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.