Great article about why Dental Tourism has taken off!

Check out why many people in the UK (specific to this article) and many others are choosing to get their dental procedures done abroad.

Medical Tourism

http://www.implant.uk.com/dental-implants/the-popularity-of-dental-surgery-abroad-today

Top Cosmetic Surgeries performed on Americans

Check out what the top cosmetic surgeries performed on Americans are.

Before you read, comment below, and try to guess which is ranked the highest!

http://247wallst.com/2012/04/23/the-most-popular-plastic-surgeries-in-america/

Metabolic Surgery can cure Type 2 Diabetes!

Dr. Jacobo Zafrani, WISE Bariatric Surgeon, explains how he can cure Type 2 Diabetes!

Expert Questions Direction of American Healthcare

Despite a history of strength and stature in America, the hospital institution is in the midst of massive and disruptive change. Such change will be so transformational that by 2020 one in three hospitals will closed or reorganize into an entirely different type of health care service provider. Several significant forces and factors are driving this inevitable and historical shift.

First, America must bring down its crippling health care costs. The average American worker costs their employer $12,000 annually for health care benefits and this figure is increasing more than 10 percent every year. U.S. businesses cannot compete in a globally competitive market place at this level of spending. Federal and state budgets are getting crushed by the costs of health care entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Given this cost problem, hospitals are vulnerable as they are generally regarded as the most expensive part of the delivery system for health care in America.

Second, statistically speaking hospitals are just about the most dangerous places to be in the United States. Three times as many people die every year due to medical errors in hospitals as die on our highways — 100,000 deaths compared to 34,000. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that nearly 100,000 people die annually in hospitals from medical errors. Of this group, 80,000 die from hospital acquired infections, many of which can be prevented. Given the above number of admissions (in the U.S.) that means that 1 out of every 370 people admitted to a hospital dies due to medical errors.

Check out the rest of the article: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/03/onethird-hospitals-close-2020.html

This is much of the reason that Americans are looking abroad to Costa Rica for their healthcare needs.

Top 10 Questions (Part 3)

This is part 3 of 3. The questions from this post are:

7. What’s the medical tourism process like?
8. Can I add a minor procedure (ie dental) when going for a major procedure?
9. Will I be able to communicate with everyone, easily?
10. How long does the trip usually last?

7. What’s the medical tourism process like?

This is a very common question because people only know how it works at their local establishments. With Medical Tourism, it’s not entirely different. Once you speak with your Costa Rican doctor about the surgery and any concerns you may have, you will then receive a final quote for the procedure. WISE and its representatives will take care of all the travel arraignments, hotels, recovery centers travel to and from hospitals, etc. We can even assist in scheduling post-operative follow up with local physicians.

Once you arrive in Costa Rica you will be taken to your hotel. Either that day or the following day (depending on your arrival time) you will be taken to the facility where your procedure will take place. Your personal Health Care Assistant will either pick you up or meet you. Your wait time will be minimal and you will meet with your doctor and go through all of the pre-operative tests. After the tests, you will go back to your hotel for rest and relaxation. The procedure will be performed the following day. After your procedure, you will be cleared to leave the hospital (an overnight stay may be necessary for some surgeries), and you will then be taken either to a beautiful recovery center or your immaculate hotel. Again, this portion will be taken care of by WISE and its representatives. Once you finish your recovery period and/or finish your vacation, you will then be taken back to your doctor for a post-op follow up and you will be cleared to travel home. Upon your arrival home the doctor and nursing staff you came in contact with will follow up with you, as well as any WISE representative you met with. Your follow up appointments will be scheduled before you leave for Costa Rica.

Any other assistant you ask for or require will be handled by WISE.

           

8. Can I add a minor procedure (ie dental) when going for a major procedure?

This is a great way to get more “bang for your buck”, if you will. Many people take advantage of this, in fact. If you are planning to have a larger procedure done (knee replacement), and you need something small done as well (dental, some non-invasive cosmetics) this is a perfect way to maximize the value of your trip.

