There is a recent trend of Americans seeking out healthcare services in places other than where they live. More often than
not, the bottom-line reason for this phenomenon is ... the bottom line. Patients frequently seek out services that offer good
dollar value, or better service for the same cost. In other cases, the objective is to simply get what is believed to be better
care somewhere else.
Quality care
I first became aware of the phenomenon of traveling for the express purpose of healthcare in the late '80s, while on vacation
in Mexico. I needed to go to a travel agency (remember those?) in Cancun, and I noticed some brochures for "medical vacations"
in Houston. The travel package included roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations and a full workup in a highly rated Houston
hospital. The brochure even listed specific blood tests, like a CBC, fasting glucose and others, as well as a chest X-ray
and other baseline workup procedures. All of the tests would be interpreted by a renowned U.S. physician.
That travel package was clearly being marketed to affluent Mexicans and Americans who had retired to Cancun. The draw in that
instance was not the cost savings, but the access to exceptional medical care that, implicitly, was unavailable locally. More than 20 years later, I learned that Johns Hopkins University Hospital had opened an office in Palm Beach, FL, for the
sole purpose of making arrangements for people to fly to Hopkins in Baltimore to get various healthcare services there.
According to the Johns Hopkins University Web site: "Johns Hopkins USA has established an office in Palm Beach, Florida to help the residents of south Florida access the world-class
resources and treatments of Johns Hopkins Medicine .... Johns Hopkins USA, Palm Beach will assist individuals with scheduling
medical appointments with the most appropriate Hopkins expert, make travel and hotel accommodations, provide advice on what
materials to bring to appointments and what to expect when patients arrive in Baltimore."
Saving money
Favorable economic conditions often provide the impetus for Americans to travel for healthcare services. Common, current destinations
for medical tourism include going to South America for plastic surgery procedures and Eastern Europe for dental work. People
frequently report positive experiences, citing satisfaction with the level of care, personalized treatment, as well as the
added bonus of being able to "vacation" in interesting locales.
Marketing these services to Americans has become big business, with recent emphasis on stringent accreditation of providers
and facilities, rather than just saving money.
Global competition
Americans are not the only ones seeking good care at good prices. This dental center in England, which promises all the benefits
of Hungarian dentistry, makes its case not to travel abroad for services:
Dental treatment in Eastern Europe – of which Hungary seems to make the most effort to attract patients from Western Europe
– in most cases costs more than having treatment done at Dentalcare Plus ( http://www.dentalcareplus.org.uk/). The cost of flights and hotel accommodations, the cost of traveling to and from airports, airport parking, taxi fares and
(if you work) the extra time involved with the associated loss of earnings, can make treatment in Hungary far more expensive.
With a journey time from your home to a hotel in Budapest, typically eight hours each way, two whole days are required for
the return journey to Budapest. What they don't tell you is that there could be three visits to a Budapest Clinic. The extra
time and the cost involved in traveling to Eastern Europe can far exceed the savings in the cost of the treatment. A total
of six extra days traveling and as many as 12 days stay in a hotel are not uncommon for three visits to Budapest.
Baby boomer backfire
