must say I'm worried that the Democrats are setting a trap for themselves on Health Care Reform by not really confronting the issue of cost inflation. Why does a CT Scan in America cost so much more than any other country. And it's not just scans, it's the Whole range of services. Although it's very hard to find, there is certain anecdotal evidence that part of the problem is an oversupply of hospitals and medical technology providers. Take Washington, Dc for example.

The Washington, D.C., hospital sector has an excess of hospital beds and a concentration of services at the high end. Four community hospitals; three academic medical centers; a large, nonacademic tertiary care hospital; five specialty hospitals; and a public general hospital all compete to serve a city with a population of only 500,000. In addition, there are two military facilities. Forty percent of patients in this market are drawn from the adjacent Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

In the Libertarian's "perfect market" pipe-dreams, an oversupply should drive down costs of individual services. But that's not what happens. Each hospital that has invested millions in buying CT Scanners must amortize the cost over fewer patients by raising the cost of each scan. The same problem is plaquing pittsburgh.

The region's hospitals are trying to add nearly 1 million square feet of clinical space between 2006 and 2009 -- a construction boom that is raising questions about a potential oversupply of costly hospital resources...

 

"There happens to be a lot of construction going on, but most of it deals with aging plants and the need to stay current with advances in technology," said Ms. Riefner, who helps hospitals obtain financing for capital projects. "It's not a matter of just spending money for the sake of spending money -- they truly want to deliver the best possible care that they can."

So all the region's hospitals are caught in a technology arms race. No one is trying to figure out how many CT Scanners we need in a region and normal market mechanisms that would punish hospitals or clinics for spending too much on technology don't work because we don't have single payer system that disciplines the free market in every other developed country.

 

So are we about to pass a big giveaway to the hospitals, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical firms without any way to control the medical technology arms race?

Source: By Jon Taplin
www.tpmcafe.com

        

Healthcare expenses have always been a major cause of concern for the general public. No matter how consciously a person builds up his savings from the earnings, it takes one major bout of illness to drain out a large portion of the accumulated savings. Health disorders are unforeseen and thus many people opt to cover such sudden medical expenses with some medical insurance. However, a health insurance policy sometimes falls a way short in covering up the costs involved in some medical procedures. Even if a person has a health insurance, it still takes a considerable amount of time for the medical procedure to get started. The waiting period for a hip replacement could be more than a year in countries like Britain and Canada. Under such adverse scenario, the general public had to look for other alternatives outside their countries. If they are looking for a cost effective alternative for similar medical procedure, then medical tourism definitely is the way to go for.

 

Medical tourism is a service extended to the people all over the world to travel to other countries that provide similar medical treatments at comparatively lower costs than their own country. The health care providers of such countries have tie ups with various travel agencies. People desirous of seeking such treatments need to contact either the medical centers of such countries or the travel agencies who work in conjunction with some medical centers to provide healthcare tourism services. Among the various healthcare tourism destinations, India, Singapore and Thailand have emerged as most the popular ones.

 

If estimates are to be believed at, the medical tourism industry will be worth US $2 billion by 2012. Since the emergence of this industry, people from most of the developed nations have continually flocked to the medical tourism destinations to avail quicker as well as good medical treatments at low cost. A heart-valve replacement that costs around $200,000 in US can be done for a mere $10,000 in a country like India inclusive of the air fare and even a brief vacation package. A knee-replacement procedure costs a lot less in Thailand as compared to that of the United States. Most medical procedures cost around one-tenth of what it costs in countries like United States and Britain. Affordable and prompt medical care has made healthcare tourism a major draw among patients from all over the world.

 

The immense potential of the medical tourism industry has resulted in more healthcare investments in such countries offering the service. The Indian government is leaving no stones unturned to make it a global healthcare destination. The concerned authorities in Singapore has organized conferences and gained accreditations to attract more medical tourists. Similarly the other countries venturing into medical tourism are also taking necessary steps to popularize themselves. In the next few years medical tourism industry will continue to grow bigger and serve people all over the world with cost effective and superior medical treatments.

Source: 2008sanya.com

        

With U.S. healthcare prices spiraling upward, more and more insurers and individuals are looking abroad for treatment. By some estimates, 650,000 Americans will check into foreign hospitals from Mexico to Thailand this year.

Source: Reuters.com

        

America’s annual healthcare bill could be reduced by $600 billion to $850 billion if the nation learns how to reduce wasteful spending, according to a new report by Thomson Reuters.

A white paper released Monday by the New York-based electronic information services company identifies the most significant drivers of wasteful spending as administrative inefficiency, unnecessary treatment, medical errors and fraud.