Other examples could include a trip where the wife requires a gall bladder removal and the husband decides to do the zoom whitening procedure. The out of pocket costs on the two of those procedures, in done in the states, could cost the same as what the entire cost of the trip and procedures cost if done in the tropical paradise of Costa Rica. The beauty of this scenario is that, depending on the patient, the gall bladder procedure can yield a very short recovery period and they may have time to truly enjoy Costa Rica. If they planned on staying 6 nights they could spend a few days simply laying on the beach, or even doing a minimally active sightseeing tour eco-tour.

9. Will I be able to communicate with everyone, easily?

WISE guarantees that everyone you come in contact with in the health care facilities will speak English. Not only will they speak English but it will be very fluent English. We strive to completely remove any communication barriers between the patient and hospital staff, nurses, and doctors. Check out our YouTube Channel to get a glimpse of some of our doctors. YouTube-WISE MDS

10. How long does the trip usually last?

This is highly based on two components

1.      The required recovery time for the procedure
2.      The time a patient may want to stay for tourism/vacation

All we do is set a minimum on days based on the recovery period for each surgery. Aside from that, it’s all based on how much time you’d like to spend in paradise.

Top 10 questions about Medical Tourism (Part 2)

In the last post you got the top 3 questions that are  asked by people I personally come in contact with. This is part 2 of 3. The questions from this post are:

4. What if something goes wrong while I’m there?
5. Why does it cost so much less? How much will I pay?
6. How are the facilities and physicians chosen? What are their qualifications?

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4. What if something goes wrong while I’m there?

            Unfortunately, there is a reality in medical tourism that something could go wrong. While this is never expected, there is always a plan for it.  If there are any unforeseen complications WISE will work with you, your surgeon, the hospital or clinic, your emergency contact and/or companion (if applicable) to ensure that the problem is fixed as quickly as possible.

5. Why does it cost so much less? How much will I pay?

There are three major reasons that it costs less to get a procedure done outside of the United States and Canada.

1.      Health Care professionals are paid less

2.      Fewer people getting paid per transaction

3.      Competition for the US Dollar $

1- Quite simply, the average salary for any profession in Costa Rica compared to the United States is going to be lower.

2- I’ll give you a generic example just to illustrate. In the US when you go in for a procedure, you could have 20 people who end up getting paid. In Costa Rica you may have only 7 people getting paid. It’s simple math. If you have fewer people who are getting paid less, then your costs go down considerably.

3- There are a limited number of countries that have high enough health care costs to justify Medical Tourism, namely the US, Canada, and a few other European countries. That leaves many MORE countries that offer health care costs at a much lower rate. There is more supply than there is demand right now.

The caveat to this is that not all countries that offer lower costs actually have equal or better care than the prospective patient’s native country.

6. How are the facilities and physicians chosen? What are their qualifications?

            WISE has established their own set of provider inclusion guidelines that do exactly that. The provider inclusion guidelines must be met by every provider that WISE works with; they can be summarized by the following points of interest:

• Must be accredited by a recognized accrediting organization under ISQua

(International Society for Quality in Health Care)

• Must meet standards that allow WISE to remain compliant with AMA’s

(American Medical Association) guidelines for medical tourism facilitators

• Must have a respectable medical procedure volume for each procedure that

WISE intends to utilize the provider’s services for

• Must have a low mortality rate relative to the American national average for each respective procedure

• Must have a low complication rate relative to the American national average for each respective procedure

• Must have a low infection rate relative to the American national average for each respective procedure

• Must have a nurse to patient ratio for each floor of the facility of no less than 1:5

• Must have a low re-admission rate relative to the American national average for each respective procedure

• Must have English speaking nurse available and assigned to WISE patients

24/7

• Must have CT (computed tomography) scan device with capability of 64 slice or greater

• Must have MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine with 1.5 Telsa or greater

