By Steven Lash

As reported in the recent Financial Times article, “Travel Sickness,” the rising costs of healthcare in developed countries is having a positive effect on countries like Mexico, Thailand and India where medical care is available at a fraction of the cost. According to a recent report by Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, medical tourism is likely to expand at 35 percent a year by 2012. This means an economic boost and advanced infrastructure for developing countries.

The number of internationally accredited medical facilities is growing rapidly. There are now more than 200 international hospitals which have received accreditation by Joint Commission International, the international arm of the U.S. accreditation body for domestic hospitals in the U.S. Foreign governments are investing in world-class facilities to complement the influx of Western medical tourists and tourism bureaus are reaping the benefits of Westerners combining medical procedures with exotic vacations. Ideally, this will have a trickle down to improved health systems for those countries’ citizens, as stated in the Financial Times article.

International accreditation benefits everyone. It raises healthcare standards and increases competition, which raises the bar even in the public sector. In South Korea, for example, the government has launched a public-private initiative designed to do just this. The Council for Korea Medicine Overseas Promotion was established in 2007 to develop world-class healthcare infrastructure and to promote Korean healthcare to international patients.

Domestically, U.S. health insurers are buying into the growing trend of medical tourism, as well. Blue Cross of South Carolina, for example, has brought hospitals in Europe, Asia and Latin America into its network of coverage. State governments have also taken notice of the financial opportunities medical tourism provides. Although the bills have not yet passed, both West Virginia and Colorado have proposed legislation that would provide incentives to insurers that include medical tourism in their plans.

To make medical tourism a seamless, high-quality and convenient healthcare option for more and more U.S. patients, employers and payors, companies like Satori World Medical have entered the marketplace to offer a “one-stop-shop” for medical travel. Through such programs, all services and procedures for the patient are arranged by a reputable medical travel partner to ensure that all aspects of the patient’s care and travel are properly handled, from helping the individual select his or her surgeon and hospital abroad and transferring his or her medical records to the destination hospital, to handling all travel details, such as flights, hotel, ground transportation, etc.

Companies, such as Satori World Medical, also offer fully integrated medical travel plans that employers can add to their existing employee benefit offerings at no cost, whatsoever, because the savings are achieved through utilization. Additionally, with the Satori World Medical program, for instance, the participating patient directly receives a portion of the savings as well – anywhere from $5,000-$10,000 per procedure is deposited into an employer-funded Health Reimbursement Account (HRA). This offers everyone a compelling reason to participate in medical travel – the employer, payor and the individual receiving care.

As reinforced by this Financial Times article, as medical costs in mature markets continue to soar, medical tourism will continue to rapidly evolve in developed and developing nations, alike.

By Steven Lash, President & CEO, Satori World Medical

America’s crippling healthcare costs, coupled with the availability of high-quality medical care in other parts of the world at a fraction of the cost than in the U.S., are just a couple of the key factors fueling an increased national interest in medical tourism.

As the industry continues to mature, more U.S. employers are beginning to offer medical travel programs to their employees as part of their health insurance.  As President & CEO of Satori World Medical, the leading global healthcare company, I am often asked to provide insight into why every employer isn’t offering a medical travel program in their benefit plan design.  It is evident that there is high quality, cost effective health care available outside the U.S, however, common concerns over medical quality, patient safety and a general lack of understanding about medical travel and the differences that exist among the various facilitators, seem to be challenges to widespread adoption. That of course then raises the question:  How are these challenges overcome? So, let’s explore each of these specific concerns, and their possible solutions.

Medical quality and the lack of universal quality standards in place for medical travel:  There are well-respected regulatory agencies around the world, such as Joint Commission International (JCI), established to ensure high-quality standards in medical care at international hospitals. However, medical travel companies and international hospitals are not actually required to meet any specific universal set of quality guidelines. So how does one ensure the quality of care for a patient undergoing surgery in a foreign hospital? Well the answer to that question is to be well informed about the specific quality assurance programs that different medical travel companies offer.  Only participate in a global healthcare program that SOLELY contracts with JCI-accredited hospitals, conducts regular on-site due diligence visits to every international hospital within its network, and has a full-time Chief Medical Officer on staff that is a Board Certified surgeon.