“The bad news is that an estimated $700 billion is wasted annually. That's one-third of the nation's healthcare bill,” said Robert Kelley, vice president of healthcare analytics at Thomson Reuters and author of the white paper, in a press release. “The good news is that by attacking waste, healthcare costs can be reduced without adversely affecting the quality of care or access to care.”

According to the study, the biggest causes of waste in healthcare are:

* Unnecessary care (40 percent of healthcare waste, or $250 billion to $325 billion), defined as over-use of antibiotics and diagnostic lab tests to protect against malpractice exposure
* Fraud (19 percent of healthcare waste, or $125 billion to $175 billion), which covers everything from fraudulent Medicare claims to kickbacks for referrals of unnecessary services.
* Administrative inefficiency (17 percent of healthcare waste, or $100 billion to $150 billion), focused on excess paperwork.
* Healthcare provider errors (12 percent of healthcare waste, or $75 billion to $100 billion), defined as medical mistakes.
* Preventable conditions (6 percent of healthcare waste, or $25 billion to $50 billion), focused on hospitalizations to treat uncontrolled chronic conditions such as diabetes, which is less costly to treat when the chronic condition is properly managed through timely access to outpatient care.
* Lack of care coordination (6 percent of healthcare waste, or $25 billion to $50 billion), focused on inefficient communication between healthcare providers, leading to limited access to needed medical records and a resulting duplication of tests or inappropriate treatments.

According to the report, "It is waste when caregivers duplicate tests because results recorded in a patient's record with one provider are not available to another or when medical staff provides inappropriate treatment because relevant history of previous treatment cannot be accessed.”

Source: Healthcarefinancenews.com

        

        

Study Finds Markets Such as Los Angeles and San Francisco Score Particularly Low, while Charlotte, Rochester and Pittsburgh Score Highest

 According to the most recent Hospital Value Index[TM] results, a study that analyzed data from more than 4,500 hospitals across the United States, hospitals in the largest U.S. cities generally offer a low value of patient care compared to elsewhere in the country.

"Our findings conclude that these urban areas offer less affordable and less efficient care, which affected the overall performance of the market," said Hal Andrews, Chief Executive Officer of Data Advantage, the company that developed and maintains the Hospital Value Index[TM].

"Ironically, we found that the hospitals with which the White House and its advisers are most intimately familiar deliver low healthcare value against every benchmark - city, state, CMS Region, and the U.S."

For example, the Chicago market ranked 88th out of the 100 largest markets, just one spot behind McAllen, Texas and one spot ahead of Honolulu. Other than Fort Myers and Las Vegas, the lowest-ranking large markets were all in California. The top five states in delivering value were North Dakota, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and Maine. The bottom five states were New Mexico, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, and Nevada.

"Like every other good and service, price is an essential part of healthcare value," said Andrews. "For California, prices are relatively high, even after adjusting for national wage variances. The uninsured, underinsured and health savings account members are disproportionately harmed by the high prices, without receiving superior quality, outcomes or patient experience in exchange."

"The rules have changed -- whether because of the economy, health reform or Value-Based purchasing, and quality alone is not a sustainable strategy for the U.S. hospital industry," said John Morrow, one of the authors of the study. "These organizations will need to be accountable to their communities for their performance on value and be transparent about doing so. The Hospital Value Index[TM] is a means toward that end."

The latest study from the Hospital Value Index[TM] used the most current and comprehensive set of publicly available data, including Hospital Compare data released by CMS in July 2009, to analyze more than 4,500 U.S. hospitals to discover where patients can find the best value of care in their community. The Hospital Value Index[TM] researchers analyzed a variety of public data on hospital quality, price, efficiency, and patient satisfaction. The Hospital Value Index[TM] is updated frequently to reflect the dynamic impact of change occurring in the hospital industry.

Data Advantage has released the complete 2009-2010 Hospital Value Index[TM] results on September 15 in Washington, D.C. For more information on the Hospital Value Index[TM] findings, please visit www.HospitalValueIndex.com or www.TheHealthcareValueBlog.com.

Source: Highbeam Research

        

For as long as he can remember, Ben Wordinger has had a bum shoulder.

Two surgeries and countless trips to Arizona hospitals did little to ease the pain.

"I was tired of taking pills, tired of watching the clock to take the next pill just to take the edge off the pain to function," admitted Wordinger.

Now, at age 51, doctors figured Wordinger likely would need an implant.

Insurance, however, wouldn't cover the cost estimated anywhere from $80,000 to $120,000.

"When you're in a lot of pain, you'd go around the world 10 times to get out of pain, that's where I was," Wordinger said.

