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August 17, 2008 by Atul.
The esteemed magazine The Economist in its August 14th issue has finally published a piece on medical tourism under a more accurate heading of “Globalisation and health care”.
Titled “Operating Profit”, the sub-title is tantalizing: “Why put up with expensive, run-of-the-mill health care at home when you can be treated just as well abroad?”
We, here at PreviMed, felt that it is a good start although it leaves out some rather important points - such as the topic of accreditation, EU’s recent position and AMA’s comments endorsing the trend.
You can read the article here and our comments to the article are reproduced below:
Cost savings (associated with medical tourism) need to be considered in the context of other variables.For example:A US-based patient may choose a hospital in Costa Rica over a Chinese hospital for many reasons (higher comfort with the language/culture, shorter flights and treatment/staff/facility-related specifics) - even if the Chinese hospital represents much higher cost savings.
However, currently, with the retail-type direct-patient focus, no good systems exist for presenting and comparing the multiple options for the patients.
Accreditation is also an important consideration but can be confusing to many patients, already distressed with their ailments.
Continuity of care needs to be addressed as the home physicians will need to understand and embrace the concept without feeling manipulated.
To really make medical tourism meaningful and safe, insurance companies, governmental agencies and professional organizations like the American Medical Association need to build a region-agnostic ecosystem.
Not only will this allow home hospitals to bid competitively but it will help patients make an informed decision and choose from qualified options — instead of making health decisions based on the slickness of the dvd’s or websites.
Please feel free to comment and if you agree, you are invited to endorse our comments on the magazine’s website here.
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