By Jessica Yarbrough, Marketing & Communications Manager for Satori World Medical

1. Assess employee receptivity to incorporating a medical travel component into their overall company health plan design. Consider, which employees are most likely to utilize the services? Does the benefit address the needs of a culturally diverse workforce?

2. Call your health plan or benefit advisor to discuss coverage of procedures performed outside the U.S. Are there any travel restrictions for patients? If so, what are the guidelines and criteria to screen and pre-qualify individuals as appropriate candidates for medical travel?

3. Connect with a reputable medical travel company with appropriate infrastructure, medical management and quality programs to determine if their model can effectively integrate with your health plan.

4. Utilize only hospitals with foreign accreditations such as the Joint Commission International (JCI) with doctors that are US/UK or equivalently trained and board certified. Ensure the physicians and nursing staff in your network are fluent in English.

5. Examine the demographics and the health needs of your workforce. Perform a cost-benefit analysis using common, high cost surgical procedures to determine projected utilization and savings realized for procedures performed outside the U.S.

6. Carefully examine pricing models for surgical procedures. Are there any additional costs such as hotel, airfare and transportation services that need to be considered?

7. Ensure that you are incompliance with all legal and regulatory issues surrounding a medical travel benefit including HIPAA compliancy and ERISA requirements. Address issues and concerns surrounding malpractice? Are there policies which cover an individual receiving care outside the US and allow for compensation should something go wrong?

8. Address any concerns around patient care coordination including medical records, case management, and pre- and post-operative care with providers internationally and/or in the U.S.

9. Request medical quality data from your medical travel company and/or hospital on quality outcomes, measures, and reporting, physician training and certification and pricing.

10. Send a company representative to perform a site visit to the countries and hospitals that may be of interest to your workforce. Meet with physician leaders and international patient departments.

By Naimeh Tanha, VP Network Development & International Operations, Satori World Medical

A recent Gallup Poll on medical tourism, “Americans Consider Crossing Borders for Medical Care,” further demonstrates Americans’ continued, growing interest in traveling internationally to receive high-quality medical care at a fraction of the cost than in the U.S.

The poll, which surveyed a cross-section of 5,050 U.S. adults, found that up to 29 percent of Americans would consider traveling abroad for medical procedures, such as heart bypass surgery, hip or knee replacement, plastic surgery, cancer diagnosis and treatment, or alternative medical care.

Interestingly, the poll also revealed three key growth factors that will specifically fuel medical tourism’s widespread adoption throughout the U.S. which include: 1) Strides in insurance reimbursements, 2) Continuous improvements in international medical quality and 3) Affordability.

Satori is leading the way in providing a high-quality global health care network that can be seamlessly integrated into any existing employer-funded health plan and at zero cost to the employer or payor. What’s more, it’s the only program of its kind to actually share the financial savings with the employee through a Health Reimbursement Account, offering a real and valuable incentive for employees to participate in medical tourism.

It’s certainly very encouraging to hear that more consumers will continue to choose medical tourism as it becomes an increasingly available benefit option through their existing health insurance plans.

I’d also like to comment on the high-quality care that is now available at hundreds of international hospitals. I am continuously impressed by the superior quality in patient care, state-0f-the-art technology, physician training, etc. now available at many JCI-accredited hospitals around the world. In fact, all of the hospitals that we have contracted with through the Satori Global Network™ are JCI-accredited, staffed by doctors that are U.S./U.K. or equivalently trained and Board Certified, and overall offer some of the best medical care and technology available anywhere in the world.

Finally, the poll reveals that affordability will continue to drive more U.S. consumers outside the U.S. for their medical care. For instance, the average cost of undergoing a heart-valve replacement surgery through any of the participating international hospitals in the Satori Global Network™ is an average of 40-80 percent less than in the U.S., which includes the costs of travel and accommodations for the patient and a companion.

Clearly there are a number of real and compelling reasons to choose medical tourism, and this recent Gallup Poll is another major indication of how and why the medical travel industry is poised for tremendous growth over the next several years.

A recent op-ed by Arnold Milstein, Mark D. Smith and Jerome P. Kassirer (Overseas, Under the Knife, June 9, 2009) sheds light on the increasing popularity of medical tourism, as well as the advantages and concerns of choosing to undergo a surgical procedure outside the U.S.

Below is Satori World Medical’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Johnson’s response to the New York Times Op-Ed Piece, “Overseas, Under the Knife”

By Ronald Johnson, M.D., F.A.C.S., Satori World Medical

The article was very timely, both with the increased interest in medical travel (a recent Gallup Poll showed a sizable minority of Americans view the health care diagnosis and treatment available beyond national borders as something they would consider using) and with the national discussions now taking place on health care reform and costs.

