes this in favor of the patient by giving multiple (and multi-dimensional) options; For instance, a patient in US may get a lower priced bid from a hospital in Asia or Eastern Europe but may choose a higher priced bid from a qualified Latin American hospital because of shorter flights or comfort with the Spanish language etc.
Of course, patient makes this decision and with specific details so that their home physician can be consulted before the choice is made.
An important differentiator for PreviMed is that we work only with internationally accredited hospitals (painstakingly reseached and certified to be world-class). Also, we focus only on non-cosmetic, medically required procedures.
PreviMed’s business-to-business focus is also based on our patient-centric values; Our research has confirmed that this will provide better continuity-of-care and post-surgery follow thru. For these reasons, PreviMed engages only through self-insured businesses and insurance companies.
PreviMed’s vision has been appreciated by many patient advocates and we have been credited for bringing the transparency to this overall process. We have also received kudos from many because PreviMed’s business model is straightforward and unconflicted (not paid by the overseas hospitals).
By the way, while our focus is NOT on costs alone, for almost all patients the cost savings are so enormous that the typical offer will typically accommodate a travelling family member and door-to-door concierge and other patient-centered services - the facilities overseas are also wanting to build a great reputation.
For years now, we, as members, have read IEEE Spectrum cover-to-cover at the first chance and have always appreciated its broad range. I hope that I have contributed to the value of your post.
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