MMedsolution – Medical Dental Tourism Resource On-line

In a recent Tribune article, heart specialist Dr Conville Brown complained about Bahamians spending millions of dollars in the US for medical care that could easily be obtained at home.

He was arguing in favour of local healthcare providers building a large-scale medical tourism industry here.

“The same things that all tourists do,” he said, “the medical tourist has to do. (And) if the ownership is Bahamian, then the economy really wins because those funds will stay here.”

But at the same time he felt constrained to point out that Bahamians were offsetting the income from foreigners by flying off to get treatment in the US.

“We boost their economy big time. We are reverse medical tourists. Several hospitals in South Florida say their biggest international clientele is from the Bahamas.”

Medical tourism is a multi-billion-dollar growth industry that hospitals, doctors and tourism marketers around the world are eager to tap into.

By some accounts, more than half a million Americans travel to other countries for medical treatment – partly for cost reasons and partly to take advantage of procedures not yet approved in the US.

There can be no disagreement with Dr Brown’s position in terms of the Bahamian economy. And for patients, the benefits are equally obvious and compelling.

If Bahamians obtained their medical treatment at home they would significantly reduce the logistics, expense and stress of being treated abroad.

Why then, do so many of us spend so much money overseas for treatments that are available right here at home? We can answer that question fairly confidently – given a choice, patients will seek medical care from the doctors, hospitals and clinics they trust the most.

This is a personal decision, and it is usually an informed decision. Patients must feel assured that the doctors and facilities they choose are both accountable and able to provide the best quality care they can afford. So what processes do we have in place to convey such assurances to Bahamians?

Well, there are three statutory bodies that are capable of providing quality assurance and oversight to the Bahamian healthcare sector.

The Public Health Authority has managed government hospitals and clinics since 1999, under the direction of the Minister of Health.

As an independent public body, the Authority is responsible for planning, policy, monitoring, evaluation, and management, as well as programme development and oversight.

However, the PHA’s legislation has no provision for the investigation of complaints about the healthcare facilities managed by the Authority.

Instead, PHA patients are advised to contact the “patient representative” to discuss any concerns they may have.

The Hospital and Health Care Facilities Board was created by Parliament in 1998 to license private hospitals and clinics. This legislation does include a specific mandate to investigate complaints into the “diagnosis, management and treatment” of any patient.

Physicians are the primary providers of healthcare, whether in the public or private sector, and since 1974 they have been licensed and regulated by the Medical Council.

According to its website, the Council was established “to regulate the medical profession, to upgrade doctors through continuing education requirements, and to safeguard the public through receiving and disposing of complaints.”

However, despite the fact that it represents one of the richest professions, the Council is made up of a handful of volunteers with virtually no administrative staff. Their website, for example, includes dead and departed physicians on its registry.

So do the records of these three bodies help to inspire confidence and trust in the delivery of healthcare services in the Bahamas?

Well, It would be useful to know how many complaints have been processed by the PHA’s “patient representative” and how they were resolved, but unfortunately that information is not publicly available.

As for the Hospital Board and the Medical Council, a summary of the case history of one complaint to these bodies over the past decade is instructive.

In 2004 a complaint was made to the Hospital Board concerning the treatment of a 42-year-old man who unexpectedly died in 2002 in a licensed Bahamian healthcare facility.

The Board initially refused to deal with the complaint. But after several Board members were replaced in 2005 by then Health Minister Dr. Marcus Bethel, he ordered that the complaint be investigated. This order by Dr. Bethel more than six years ago is the high-point of the case.

The 2005 Board met with the complainant’s legal and medical representatives in 2006. Afterwards, the Board chairman advised that ”since the patient was dead, the file should be closed.”

The Board did, however, reconsider, and an investigatory panel was to be formed. However, the government changed before this happened.

The new government reinstated the 2004 Board chairman, and other members. This chairman reported to a Rotary Club meeting in 2008 that the Board didn’t want to investigate any complaints, or “be involved in that detailed level of work.”