Quality is Key, and as Dr. Milstein, et al note, there are insurers, employers and patients favorably impressed with the quality at many foreign hospitals. At Satori World Medical we use Joint Commission International accreditation as a gating issue, and use other evaluations such as affiliation with U.S. institutions such as Johns Hopkins, Harvard Medical International, Cleveland Clinic and Methodist International to name a few, comparable quality measurements such as Healthgrades, Leapfrog, American Society of Bariatric Surgery, and extensive on-site visits. As a Board Certified general surgeon and now Chief Medical Officer of Satori World Medical I have visited and evaluated all of our Centers of Excellence and I would not hesitate to have surgery at any of these facilities. We would welcome further comparative performance reporting systems for both short- term complications and long-term outcomes here and abroad.

While the cost savings are significant on these elective procedures that Americans have overseas, there is a potential for even larger savings. In a recent article in Health Affairs (Volume 27, Number 5, September/October 2008), authors from the Duke University schools of law, business and medicine describe how organizational innovation has made Indian heart hospitals a low cost, high quality success story. The article is sub-titled “How organizational innovation can reform health care, and (more important), why it hasn’t.” Lessons from the globalization of health care may help us understand why the U.S. spends twice as much per capita on health care than the rest of the world with no apparent benefit – and perhaps how global competition may change that.

By Keith Mendoza, Director of Sales, Satori World Medical

Satori World Medical continues to remain dedicated to our mission and vision to provide individuals, employers, financial sponsors and insurers with world-class healthcare, excellent client service and significant financial benefit.  We are pleased to announce that we have formed a new partnership with Integrated Healthcare, LLC (IHC), a technology company dedicated to delivering cost-saving, consumer-driven health plan tools and solutions to America’s self-funded employers, and their workforces.

According to Jim Williams, Integrated Healthcare’s Chief Marketing & Technology Officer, the partnership with us adds great value to their customers (employers, benefit brokers, consultants, and TPAs) who are all looking for cost-effective and measurable solutions that provide value to employees.  Satori World Medical’s high quality global healthcare network that shares the savings with all participants, including employees, through tax-advantaged Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs)  and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), is exactly the type of consumer friendly program that can significantly reduce employers’ healthcare expenditures and improve their bottom line. 

When employers add Satori World Medical, they utilize HRAs by funding  it with a portion of the significant savings generated by the employee when they elect to undergo a surgical procedure through the Satori Global Network™. The savings range from 40 to 80 percent. A portion of the difference in cost, when compared to the same procedure performed in the US, is shared by the employer with the employee by funding a HRA, a tax-advantaged account that employees can use to pay their future medical expenses. Additionally, the employer waives any co-pays or deductibles when the Satori Global Network^TM is selected. Such an arrangement creates a win-win for all stakeholders.

Satori World Medicals’s program can be seamlessly added to any benefit plan design and has no monthly fee to the employer or health plan.  Addionally, we provide a single bill in U.S. dollars which can be easily adjudicated.  As a result, companies have the ability to reduce their claims processing costs without any foreign currency exchange fluctuations.  Our company  works only with high quality Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited hospitals for contracted, high–cost, elective surgical procedures. We provide end-to-end customer service and our program and services are designed to meet the needs of the U.S. Third Party Payor System.

All of us here at Satori World Medical are very pleased to have formed this synergistic partnership.  Both our companies focus on promoting and engaging consumer choice with cost-effective solutions and tools to guide consumers in making informed decisions.  Together, we can provide employers and their employees with the resources necessary to effectively manage their healthcare costs.

By Jessica Yarbrough, Marketing & Communications Manager, Satori World Medical

We are extremely honored to share with you that Entrepreneur Magazine has selected Satori World Medical among its 100 Brilliant Companies to Watch in 2009 and as the leading profiled company on this prestigious list within the health care category.  As a result, Satori World Medical and our President & CEO Steven Lash were prominently featured on the cover of Entrepreneur’s June issue.

Please feel free to read the entire Entrepreneur Magazine featuring Satori World Medical here. You can also pick up a copy of the June 2009 issue of Entrepreneur at any major newsstand or retail location nationwide.

The vetting process required for this selection demonstrates that Satori World Medical has created a business model that is poised for tremendous growth over the next several years, despite today’s challenging economic climate.

A combination of factors has led to a substantial increase in the popularity of medical travel programs like Satori World Medical: favorable clinical outcome results in high quality accredited international hospitals; the escalating cost of healthcare in the U.S.; an increase in the dollars that a patient is responsible for in their healthcare expenses; the ease and affordability of international travel; significant improvements in technology, hospitals, physician and nurse training; and overall demonstrable improvements in the transparency, measurement and quantification of the standards of care available globally.

In fact, according to a 2008 Deloitte consumer survey on medical travel, by 2011 medical tourism is forecasted to become a $13.9 billion industry.  A recent Gallup Poll on medical tourism also found that a sizeable minority of Americans are willing to travel abroad for major medical procedures, especially if they believe the quality of care would be the same, but significantly more affordable, than care in the United States. 

Stated Amy Cosper, VP/Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, in a recent press release issued by the publication about its selection of 100 Brilliant Companies to Watch, “Even amid the toughest economic challenges, entrepreneurs have prevailed with their unstoppable determination, brilliance and timing.”

The time for global healthcare has come and we’re excited that Satori World Medical is leading this transformation.