Wordinger didn't have to go around the world, but he came close.

Through a friend, Wordinger learned about Medtral, a company based out of New Zealand that offers medical tourism.

Doctors there said they could do a shoulder transplant for 1/6th of what it would have cost Wordinger here in the United States.

"Hmmm, let's see, 1/6th the cost by a doctor trained here with materials made here," said Wordinger. "That's a no-brainer."

"I think there should be come concerns," said Paul Stander, Chief Medical Officer at  Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center. 

Stander says Good Samaritan's doctors often see patients who have had complications from overseas medical care.

"We had to pick up the pieces," said Stander. "It's not easy. There is usually incomplete information as to what exactly happened. It makes it harder."

Stander said many doctors, because of malpractice concerns, will not take on a patient who is having problems after seeing a doctor in another country.

He said anyone considering medical tourism should line up a doctor willing to handle possible complications here in the U.S. before heading overseas.

"We've seen people who get joint replacements have bleeding where the joint was put in, that can be a real nasty thing," Stander said. "It's not easy to go halfway around the world to have it dealt with."

Wordinger ultimately made the trip from his home in Cottonwood to New Zealand to have the surgery.

Four weeks later Wordinger said he's 100 percent pain free.

He recommends MedTral and their medical tourism program in the highest terms.

"Totally positive, top notch, can't think of anything better," said Wordinger.

It's a process Wordinger considers head and shoulders above the rest.

Source: abc15.com

        

With healthcare costs skyrocketing in America and other nations, markets across Latin America offers opportunities for growth in the field of medical tourism. Brazil, Colombia, and Chile have a strong stake in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology markets, serving as bases for the research and development and manufacturing stages for companies such as Pfizer and Merck. Panama, Mexico, Colombia, and other Latin American countries have already begun to explore the partnership between the lodging and healthcare industries through medical tourism, constructing major, well-regarded hospital facilities and attracting high-quality hotel and resort developments to accommodate guests and patients.

Affordability is a primary driver of medical tourism, especially in a down economy. Even in countries where basic procedures are covered, elective procedures like cosmetic surgery are often very expensive and not funded by either insurance or the government. According to market research, rhinoplasty and other surgical procedures conducted in Latin America can cost approximately one-third the amount patients are paying in the United States. These cost savings even take into account lodging while abroad and travel expenses to and from the patient’s home country.

Medical tourists are also concerned about the quality of service, facilities, and medical practitioners in a foreign country; hence, a desire for lower costs does not necessarily come at the expense of quality of care. Associations such as the Joint Commission International (JCI) and the Medical Tourism Association are working toward certifying and accrediting international hospitals that serve foreign patients.

Hospital Punta Pacífica in Panama has partnered with Johns Hopkins Medicine International to provide world-renowned collaborative research and medical services for the benefit of patients. Colombia is gaining worldwide prominence in cardiovascular and transplant surgery and often receives patients from abroad who cannot obtain such quality care within their home countries.

Certain major Latin American markets are showing relatively strong RevPAR levels, even in the midst of the global economic downturn. Revenue growth at Brazilian resorts, for example, has strengthened since 2008. This is partly attributable to exchange rate conversions and continued growth in average rate, which has noted sharp declines in many international markets.

Although occupancy levels are down in some Latin American markets, hotel development projects are still surfacing in countries such as Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil. Hotel investors in populous markets throughout Latin America have shown increasing interest in mixed-used and adaptive reuse developments. In Colombia, mixed-use hotel development projects are surfacing along the northern coast and in major cities such as Bogotá, Cartagena, and Barranquilla.

In addition to cost savings, quality of care, and accessibility, many medical tourists are searching for exotic destinations where they can readily obtain consults with medical practitioners during their time of recovery. Hence, beach and mountain destinations, as well as places rich in cultural history are a major draw for patients. The Johns Hopkins-affiliated Hospital Punta Pacifica in Panama City, Panama, offers lodging adjacent to its world-class hospital facilities. The hotel accommodations allow guests to recover in a setting more akin to a high-end hotel than a hospital ward. The hotel serves as a liaison between the guest and the hospital by providing patients with additional amenities that include concierge services, trip planning, tourist attraction packages, and translation services. More than 25 percent of the hospital’s patients arrive from the United States.

The unique value proposition presented by medical tourism demands that the healthcare and lodging industries work in unison to attract guests/patients. Based on the number of development projects currently in the pipeline in Latin America, investors see the potential for growth, and many markets throughout Central and South America remain untapped.