The Board said it would seek to have its enabling legislation amended, to remove the investigative requirements, and also to remove the requirement for licensed facilities to report deaths occurring on their premises – a legal mandate never complied with, and never enforced, over the Board’s entire lifetime.

(It should also be noted that over the past 14 years the Board has issued only two “annual” reports to Parliament, something which it is required to do by law every year. And even obtaining copies of those two reports presents enormous challenges.)

At a public meeting in 2008, Health Minister Dr Hubert Minnis also promised to investigate the 2004 complaint. But it is now 2012 and the Board has taken no action whatsoever. Neither has it ever responded to the complainant.

As for the Medical Council, it received a complaint about the same patient’s treatment and care in 2008. The disciplinary committee of the Medical Council met twice on the matter, and three years ago, then Council chairman Dr Duane Sands assured Tough Call that “There is no stonewalling.

We take this very, very seriously because we want to ensure that the public will be well-served at the end of the day by this groundbreaking precedent.”

He also told me that a revision of the medical act (something which has been stalled for almost a decade now) would strengthen the Council’s ability to deal with “a finite group of people who are discrediting the profession without any real repercussions – from charging extortionary fees to providing less than appropriate care.”

However, in December of last year the Medical Council’s disciplinary committee suspended the 2008 complaint investigation indefinitely.

The Council decided it could not proceed because of an ex-parte injunction granted by a Supreme Court judge against the disciplinary committee in 2009, on the application of a doctor concerned in the matter.

Since then, the Medical Council has taken no steps to have the injunction removed or to proceed with the investigation.

The injunction itself is a curious feature in this story. It is perhaps “the one and only” injunction to be granted by one Supreme Court judge against another Supreme Court judge (who sits in his judicial capacity as a member of the statutory disciplinary committee).

Kerzner’s branding of the Ocean Club as the “One and Only” has given a high profile to the Bahamas as an attractive destination, but the “one and only” injunction against a Supreme Court judge could have a converse effect on the Bahamas as a destination for medical tourism – quite apart from the collateral damage inflicted on the public oversight function of the Medical Council.

If doctors and politicians want to attract medical tourism to the Bahamas, they need first to inspire confidence in Bahamian medical services among Bahamians themselves.

Putting the legislation that already exists to work on behalf of the public interest by providing quality assurance and oversight of healthcare delivery is the obvious place to start.

http://www.bahamapundit.com/2012/01/medical-tourism-and-medical-oversight-in-the-bahamas.html

Medical Tourism Resource Online

This year, hundreds of thousands of Americans will travel abroad, not to see ancient ruins or visit historic sites, but to undergo affordable medical care.

These medical tourists will go to Mexico, Thailand, Costa Rica and elsewhere for everything from root canals to hip replacements.

And while this type of tourism has been around for decades, it’s become more and more popular as health-care costs in the U.S. continue to rise.

And if Obamacare is overturned by the Supreme Court — more average Americans may soon be medical tourists as well.

Paul Vehorn is a behavioral psychologist, host of the Paul Vehorn radio show, and a medical tourist who’s visited Thailand for two different procedures.

And James Surowiecki is a journalist with the New Yorker. He explores what the bigger economic implications of medical tourism might be in his article entitled “Club Med.”

http://www.thetakeaway.org/2012/apr/12/rise-medical-tourism/

Medical Tourism Resource Online

Everyone is talking about it, it’s the latest buzz, it’s called ‘Medical Tourism’ and refers to tourists who combine a holiday with medical treatment.

From the corridors of Government to the layman on the street everyone wants to know how Barbados can be a part of it.

But hang on a minute, this isn’t actually a new concept for Barbados at all, we have been selling ourselves as an island of well-being and the place to relax for over 200 years.

Our first and most famous medical tourist was George Washington, who brought his brother Lawrence to Barbados in 1751 to successfully recover from tuberculosis.

From that time until now, Barbados has affirmed its reputation for excellent medical care.

Barbados has changed a lot since 1751, but when it comes to medical care, our reputation is still very strong, particularly for assisted reproduction in the international community, and much of this is credited to the work of Barbados Fertility Centre (BFC).