Lenient malpractice laws in some foreign countries and financial protection if something goes wrong: Another common concern among patients considering medical travel is built-in protection from an unforeseen health complication that might take place while they are traveling or receiving care in a foreign hospital. Patients should protect themselves from such risks by 1) participating in a program like Satori World Medical, which follows the same quality standards as today’s leading domestic health networks and 2) verifying that the company offers a comprehensive personal accident insurance policy in the unlikely event that something goes wrong.

The stresses and safety of international travel and long flights: Patients also commonly fear the stresses and health issues that can occur when traveling to foreign countries or taking long flights. Patients can avoid this problem by choosing a medical travel company or program that does all of the planning and legwork. A couple of important questions to ask include:

-   Does the company offer a comprehensive, preliminary medical screening of all patients to assess their overall health and determine whether they are eligible candidates for medical travel? If so, what does that process entail?

-   What are the types and levels of services provided to ensure a comfortable and safe medical travel experience? For instance, only work with a company that handles all details for patients and their travel companion, such as making flight reservations and hotel accommodations, arranging ground transfers to/from the airport, etc. Also, inquire about whether the program covers the cost of a travel companion. Travel companions are important to helping medical travel patients feel safe and comfortable.

When it comes to all matters of healthcare, knowledge is the key to success. While there are certainly understandable concerns surrounding medical travel, with the right information and decisions, medical tourism can be an extremely safe and viable cost-saving option for many U.S. companies.

By Steven Lash, President & CEO of Satori World Medical

This week, Satori World Medical had the privilege of announcing that esteemed medical travel industry expert and author, Josef D. Woodman, has joined the company’s Strategic Advisory Board (SAB). The counsel provided by Woodman and other key members of Satori World Medical’s SAB and Medical Quality Advisory Board, will ensure that our company continuously achieves the highest industry-wide standards in medical quality and sophisticated business strategy.

Recognized for authoring the first comprehensive, easy-to-understand guide to medical tourism, “Patients Beyond Borders,” Woodman has spent more than three years touring 100 medical facilities in 14 countries and researching contemporary medical tourism. As co-founder of MyDailyHealth and Ventana Communications, Woodman’s pioneering background in health, wellness, and Web technology, has allowed him to compile a wealth of information about global health travel, telemedicine, and new developments in consumer and institutional medical care.

A noted consumer advocate for the globalization of health care, Woodman has also lectured at the Harvard Medical School and the UCLA School of Public Health and has hosted more than a dozen seminars and workshops around the world on the topics of medical tourism and health travel.

According to Woodman, “Satori World Medical is one of the best global health care programs that I have seen. I am particularly impressed with Satori’s Quality Assurance Program™ and its unique financial sharing model, which provides a measurable shared economic incentive for all program participants. Satori’s business model is well poised for growth over the next several years and for forging new strategies in addressing globalized health care. I look forward to being a part of its success.”

Through its global network of Board Certified doctors practicing at state-of-the-art Joint Commission International (JCI)-accredited hospitals, Satori World Medical offers a comprehensive, high–quality, integrated medical benefit program that reduces the costs of surgical procedures by an average of 40-80 percent when compared to the same procedures performed in a U.S. hospital.

Having Josef Woodman join our SAB is such a tremendous honor for our company and a testament to the strength and viability of our program. His extensive hands-on experience with the consumer side of health care will help strengthen key relationships among patients, international providers and insurers. His added expertise is invaluable in enabling our company to deliver high quality, affordable, and practical global health care solutions to payors, employers and their employees, nationwide.

By Steven Lash, President & CEO of Satori World Medical

At next week’s American Health Insurance Plans Institute Conference (AHIP Institute 2009, June 3-5, 2009) in San Diego, thousands of health care executives and companies from around the nation, including Satori World Medical, will convene to discuss U.S. Health Care Reform, among other pressing global issues surrounding health care.

I am particularly excited to see that the globalization of health care will be among the topics at the forefront of this year’s conference agenda. As governments, employers and individuals around the world continue to face skyrocketing health care costs, rapidly aging populations and increasing consumer demands, more nations such as the U.S., are turning to the private sector for new ways to provide access to high quality health care procedures.

During AHIP, Satori World Medical’s Strategic Advisory Board Member, Stuart Altman, Ph. D., will lead a panel discussion on issues surrounding the globalization of health care. Specific topics that will be discussed include:

• Growing choice among U.S. consumers to travel internationally in order to obtain high quality, accessible and affordable health care.
• Emergence of leading-edge technology combined with performance-based initiatives critical to improving the delivery of health care around the world.
• Global expansion of health care and things that need to be considered in order to make global health care a real and viable choice for all Americans.
• Challenges and opportunities for reducing health care costs while simultaneously increasing the quality of health care delivery.

