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Are costs of employee surgeries blowing your health care budget? Offer to send ailing workers to overseas hospitals for angioplasties, heart valve and hip replacements plus spinal fusions and other nonemergency surgeries. Many are far cheaper, at least as modern and high tech as U.S. hospitals and trying to draw business by pampering Western patients.
Hospitals in Thailand and India charge 60%-85% less than those in the U.S. A heart bypass in California in 2005, for example, cost about $60,400, while the same procedure cost $15,500 at Bumrungrad International hospital in Thailand and $10,000 at Wockhardt Hospitals in India. Even after employers pick up the tab for recovery at a nearby resort, and travel expenses for the patient and a companion, they can still pocket thousands. Some companies also provide cash bonuses, waive insurance copayments or split savings with employees who agree to offshore surgery.
Only a handful of companies offer this option now, but Arnold Milstein, chief physician at Mercer Health & Benefits, says he expects the numbers to increase over time. "I don't expect an avalanche, but a steady increase similar to the way employers adopted disease management into their health care programs." Moreover, as baby boomers approach retirement, many will consider having joint-replacement surgery before they leave their employers' insurance rolls. And with such surgery being reliable and almost routine at overseas hospitals, going abroad for a new hip is likely to become a popular option.
Participation in such programs is voluntary, and employees are briefed extensively on overseas medical care and the logistics involved: traveling while ailing, dealing with a language barrier, recuperating and receiving physical therapy and other follow-up care. Offshore hospitals are simply added to an employer's list of provider networks, and they are usually accredited with at least one trusted accreditation organization.
Many of the physicians practicing in these hospitals are trained in the U.S., Canada or the United Kingdom. Milstein says that the quality of care in the overseas hospitals he studied is on a par with that in the U.S. In the event of problems, however, most countries have programs to cover medical malpractice claims, he says. But patients don't win as frequently as they do in the U.S., nor are the cash awards as high. And of course, dealing with a malpractice claim from the U.S. could pose a logistical challenge.
These hospitals are actively courting business in the U.S. by catering to American tastes and expectations. In India, private registered nurses stay with the patient around the clock. Doctors, nurses and administrators who are fluent in English can communicate well with American patients. Chefs can prepare a variety of cuisines, so patients can have a hamburger as easily as a curry. "There has been a sizable investment in not only the latest technology but also room amenities, so Indian hospitals look the same as American facilities," says Rajesh Rao, CEO of IndUShealth. Companies such as IndUShealth and Planet Hospital link up employers with overseas providers. "We work with local physicians to assist with pre- and postoperative care in the U.S. We take care of exchange of medical records and make the necessary travel arrangements," says Rao.
Aside from the direct savings involved, U.S. employers are hoping that more-commonplace use of overseas health care facilities will pressure U.S. providers to be more competitive. "With healthy competition, our health providers will become more efficient, lean, cost effective and productive...or go out of business, just like the rest of us," says Bonnie Grissom Blackley, benefits director of Blue Ridge Paper Products in North Carolina, which routinely sends patients overseas for surgery.
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POSTED BY: John MacGregor (April 04, 2007 12:05 PM)
In your Mar 30,2007 letter, you recommend having 'employees compare prices and success rates of specific health care providers'. I've read about doing this before but no one says where to find this information. Can you direct me as to where to find it?
Secondly, where can a person find out where to go, overseas, to find affordable surgery, spefically dentistry?
POSTED BY: Martha Craver (April 04, 2007 05:03 PM)
A number of insurance companies (Aetna,CIGNA, some BlueCross Blue Shield plans)offer data on provider cost and quality to their clients.
To locate a health care facility overseas, I suggest that you check out the Web sites of IndUShealth Inc. at www.indushealth.com and Planet Hospital at www.planethospital.com
POSTED BY: Shakil Khan MD (September 02, 2007 10:16 PM)
Offshore healthcare is perhaps one way to end the healthcare crisis facing America today. With the alarming statistics of death, disability, wrong surgeries and bad medicine being practiced in the United States, we can´t really point finger at offshore hospitals.
Besides offering surgeries at our hospital in the Dominican Republic, the AAA Hospital and Health Centers have started offering CALL-THE-DOCTOR plan at $10 per month, with unlimited access 24 hours to a qualified medical doctor, as well as doctor of alternative medicine, plus confidential Electronic Health Record and prescription drugs with substantial discount. Details can be found on our website www.aaahealthcenters.com or by email to info@aaahealthcenters.com or by calling TollFree 888-262-6052.
With more than half of all bankrupties in America being medical bankruptcies, we believe that we are helping America and Americans medically as well as economically.
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