The medical team at BFC is headed up by Barbadian Dr. Juliet Skinner and in April 2012 will be celebrating 10 years of success in creating families.

From inception BFC set out to be an international centre of excellence for fertility treatment.

BFC treats patients from the UK, Canada, USA and the Caribbean region. Patients are encouraged to leave the stresses and strains of everyday life and have a 14 day vacation in Barbados whilst undergoing fertility treatments at the state of the art centre in Hastings, Christ Church.

Over the 10 years, BFC has created a successful treatment program to ensure their patients are at their optimum of relaxation to receive IVF treatment.

Combining holistic and traditional treatment methods, their success is proven in the thousands of babies having been created for childless couples.

With the understanding that the island and its natural beauty compliment the services at the clinic, BFC created holiday packages to suit each patient’s budget from self-catering apartments right through to a fortnight at Sandy Lane.

Gone are the days that travel was once deemed a luxury for only the elite. In today’s world, travel itself can heighten stress levels for the travelling tourist. To minimize this, BFC offers an entire holiday package for patients including flights, accommodation, all transportation requirements and a local mobile phone.

As patients embrace Barbados’ island culture, they begin to unwind enjoying other aspects of their holiday including island tours, catamaran cruises, restaurants, and a plethora of ancillary tourist oriented activities which in turn benefit the island’s foreign exchange and employment levels.

To spread the word of the clinic’s success and options available to future patients, BFC works hard at marketing their services internationally.

By attending and exhibiting at targeted conferences and exhibitions throughout the year in the US and UK, BFC is now a recognized brand within the medical tourism fraternity.

Dr. Skinner and her team are often asked to speak at international conferences on the subject of medical tourism and for the last 3 consecutive years has been a featured speaker as one of the leaders in their field at the Medical Tourism Association AGM in the USA.

The medical team also go out on the road, travelling around the Caribbean to hold free educational seminars to help people to understand the subject of infertility, which affects one in six couples throughout the world.

Diverse marketing has brought the spotlight to the services of this gem in the crown of Barbados’ Medical Tourism.

Incorporated in their market strategies are dedicated websites for both European and North American clients in an effort to help the patients feel more comfortable with travelling to Barbados for treatment. With a strong social media and web based presence, the clinic is reaching global recognition.

Not only keeping with state of the art medical technology, BFC was also the first healthcare provider to develop The Fertility App for iPhone & iPad to help anyone, anywhere in the world that is trying to conceive.

With downloads across the globe, again helping to put Barbados on the map as a health care destination.

Imperative to any business which falls under medical tourism umbrella, BFC holds the gold seal of approval from JCI, the premier US health accreditation body, assuring patients of the highest quality and patient safety standards upheld at the clinic.

For an international patient it makes a lot of sense to come to Barbados for IVF treatment. With costs being a third of that of the US, combined with high success rates of 72% for women under 35 – this attractive combination of low cost, high success means that their dreams of having a family can indeed come true.

Medical tourism is alive and working exceptionally well in Barbados and is part of the government and private sectors vision for the future as other hospitals and therapy areas continue to progress in this industry.

http://businessbarbados.com/industry-guide/tourism/medical-tourism-concept-barbados/

Medical Tourism Resource Online

Hospitals and healthcare hubs in the UAE are increasingly looking abroad to attract patients and boost a small but growing medical- tourism sector here.

Revenue in the UAE’s Medical Tourism market amounted to about US$1.7 billion (Dh6.24bn) in 2010, and the sector is projected to grow by about 15 per cent annually, according to the market research firm Business Monitor International.

Dubai Healthcare City is planning to create centres for oncology, genetic disorders and diabetes within five years in an effort to expand the medical-tourism segment of its business.

About 15 per cent of more than 500,000 patients who sought care there last year were medical tourists, up from just 5 per cent of 231,000 patients in 2009.

Over the past year, RAK Hospital has been opening small offices in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Nigeria to find out more about the kinds of patients who are travelling abroad for treatment.

