By Steven Lash, President & CEO of Satori World Medical

Medical tourism continues to emerge as an increasingly preferred option for many American patients seeking high-quality and affordable medical care. As a result, health authorities, including the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are recognizing the important need for quality information and education about global health care.

Specifically, the CDC has recently released its 2010 edition of Health Information for International Travel with new and expanded information about medical tourism. This formal, in-depth guide to medical practices and prevention abroad, also referred to as the Yellow Book, is published by CDC every two years. The latest edition includes an expansive section on medical tourism, evaluating both the benefits and risk factors of receiving medical care across international borders.

According to Dr. Gary Brunette, chief of CDC’s Travelers’ Health Branch and managing editor of the 2010 Yellow Book, in a recent press release issued by the CDC, “More people are traveling abroad for medical reasons, often to undergo medical procedures at cheaper rates than they might get in the United States. Medical standards can vary by country, and traveling soon after a medical procedure can carry its own set of health risks. We’re providing new recommendations to help people who choose medical tourism to do it as safely as possible.”

In the Yellow Book, Dr. Brunette addresses two key factors that patients must consider when choosing to undergo a medical procedure outside of the U.S.: cost and quality of care. It is a fact that the cost of health care in many other parts of the world is significantly lower than in the U.S., making it a compelling option for more Americans. However, quality is an equally important factor.

One of the biggest reasons for the growing participation in medical travel programs among American patients is that the quality of care available outside the U.S. often rivals that of many U.S. hospitals. For instance, there are now over 200 hospitals around the world accredited by Joint Commission International (JCI), the international arm of the U.S. hospital accrediting body, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). International hospitals accredited by JCI are required to meet the same rigorous standards in medical quality, patient outcomes, nurse-to-patient ratios, training and education of doctors and nurses, etc., as U.S. hospitals. This has led to growing confidence among U.S. health care authorities, as well as patients, in the high quality of care that international hospitals offer.

As mentioned in the Yellow Book, another important reason for the growing adoption of medical travel is the recognition that more U.S. payors and employers are now including medical travel as part of their health care coverage options for employees. According to CDC’s 2010 Yellow Book:

Lower cost is often mentioned as the motivation for this type of medical tourism, and an entire industry has grown up around this phenomenon. One can search for a provider and research accreditation status of the facility online, opt for an online concierge service that will make all the arrangements or, more recently, find that health insurance coverage may include the option of “outsourced” health care.

Global health care and medical travel companies, such as Satori World Medical, have arrived on the scene to provide more U.S. employers, payors and patients access to a high-quality, fully integrated global health care benefit program that significantly reduces the costs of commonly needed surgical procedures, in fact, by on average 40-80% per procedure. Satori World Medical also only contracts with JCI-accredited hospitals to ensure that all participating patients receive the highest quality care. Other key features of Satori’s Quality Assurance Program™ include a full-time Chief Medical Officer who has personally visited and reviewed every hospital in the global network, as well as the pre-arrangement of follow-up care for the patient in the U.S. before he or she leaves the country. This directly follows the CDC Guidebook recommendations provided by the American Medical Association’s tips for planning a surgery abroad:

-  Patients should check to see if the medical facilities abroad have been accredited by recognized international accrediting bodies such as the Joint Commission International or the International Society for Quality in Health Care.

-  Prior to travel, arrange local follow-up care to ensure continuity of care when you return from medical care outside the U.S.

Taking it a step further, Satori has developed an innovative business model that for the first time leverages a tax-advantaged, employer-funded Health Reimbursement Account, to directly reimburse the patient for receiving medical care outside the U.S. through the Satori Global Network™. As a result, they receive thousands of meaningful dollars that can be applied toward their future medical expenses for the next several years.

In my opinion, CDC’s inclusion of medical tourism in its latest edition of the Yellow Book is a true testament that medical tourism is a viable option for many Americans seeking high-quality, cost-effective health care.