Back to Search
Start Over
Medical tourism services available to residents of the United States.
- Source :
- JGIM: Journal of General Internal Medicine; May2011, Vol. 26 Issue 5, p492-497, 6p, 1 Diagram, 4 Charts
- Publication Year :
- 2011
-
Abstract
- <bold>Background: </bold>There are growing reports of United States (US) residents traveling overseas for medical care, but empirical data about medical tourism are limited.<bold>Objective: </bold>To characterize the businesses and business practices of entities promoting medical tourism and the types and costs of procedures being offered. DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS, AND OUTCOMES: Between June and August 2008, we conducted a telephone survey of all businesses engaged in facilitating overseas medical travel for US residents. We collected information from each company including: the number of employees; number of patients referred overseas; medical records security processes; destinations to which patients were referred; treatments offered; treatment costs; and whether patient outcomes were collected.<bold>Results: </bold>We identified 63 medical tourism companies and 45 completed our survey (71%). Companies had a mean of 9.8 employees and had referred an average of 285 patients overseas (a total of approximately 13,500 patients). 35 (79%) companies reported requiring accreditation of foreign providers, 22 (50%) collected patient outcome data, but only 17 (39%) described formal medical records security policies. The most common destinations were India (23 companies, 55%), Costa Rica (14, 33%), and Thailand (12, 29%). The most common types of care included orthopedics (32 companies, 73%), cardiac care (23, 52%), and cosmetic surgery (29, 66%). 20 companies (44%) offered treatments not approved for use in the US--most commonly stem cell therapy. Average costs for common procedures, CABG ($18,600) and knee arthroplasty ($10,800), were similar to previous reports.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>The number of Americans traveling overseas for medical care with assistance from medical tourism companies is relatively small. Attention to medical records security and patient outcomes is variable and cost-savings are dependent on US prices. That said, overseas medical care can be a reasonable alternative for price sensitive patients in need of relatively common, elective medical procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- MEDICAL tourism
MEDICALLY uninsured persons
ELECTIVE surgery
MEDICAL care
MEDICAL care costs
TRAVEL & economics
COMPARATIVE studies
HEALTH services accessibility
RESEARCH methodology
MARKETING
MEDICAL cooperation
MEDICAL quality control
RESEARCH
MEDICAL records
RESEARCH funding
TRAVEL
RESIDENTIAL patterns
EVALUATION research
CONTENT mining
ECONOMICS
STANDARDS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 08848734
- Volume :
- 26
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- JGIM: Journal of General Internal Medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 59984176
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-010-1582-8