Due to the conference’s important focus on global health care this year, Satori World Medical is also thrilled to be the only global health care network/medical travel company exhibiting at AHIP 2009.

Specific topics related directly to global health care, which I hope will engender further discussion include:

• How and why more U.S. payors and employers are adopting medical tourism and integrating global health care programs into their overall employee benefit plan design;
• International health care quality and how hospitals outside the U.S. are able to deliver equivalent, or superior, quality health care services at a fraction of the cost domestically; and
• Where medical tourism specifically fits into the future of U.S. Healthcare Reform.

While medical travel is still in its early stages, the increased focus on global health care among top leaders in the industry, is a testament to the growing and significant role that global health care is continuing to play in U.S. Health Care Reform. The fact that Satori World Medical is leading this important industry transformation is very exciting for us.

Satori World Medical will be exhibiting at Booth #921. Join our executives for an insightful conversation about medical tourism and how global health care programs are helping to bring high quality, cost effective health care solutions to U.S. plan sponsors/employers and their employees.

We’ll see you next week in San Diego!

Notes from my presentation at last week’s World Health Care Congress in DC

By Steven Lash, President & CEO of Satori World Medical

Last week, I attended the 6^th Annual 2009 World Health Care Congress (WHCC), Apr. 14-16, in Washington, DC, one of the year’s most important industry events for America’s health care executives. About 2,000 health care professionals attended this year, including CEOs, senior executives and government officials from the nation’s largest employers, hospitals, health systems, health plans, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and leading government agencies.

To no surprise, the biggest theme of the event was the U.S. health care crisis and strategies around health care reform. It was evident throughout the conference that fundamental changes to our health care system are needed and innovations in health care delivery will be the driving force. Among the innovations presented at the conference was the concept of global health care, also known as medical tourism.

I actually had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion on global health care at this year’s conference. The presentation specifically delved into the growing phenomenon of medical tourism, how and why more U.S. employers and payors are embracing global health care programs, and how to develop a successful international health care partnership.

Speakers on the panel also included former Aetna Medical Director, Charles Cutler, M.D., M.S., who is a member of Satori World Medical’s Medical Quality Advisory Board, and George McGregor, President & CEO of McGregor & Associates.

So for those of you who were unable to attend the conference, I wanted to share with you some of the most key points of our discussion:

·       Why the U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world:  

Among the biggest problems responsible for America’s escalating health care costs are the rising costs of medical technology and prescription drugs, high administrative costs resulting from multiple complex payor systems, and the growing shift from non-profit to for-profit health care providers.

·       Why more and more U.S. employers, health plans and government agencies are embracing global health care:

With America’s health care system being the most expensive in the world, Americans are taking a serious look at cost-effective alternatives like medical tourism.

According to a 2008 Deloitte consumer survey on medical tourism, it is forecasted that six million Americans will travel outside the U.S. for quality and affordable medical care, and by 2011 medical tourism will become a $13.9 billion industry. Among the biggest reasons for the growing popularity of medical travel include the high quality of care now available in many hospitals around the world, the tremendous potential for cost savings, and a shift in consumers’ responsibility for their own health care expense.

·       How to choose the right global health care partner:

Not all global health care companies are the same, which is why it’s important that when embracing a medical tourism program, the employer or payor selects the right global health care partner.

Among the important qualities to look for in a global health care company include a high level of experience in international contracting, an incentive model that actually shares the financial savings with the employee, a program that does not require any startup, administrative or other participation costs to the employer or payor, and a superior quality assurance program (which also includes follow-up care) to ensure the highest level of patient care and overall experience.

·       Understanding some of the potential issues or challenges of adoption:

A medical tourism benefit program will only succeed if employees are willing to participate. Therefore, it’s essential for employers to be able to overcome concerns or issues that might prevent someone from receiving medical care outside the U.S. Among the most common issues are the lack of awareness or understanding about medical travel and its benefits, the patient’s concern of overall health care quality and safety, their understanding of what to expect when undergoing a surgical procedure abroad, and the ability to have a close friend or loved one as a travel companion to support them throughout their entire experience.