It has also been putting together its own treatment packages that include airline tickets, visitor visas and negotiated rates at partner hotels near its base in Ras Al Khaimah.

“UAE has tremendous potential to come up as the next important medical-tourism destination for the people of this region,” said Raza Siddiqui, the executive director of RAK Hospital.

While the medical tourism service started last year still makes up a small part of RAK Hospital’s business, it now attracts one or two patients each day. Mr Siddiqui said the hospital plans to open offices in Russia, Pakistan, Kenya and Uganda to expand this business further.

At the same time, healthcare facilities in the UAE are working to keep local patients from travelling elsewhere for treatment – and boosting the medical-tourism sector of competing countries.

“One of the challenges that the UAE faces is stiff competition from popular medical destinations such as India and South East Asia that also provide competitive medical care,” said Dr Ayesha Abdullah, the executive director of Dubai Healthcare City.

“Another challenge is many patients still prefer to get medical care outside the UAE.”

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, which is scheduled to open on Sowwah Island next year, is encouraging local residents to seek treatment there while it also tries to attract medical tourists.

It plans to use certain amenities such as a climate-controlled walkway that connects to a nearby luxury hotel to entice patients to its facilities.

“The primary purpose of bringing the Cleveland Clinic model of care to Abu Dhabi is to provide those patients who might otherwise go abroad for treatment to places like Cleveland in Ohio with the highest international standards of health care in their home country [of the UAE],” said Dr Marc Harrison, the chief executive of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

“The hospital is designed primarily to cater to the needs of patients in Abu Dhabi and other emirates in the UAE, but we will, of course, welcome patients from the wider region.”

A greater challenge for UAE hospitals may be accounting for healthcare policies in the home countries of potential medical tourists.

For instance, some jurisdictions may not approve drugs or treatment methods that are offered in the Emirates, while certain doctors may be reluctant to treat patients who have received elective care here or elsewhere.

“The issues in a universal healthcare system are different than in jurisdictions with a patient pay structure,” said Dino Wilkinson, a partner based in Abu Dhabi at the law firm Norton Rose.

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/economics/medical-tourism-rising-in-the-uae

Medical Tourism Resource Online

It’s a new world out there in 2011. Previously you bought your car only locally and on top of that medical or dental care was in your city or at the worst a specialist’s referral to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota or perhaps Phoenix. The case was solidly that that “foreigners” would travel to high tech America or Britain for advanced, modern and hygienic medical care. Not so today. Now it’s often the case of reverse. Americans, Canadians and Europeans are going offshore for medical care.

Perhaps the rationale for this “Medical Tourism” it’s to “jump the queue”, perhaps it for a cost savings. Or sometimes it’s just to get a vacation. Effectively for the cost of medical and dental care back at home you can also have the procedures and get a restive vacation in Asia or Mexico to boot. Recently its not only regular doctor’s medical care that people/patients are seeking, but also dental care. It’s known in the dental trade as “Dental Tourism”.

The “hospitality” & tourism industries at the present is constantly growing and branching out. Dental tourism is an emerging new growth area and trend in the tourism and travel industries nowadays. It would surprise you that “ordinary people “are seriously contemplating one of the “dental vacations” where this would not of even been a consideration what so ever 10 years ago. Again apart from getting the dental care they need, dental tourism also gives them the opportunity to visit a new place, meet new people, be exposed to new culture and customs and have a great vacation while taking a trip for their dental care appointment. For the most part, due to the reduced costs of the medical or dental procedures the far away trip or vacation is “free”.

In Cancun Mexico,for example, competent, well trained and hygienic dentists openly advertise that the professional fees for their services are 70 % less than American or Canadian dental association tariff rates. Voila consider your vacation or recuperative time in paradise is more than subsidized and offset by the cost of air travel, ground transport and reasonable lodgings. While there are a myriad of places around the world to obtain competent and safe medical and dental procedures it often boils down to proximity to reduce travel and time off work costs. For Europeans India is often the first pick. Others in more eastern European countries or Israel and the Middle East choose Turkey or Cyprus. For North Americans – both Canadians and Americans – it can be South or Central America or close by to home, and a short vacation flight – standard holiday vacation charter discount vacation flights.

