One of the biggest concerns that both insurers and potential medical travelers have about going abroad for health care has to do not with going out of the country, but with care locally, in the United States. Who will make sure a prospective medical tourist is fit for travel and an appropriate patient for a chosen destination? Who will care for the patient postoperatively when he or she returns home?

Usually, patients work with their own primary care physicians to obtain pre- and post-operative care, before and after traveling abroad for surgery or treatment. Presumably, these doctors and surgeons will work with their counterparts overseas if necessary, sharing information, particularly in the event of any postoperative complication.

“Presumably” being the key word, here. In real life, the hand-off of a patient’s care from one healthcare facility to another, from one doctor to another, is not always seamless. That is why BridgeHealth International’s announcement yesterday of a partnership with Passport Health is so important. Combining the services of the two companies makes the medical part of medical travel that much safer, providing true end-to-end care for the patient.

See the full news release here:

BridgeHealth Partners With Passport Health

or, as covered by MarketWatch.com

BridgeHealth International, Inc. Partners With Passport Health to Provide Continuum of Care for Medical Travelers

The most important thing for consumers to know, probably, is that Passport Health, which counsels 60,000 clients each month, has 166 locations nationwide in 35 states. That’s a big network in the United States, now supporting medical travel and tourism through BridgeHealth International.

“BridgeHealth is well-positioned to optimize the medical travel experience, providing personalized guidance and expertise that helps individuals to address every aspect of their journey to better health, including options for accessing care prior to leaving the United States and upon their return home,” says Victor Lazzaro, Jr., CEO of BridgeHealth. “This partnership further strengthens our program offering and provides BridgeHealth clients with peace of mind before, during, and after their medical travel excursion.”

For more information on all this, contact BridgeHealth.

A question for our readers: How do you see U.S. healthcare evolving and changing to provide support for medical travelers? Clearly, it’s starting to happen …

In yesterday’s interview with Dr. Miguel Alfaro of Costa Rica, he candidly noted that the number of plastic surgery patients coming to Costa Rica from outside the country is down by perhaps 15-20 percent in 2008. This should surprise no one, given the state of the economy in the United States. In fact, Costa Rican plastic and cosmetic surgeons are probably weathering the economic slowdown better than are their higher priced counterparts in the U.S. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons estimates that business is down more than 50 percent, according to CNN, as reported by the Business and Media Institute.

The market for cosmetic procedures in Costa Rica, Mexico and other medical travel destinations has held up better than the U.S. market primarily because of the large price differential and because more Americans than ever before are aware that plastic surgery abroad is a relative bargain. Plastic surgery and dentistry travel (or both, combined) remain among the top choices of BridgeHealth International clients in 2008. People who might have opted for procedures costing $10,000 to $30,000 or more at home are instead getting the same work done abroad for perhaps $3,000 to $10,000.

The CNN report linked below looks only at the sharp decline in cosmetic surgery in the U.S. We thank Dr. Alfaro for his estimate regarding patients in Costa Rica. The video is better viewed on their site due to the format of the file.

Plastic Surgery’s Nip: CNN

Costa Rica was among the first well-known destinations for modern medical travel, dating back to the 1970s and early 1980s when some pioneering plastic surgeons and dentists first began serving international clients. Among them was Dr. Miguel Alfaro, who, like many Costa Rican surgeons, came to medical school in the United States and was trained in general and plastic surgery at the University of Colorado; the University of Missouri and the University of Michigan. He returned to Costa Rica in 1976 and worked for years for the country’s public health care system, while building his private practice in plastic surgery on the side. Most recently, Alfaro has been chairman of the Department of Surgery at Hospital San Juan de Dios in San José, Costa Rica.

Among other professional associations, Dr. Alfaro belongs to the International College of Surgeons; the Costa Rican Plastic Surgery Association; and the Plastic Surgery Association for Iberoamerica. He is a Fellow of the International College of Surgeons, a member of the American College of Surgeons and a Founding partner of the Costa Rican Association of Mastology.

Alfaro prides himself on being a conservative plastic surgeon and has built his international reputation in plastic surgery on excellent results as well as a safety record that is second to none.

“I have very good results,” he said in a recent interview with The Bridge. “I have done thousands of operations and I am very conservative … I mean, if I see a change in technique going on, I will wait a few years, frankly. I want to be sure it is safe, see what complications are encountered by others.”

Read the rest of this entry »

It should not surprise anyone that there is no mention of medical travel and tourism in the platform of either the Republican or Democratic parties. However, it’s lurking beneath the surface.

GOP candidate John McCain’s healthcare policies and positions would encourage Americans to take greater individual responsibility for their healthcare choices. Health benefits would no longer be treated as tax-free income; instead, individuals and families would get substantial tax credits for medical spending and would have tax-free health savings accounts.

Obama’s plan calls for most employers to either provide benefits or to pay into a national healthcare plan. He would create a National Health Insurance Exchange where insurers would sell coverage to small businesses and individuals. To participate, insurers would have to disclose costs and benefits of various plans and the percentage of premiums that go to patient care as opposed to administrative costs. The goal is to create a transparent market for health insurance that will improve quality, efficiency and value.

It is easy to see how medical travel would continue to grow under the administration of either man. Under McCain, consumers would presumably pay more attention to their own medical costs and might opt for care abroad. Under Obama, it is more likely that insurers bidding to be competitive with individuals and small businesses will look to provide innovative plans that keep costs down.

The odds are that you’re not going to be hearing either candidate out on the campaign stump extolling the virtues of outsourcing; more likely you’ll hear the opposite. But when all is said and done, there is nothing in the healthcare proposals of either party that is inimical to medical tourism.

A tip of the hat and a link to Amanda Hayes-Kibreab and Natasha Bellroth, who wrote a more extensive analysis:

How Would Obama and McCain’s Healthcare Proposals Impact Medical Travel?

The authors say McCain’s proposals are more friendly to medical tourism than are Obama’s. The only thing I’m sure of is that we probably don’t get to try both routes to healthcare reform.

Medical tourism seems likely to be part of the solution, either way.