One such example is a certification program that the Medical Tourism Association recently unveiled to help patients, employers and insurers identify which clinics, recovery centers and facilitators have the right patient-management procedures in place as the industry continues to grow. The criteria being sought included clear communication, transparency in quality and pricing, informed consent, appropriate aftercare and continuity of care once the patient returns home.
Another noteworthy sign is that the Joint Commission International (JCI), a nonprofit organization founded in 1994 to improve patient safety, has now accredited 220 public and private health care organizations in 33 countries.
The trend is triggering worries about the quality of care in developing nations. Researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, for instance, concluded that kidney transplants done overseas resulted in more complications than those in the United States. The study found that kidney rejection occurred after one year in 30% of the 33 so-called transplant “tourists” studied compared with 12% of 66 UCLA transplant patients. The most popular destinations included China (44%), Iran (16%) and the Philippines (13%).
Still, others are hopeful about the potential for progress. Among them is David Boucher, founder and president of Companion Global Healthcare who was featured in a recent Forbes magazine article on medical tourism that mentioned a colonoscopy he received in Bangkok for his 50th birthday. Boucher says he’s “optimistic that over time, American employers will become increasingly more comfortable with international medical travel.” He’s already seen a number of employers waive their employees’ deductible and coinsurance amounts when a JCI-accredited facility is chosen and they engage in the company’s care management processes.
About 11% of employers offer overseas benefit options, according to the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