• Must have the highest quality machines and/or systems available for each respective procedure (i.e. the da Vinci robotic surgery system for hysterectomies)

ISQua launched their International Accreditation Program (IAP) in 1999. They are the only international program that accredits the accreditors. As of September 2011, there are currently 19 organizations, 35 sets of standards (from 21 organizations) and 8 surveyor training programs accredited by ISQua. They work closely with the WHO (World Health Organization) to ensure that the highest qualities of healthcare standards are met in each and every one of their accredited facilities. Currently, there are two governing bodies that are accredited by ISQua that WISE providers are accredited by: JCI (Joint Commission International) and  AAAASF (American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery

Facilities).

The JCI is the same governing body that accredits hospitals in the United States to ensure that the highest quality healthcare standards are met and maintained. The JCI accredits three hospitals within WISE’s network:

1. Hospital CIMA San Jose

2. Hospital Clinica Biblica

3. Hospital La Catolica

WISE is stringent in the selection of the surgeons that we will work with to ensure that we can provide the best experience for our patients. Surgeons are selected based on their educational background, certifications related to their field, involvement in continuing education, communication skills, experience in the field and something often not thought of but very important, their bedside manner. WISE personally interviews each surgeon to make sure a great working relationship will ensue if they are brought into the network to work with our patients.

Top 10 Questions about Medical Tourism (Part 1)

We get many questions when it comes to medical tourism. I have taken the liberty to answer the Top 10 questions that I personally get, so that you have an easy reference. Since some of the answers can be lengthy (even when highly condensed), I've made it into a 3 part series. 

The the 3 question in this post are:

1. Is it safe?

2. What surgeries are offered?

3. How will you assist in post-operative care and follow up visits upon my return home?

1. Is it safe?

When it comes to medical tourism, safety should be a top priority for everyone involved.

Disclaimer: Since this is a sensitive subject let me be clear; I am speaking on behalf of WISE and its associated only. Each Facilitation Company, hospital, country/destination, and surgeon handles the topic of safety differently. 

To be honest, this topic deserves its own chapter in a book. I’ll keep it as short as I can.

As stated above, your safety and satisfaction should be and are the top priority of WISE and its associates. Below is a list of preventative measures we take before any procedure takes place:

-Patient selection process- Qualifying each potential patient, to ensure they are healthy enough to travel before and after their procedure.

-Surgeon Inclusion Criteria- Please refer to  Part 2

-Provider Inclusion Criteria- Please refer to Part 2

-Selection of destination-  Costa Rica is consistently ranked higher than the US in their health care and life expectancy  (WHO Rankings)

-Compliance with American Medical Association’s guidelines for medical tourism facilitators (AMA)

-Compliance with International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua)

Before I lose myself in this post, and write the whole chapter for you, let me say this. With total confidence, I can tell you that any procedure done by our surgeons in our affiliate hospitals and ambulatory clinics will be as good as or better than any done by your local provider.

If you have specific questions about this topic, please comment below and I can answer them more directly.

2. What surgeries are offered?

WISE offers over 45 surgeries and procedures; Everything from Dental procedures to Orthopedics and Cosmetics to Gynecology. Instead of me listing each and every procedure that we offer you can view them all, by category with this link

3. How will you assist in post-operative care and follow up visits upon my return home?

            WISE would like you to have the best experience possible and that includes correspondence with your local physician and specialists. We contact your current physician to obtain all of your current and up-to-date medical information, to ensure your safety. While you are in Costa Rica you will meet with your doctor to go through any and all preoperative exams. Once your procedure is complete, you will meet with your doctor at least two more times; One to be released from the hospital and another to receive the clearance to travel. Once you return home you will not be left to figure everything out for yourself, you will have the WISE family with you ever step of the way. Follow-up visits with your local physician upon your return home will be coordinated by a WISE representative.  There will also be coordinated follow-up with WISE's surgeons and its affiliates.  

*It should go without saying, but we follow HIPPA regulations when it comes to your personal medical records. All of your information is kept confidential