Despite the low cost oral care, there can also be complications when it comes to traveling abroad for dental care for some facilities and clinics may be uneducated about the different policies including basic hygiene in the workplace. With this, it is the responsibility of the traveler to first know the information about their selected clinic before traveling so that they can avoid having a trip to a un-hygienic clinic that may offer low cost oral work but totally unsafe. Also make allowances both in terms of time and money if complications arise. If you have chosen your medical practitioner, clinic or hospital wisely and with care, this need not be a major issue. Still just like at home complications can occur no matter the care and attention to detail as well as hygiene. Hence make allowances in your mind, both in terms of funding and costs should this unfortunately arise. If your medical insurance plan is funding the trip – ensure that extra stays and costs due to complicating events are covered as part of the coverage. It might surprise many that established medical insurers are recommending to their clients offshore medical procedures as a means of controlling costs and outlays on their end.

Planned well and done wisely, medical / dental tourism offers a myriad of benefits of those who partake in its opportunity. Obviously it’s not for life threatening medical care which must be done on the spot and as well not for those who for reasons of poor health are unable to travel what so ever. Yet with some foresight, thought and planning those needing medical procedures and care can have their cake and eat it too, in terms of having the medical procedures done and enjoying a well beautiful vacation.

Medical Tourism Dentistry Vacation Resource On-line

http://mmedsolution.com/

Nearly 500,000 retirees pick up their Social Security checks at an embassy or other location outside of the United States. If you’re among them – or want to be – then it probably means you’ve successfully expatriated your wealth … and/or yourself!

Read the rest of this entry »

Medical outsourcing is not really “outsourcing, but rather a controlled means of acquiring assistance in managing the ever increasing demand for particular resources. No physician abroad is completing a task in lieu of a U.S. based physician, but rather in tandem.

Read the rest of this entry »

Maybe it’s happened to you: you need an expensive medical procedure, but you don’t have the healthcare coverage to pay for it. Whether it’s heart surgery with the price tag of a house, dental work or plastic surgery, medical care is very expensive in the United States.

Read the rest of this entry »

With the threat of individual health insurance plans in California potentially being kicked out of the state for possible non-compliance with the state laws, some people with individual health insurance policies are probably holding their breath in hopes to have reasonably priced health insurance that will still cover them.

Read the rest of this entry »

When a person travels the last thing on their minds is that they will fall ill. Yes in most cases you are traveling for pleasure of perhaps business. It seems highly unlikely that you will be taken ill. Yet it happens both on holiday , vacation , business travel and yes on travel for medical care – medical tourism.

In some cases there are well known areas and vectors where is not unexpected to fall ill. Most well known of course is a person traveling to Mexico and experiencing Montezuma” Revenge ( Traveler’s Diarreigh) – which is not a life threatening condition all in all . However for most affected it is all too memorable.

When it comes to traveling what overall basic recommendations can be given or taken to heart:

First it never hurts to play it safe. Have a very high temperature that just will not seem to dissipate ? Blood in your stool ? If you have a travel insurance toll free number simply give them a call . At the worst most hotels. resorts and other facilities have an arrangement with a physician or other health care provider on call and sometimes by mutual arrangement on site.

If you are treated abroad take into consideration that there may be a two tier system at your location . It may not even be a case of one set of rules and medical level of care for those that can pay and those that cannot . There may be even be shades of grey in between. It is always best to ask.

For minor , non life threatening emergencies and ailments , the “free” care available to everyone may be fine. If you have the time. Note that you may be asked to pay fees as a non-resident which may be similar in rates to those “Back home”.

If its something serious or you have restricted time – go the private more high end route.

http://www.mmedicalsolution.com

Vancouver Internet Car sales Kijii Craigs List Auto-Trader

Medical Tourism Medical Tourism

www.mmedsolution.com