Plastic Surgery & Medical Tourism

Medical tourism just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

In recent years medical tourism has become an option increasingly available to potential plastic and cosmetic surgery patients. These potential patients often imagine that inexpensive, high-quality surgical care can be obtained by traveling to such countries as India, Mexico, Costa-Rica, Thailand, and the Dominican Republic. Add to that the price-conscious “savvyness” of the internet coupon generation, and the options increase exponentially. The guiding principles often celebrated by proponents of medical and cosmetic surgery tourism are the promotion of patient consumerism and, most notably, cost savings.

In the age of global digitalization, outsourcing of various business practices has become commonplace. Beginning with the export of information technology and call center jobs, outsourcing has now extended its reach to include medicine, surgery, and even plastic surgery. Several developments have facilitated this trend. Prohibitive health care costs at home, increasing denials of insurance claims and decreasing provider reimbursement rates, increasing overall demand for plastic surgery, long waiting times, and lastly, and perhaps most importantly, cost savings, have all contributed.

Medical tourism is marketed on the basis that health care can be off-shored much like the production of computers and cell phones or the provision of professional services such as bookkeeping and accounting. Good surgical care, however, involves more than just the technical act of surgery itself. It requires extensive and careful preoperative consultation, deliberate formulation of reasonable treatment plans, and implementation of proper postoperative care. Yet, such goals are unlikely to be achieved when patients fly to a foreign country, undergo surgery, recuperate oftentimes for less than a week, and return home with no plan for follow-up care. Furthermore, with increasing numbers of reports about patients traveling abroad and returning home with serious complications, the merits of “globalizing” health care must be questioned.

All too often I consult with patients who tell me of lamentable stories of “plastic surgery gone wrong” abroad. The informed consent process, a standard component of patient-physician communication in the United States, involving full disclosure of risks and benefits of treatment, risks and benefits of alternative forms of treatment, and consequences of not undergoing treatment, is virtually non-existent. Most of the time, the patient cannot even recall the name of the surgeon, or even identify him/her in person preoperatively. In all of medicine, but especially in elective plastic surgery, in order for choices to be made in a meaningful and appropriate manner, patients need to receive accurate and comprehensive information. Inadequate communication before surgery and the seemingly non-existent culpability lead some patients to have procedures that in health care settings with higher standards would never be deemed as falling within the professional realm of care.

When considering the cost savings purported to be an attractive feature of medical tourism, one must always consider the added costs of revisional surgery and medical care incurred with the potential for adverse outcomes. These costs increase on the whole when one considers the increasing frequency of surgical complications incurred with surgery in health care settings that do not meet the standard of care. Medical travelers often purchase cosmetic surgery packages without physician consultation and without knowledge of the medical implications to their health and well-being. Medical tourism companies and destination health care facilities, often owned and operated by non-physicians, benefit from maximizing profits without the necessary medical knowledge, legal responsibilities, and unfortunately, moral compunctions either.

All in all, elective plastic surgery is a drastic measure to undergo in order to change your appearance. So if you do it, you should have all the support from family and friends that you can get to help you get through it. Being home in a comfortable and familiar environment is also instrumental in proper healing. Going away to a foreign country to get this done just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. And that’s the bottom line.

Medical Tourism Survey

Medical tourism is one of the topics covered in a new survey of outbound US travellers.

The ‘Ypartnership/Harrison Group 2010 Portrait Of American Travelers’ is a survey of the travel habits, intentions and preferences of Americans living in the USA.The national survey of 2,524 US households who are active travelers was conducted in February 2010. The results provide an in-depth examination of the impact of the current economic environment, social values and media habits on the travel habits of Americans with an annual household income of $50,000 or more.

Ypartnership is a leading marketing services company serving travel, leisure and entertainment clients. The agency's Insights group is a leading source of market intelligence on emerging business and leisure travel trends. Harrison Group is a leading market research and strategy consulting firm specializing in market strategy, market analytics, survey and forecasting services. This year’s survey was an in-depth examination of the impact of the current economic environment, prevailing social values and emerging media habits on the travel behaviour of American travellers. It seeks the underlying motivations with an emphasis on how they plan, purchase and share travel experiences; rather than a simplistic view of past travel habits. For the first time, the annual survey investigated medical tourism.

The survey is only about attitudes and the figures do not reflect anything on actual numbers who have travelled. In consumer research, attitude/intent is not necessarily transferred into actual purchase in any meaningful way. 50% of leisure travelers are now familiar with the concept of medical tourism, and 17% would consider having a medical procedure done outside the U.S. assuming it is perceived to be of comparable quality. 22% are not sure, suggesting they would also be open to considering this as an alternative to treatment at home if certain conditions were met.

Among adults who would consider traveling outside the U.S. for major medical care, 84% cite the lower cost as the primary reason why. 66% mention comparable or a better quality of care, while 43% cite access to medical treatments or procedures that are not covered by their insurance at home, and 41% mention shorter waiting periods to access care .22% cite access to experimental or non-FDA approved treatments and 20% mention concerns about privacy

Among countries measured in the survey as possible medical tourism destinations, Canada reigns as the number one choice. The top eleven countries:

• Canada (42%)
• United Kingdom (32%)
• Germany (31%)
• Sweden (28%)
• France (24%)
• Mexico (13%)
• India (11%)
• Singapore (10%)
• Costa Rica (9%)
• Brazil (7%)
• Puerto Rico (7%)

These figures are on the basis that they are paid for by health insurers, financial incentives from insurers and/or employers are at least comparable to treatment in the USA, and quality of care is also equivalent. The figures do not reflect intent or willingness to travel for self-payers.

These results are another confirmation of a trend that many medical tourism experts accept, but others continue to deny, that travel time and nearness of destination are key to where medical tourists are prepared to go, not cost alone. American preference is within the American continent, followed by Europe, with Asia much less popular.

Article