Patients seeking outbound medical tourism need reputable lodging and healthcare options that ease the burdens of medical procedures and the recovery process. In this capacity, Latin American hotels act as a liaison with local hospitals and doctors to provide cost-effective, accessible, quality care for the medical tourist as a patient, and a lodging environment that caters to his or her needs as a guest.

Source: Hvs.com

        

Dr. Orlando Morales is something of a celebrity at Costa Rica’s University of Medical Science, sauntering through the halls in his white lab coat. On a recent walk, students and faculty greeted him with “Feliz cumpleanos, doctor.” He just turned 68.

With the excitement of a young doctor fresh out of medical school, Morales’ eyes light up when he observes the petri dishes that harvest “celulas madre,” or stem cells, from mice.

“It’s practically science fiction,” Morales said of what he considers the medicine’s new miracle worker. Morales is one of the firmest believers around in the power of stem cell treatments.

“After a heart attack, they can begin to make new tissue. In a gland, which for example has to make insulin, the cells begin to create insulin. Nervous tissue, they regenerate it … It’s a panacea,” he said.

An increasing number of foreigners are undergoing stem cell treatment in Costa Rica for ailments from bone fractures to multiple sclerosis. Costa Rican doctors say they are providing these medical tourists with groundbreaking treatments. But stem cell scientists in the U.S. accuse Costa Rica of offering false hope by pushing techniques that have not been scientifically proven.

Dr. Fabio Solano — who directs the stem cell institute at San Jose’s CIMA Hospital, one of the country’s leading private hospitals — says his team has treated as many as 400 patients with procedures that involve stem cells.

Costa Rica has eschewed the contentious debate around stem cells by prohibiting work with human embryos and instead promoting research on what’s known as “adult” stem cells — derived from tissue including body fat and umbilical blood or tissue. In Costa Rica, where Catholicism is the state religion, working with human embryos is out of the question.

Embryonic stem cells are considered a goldmine that could lead to treatment for any number of ailments. Unlike adult stem cells, embryonic ones can evolve into any of more than 200 cell types.

And yet, Solano said, many “miracle” treatments have been accomlished with adult stem cells. “We have demonstrated that adult stem cells are as good as embryonic.”

Success stories have grabbed media attention, with TV networks running stories like “Paralyzed valley woman holds hope in Costa Rica treatment” and “Glenburn boy returns from Costa Rica after having adult stem cell therapy.”

But the buzz has made doctors in the U.S. nervous.

“The lay press is unfortunately replete with many overstatements and misconceptions about what can be accomplished in the short term by stem cell biology,” said Dr. Jack Kessler, an expert in stem cell research at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Ill.

In March, President Barack Obama issued an executive order that lifted Bush-era restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research, but much of the treatment is still a long way off, experts say.

Meanwhile, Costa Rican legislators are putting the finishing touches on a law to promote and regulate adult stem cell research and treatment across a spectrum of diseases. This could fuel further debate over techniques that U.S. doctors say have only produced anecdotal success — but it certainly won’t stem the flow of stem cell medical tourism.

According to Solano, Americans already make up close to 90 percent of the stem cell patients at CIMA Hospital.

Kessler warned that clinics around the world are exploiting patients’ hopes by offering treatment that he calls a “placebo effect,” and hasn’t been proven to work.

“There’s really little if any evidence at the present time — where we are with the current technology — that stem cell therapies are useful for disorders like spinal cord injury, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and some of the other things that are being treated with stem cells,” Kessler said.

Determined to prove the experts wrong, Jennifer Blankenship, a 49-year-old resident of Denver, Colo., made her second visit to Costa Rica in August to treat MS.

Blankenship had looked around in the U.S. for stem cell treatment but could only find offers from university labs that “wanted to charge $100,000 to $150,000 for me to be a guinea pig,” she said.

Last month she underwent two weeks of treatment at CIMA Hospital for about $10,000. A December 2008 study by the journal Cell Stem Cell found that international stem cell treatment hovers around an average of $20,000.

Blankenship said that within hours of her first IV injection, “I started moving my left leg, which I hadn’t moved for years.”

Following her second visit, she said, “I’m so excited,” detailing what she described as further progress toward recovery. Costa Rican doctors conducted liposuction to extract and transplant stem cells from her own fat tissue, as well as transplanted further cells derived from umbilical cords. Blankenship said she was charged up with some 200 million stem cells. “I pictured them like little Pacmen,” she joked.

After the trip, Blankenship says she took five steps, then nine. She said: “In the coming weeks, my physical therapist and I are going to my neurologist’s office to show him how I can walk.” And once she can walk on her own again, she said, “I’d love to come to Costa Rica just for fun.”

Source: top10costarica.com