mployers who do not want
to send employees overseas for elective surgeries may be able to reap the benefits
of medical tourism—lower-cost health care—in places that don’t require patients
to pack their passports.
Global Choice, a medical travel company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is
developing a network of medical facilities that will offer employers set prices
for elective surgeries at several hospitals and inpatient specialty clinics. The
price includes travel expenses in the U.S. and medical costs.
Though the surgeries will be more expensive than procedures at hospitals in developing
countries, Global Choice president Ken Erickson says they will be priced "very,
very competitively" against what employers and insurance companies can negotiate
with medical providers.
If such a business model takes off, it may force hospitals to change the way
they charge employers for medical care. Hospitals contracting with Global Choice
would offer fixed prices for clients, as opposed to the a la carte pricing hospitals
normally charge. In the long term, other hospitals may opt to use low fixed prices
to attract patients.
"We want to lead the way in this whole new global pricing model," Erickson says.
"At the end of the day, it will allow people to shop for health care."
Arnold Millstein, chief physician for Mercer Health & Benefits, says that since
a large proportion of hospital costs are fixed, offering transparent, fixed pricing
may make them more competitive.
Global Choice has contracted with Lovelace Health System in Albuquerque and is
in negotiations with Christus Health, a hospital system that operates in the U.S.
and Mexico, to offer employers the option of sending patients to Christus’ hospitals
in San Antonio or Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Global Choice also signed an orthopedic
clinic in Las Vegas and is negotiating with an orthopedic clinic in Rapid City,
South Dakota. Hospitals and clinics in areas with dwindling populations are especially
interested in attracting out-of-town patients, Erickson says.
"They built themselves a cruise ship," Erickson says of hospitals in sparsely
populated areas. "It’s sailing every day without a lot of people on it."
Workforce Management, November 20, 2006, p. 31
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