Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Innovation in Healthcare Tourism


Traveling from your home town to another world class medical facility for treatment is growing and mentioned as Medical Travel/Tourism Industry. Innovative ways are being employed to facilitate patient and match his/her needs. World is becoming flat and people are traveling across the globe for better treatment options. But some companies are employing innovative ways to cater those who don't want to go to another or distant country for medical surgery and still want to benefit from reduced cost, expert doctor and world class facility.

Mobile Surgery International(MSI) stands out in this field of providing treatment to any patient, anywhere in the world with patient's preffered US based surgical team, quality of care, reduced cost through Centers of Excellence with Global Convenience. MSI says, patient come to us, we go to the patient, or patient and surgeon meet at a mutually convenient location, we coordinate all necessary arrangements at a cost agreeable to the patient and/or the payer.
Here are the answers to our HOW?

How it works?When any patient contact MSI for surgery, MSI designs a package based on the patient's choice of destination, doctor and affordability. Patient goes to selected destination, also travels surgical team, they meet at that hospital, perfom surgery and come back. The package is currently offered at Florida, Kansas, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad in USA and Russia, China, Africa, and Middle East in Asia.

How do they cut cost?MSI cites few case examples to show when surgeon is in the decision making, you can really cut the cost.

1. There is waste in American hospitals.
An anesthesiologist may refuse to move a stable patient out of an operating room - because the patient's temperature is 35.8 C. The anesthesiologist fears that payment will be denied by a post hoc insurance review if the patient's temperature is not 36.0 C. The temperature difference is clinically irrelevant. The delay it causes wastes money by making the operating room usage inefficient and necessitating salary for a clinically irrelevant insurance clerk. If anesthesiologist, not the insurance clerk, makes the clinical decisions, it will reduce waste.

2. MSI recently visited a small hospital devoted to heart surgery. It has 60 beds and 3 operating rooms. Among its gizmos are high definition video monitors and a voice-controlled surgical robot. Their robot had been unused because a surgeon who had used it left 5 years ago. Nobody on staff knew how to make it work. Within an hour one of MSI surgeons had the robot working. Within two hours he had identified every gizmo needed for prostate surgery. MSI explains that surgical subject expertise can source prostate surgery capacity in a heart surgery hospital.

Mobile Surgery International

The above described surgeon-driven, mobile surgical model depends upon:
1. Excess operating room capacity that can be rented for little.
2. Knowledge of what is necessary and how to source it.
3. Knowledge of what is not necessary and how not to pay for it.
4. Ability to perform surgery really well
5. Mobility.

These are the packages offered by MSI.

1. Orthopedic Surgery - Total Knee Replacement includes Case Management, Logistical coordination, Operating Room, recovery room, 4 night of stay, nursing care, anesthesia and pain management, surgeon, assistant, surgical team, travel and accommodation, local and remote continuity of care, 10 days inpatient and outpatient physical therapy, FDA approved American implant.

2. Cancer Surgery - Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy includes Case Management, logistical coordination, operating room, recovery room, 1 night of stay, nursing care, anesthesiologist, pathologist, surgeon, assistant, surgical team, travel and accommodation, local and remote continuity of care.

Mobile Surgery International: A surgeon driven mobile service model cannot be all thing to people. However, for patients, facilitator, payer, employers, government, and the industry this model is a partial remedy to the economic and other barriers that keep patient from getting what they want and deserve: treatment choice and quality.

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