·       Why U.S. payors, as well, are embracing partnerships with global health care facilitators:

Many U.S. payors are also partnering with global health care companies to offer medical tourism as a benefit option to its members. But why don’t payors and health plans just create their own global health care network?

Well, for one reason, developing a high-quality global health care network is extremely costly and time-consuming. Additionally, as part of the quality assurance process, the payor or insurance company would have to actually travel to each of the international hospitals in its network to undergo due diligence site visits. Furthermore, contract negotiations are extremely time consuming and involve complicated legal concerns. On the other hand, vendors that can provide these services are a more efficient and cost effective solution for health plans.

In conclusion, while the medical tourism industry is just in its early stages, I’m thrilled to see that so many U.S. employers and payors are beginning to embrace the concept. That is the key to the industry’s growth and adoption. Education is also important which is why discussions like these are so critical.

Last week, Steven Lash, President and CEO of Satori World Medical, spoke with HealthBlawg, an industry blog focusing on issues related to law and healthcare, last week about Satori’s take on medical tourism, including its method of sharing cost savings with consumers who use Satori’s services through employer-sponsored health plans.

David Harlow writes:

Sharing cost savings with employees through Health Reimbursement Accounts — funded through tax-deductible contributions by the employer if an employee uses an overseas medical service, and are used to pay for an employee’s health insurance premiums, deductibles and copayments in future years — is one of the Satori innovations.  Lash distinguishes his offering from that of the Hannaford’s-Aetna medical tourism plan which was announced with great fanfare, led to no employee taking advantage of an overseas procedure, and brought out a domestic provider that offered to match the overseas pricing Hannaford’s had obtained.  He also presents a number of other aspects of his company’s program in our conversation, including patient intake, patient choice, and quality assurance through selective contracting with JCI-accredited overseas providers for a limited set of services.

There are wildly varying estimates of the numbers of medical tourists originating in the U.S. — 50,000 to 750,000 a year, depending on who you ask and how you count — but that number seems likely to go up before it goes down.

You can read the blog and hear HealthBlawg’s audio Podcast interview with Lash here.

Download the audio here

Stay tuned for next week’s Satori World Medical blog post on international medical quality.

By Steven Lash, President & Chief Executive Officer of Satori World Medical

Satori World Medical has been quite busy over the past several months in our mission and vision to provide individuals, employers, financial sponsors and insurers with world-class healthcare, excellent client services and significant financial benefit.  We are very pleased to announce that we have executed an agreement with McGregor & Associates, an employee benefits consulting firm specializing in servicing public sector employers, to offer Satori World Medical’s innovative global healthcare network to thousands of McGregor & Associates’ contracted employers and their employees, as well as its own staff.

The costs of healthcare in the U.S. are higher than in any other country in the world, placing an enormous burden on today’s U.S. companies that fund their employees’ healthcare, in addition to the employees themselves who have become responsible for more and more of their own medical expenses.

McGregor & Associates is an organization committed to its customers and their employees.  Ensuring that the quality of care their constituents receive at our international hospitals is equal to or better than the care they would receive in the U.S. was the number one decision criteria for selecting Satori World Medical.  According to George McGregor, President of McGregor & Associates, our company has the most sophisticated quality assurance programs and processes compared to all the competitors that operate in medical travel space. George holds numerous other positions including General Manager of the Southern California Schools Voluntary Employees’ Benefits Association (VEBA), administrator of the California Public Employers Employees Health Care Coalition, and administrator of the SDCS-SDEA, a Joint Retiree Medical Benefits Trust.

Through our global network of Board Certified doctors and Joint Commission International (JCI)-accredited, state-of-the-art hospitals, Satori World Medical provides a comprehensive, high quality integrated medical benefit program that reduces the costs of selected surgical procedures by 44-84 percent.  The savings generated are shared with all stakeholders, while a portion of the savings, is funded in the employees tax-advantaged Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) when they select a Satori Global Network™ provider for their medical procedure. With Satori World Medical’s innovative Health & Shared Wealth Program™, everyone wins.

Other key benefits to U.S. employers are as follows:

·       Ability to compete better globally: Global healthcare models result in major economic benefits for U.S. companies because the costs of their employees’ healthcare are greatly reduced.  U.S. companies have access to same quality healthcare at much lower expense and as a result, companies can be more profitable and competitive globally.

·       Improved employee retention and satisfaction: An organization’s financial strength is built and reinforced by reducing costs and investing in the financial security and well-being of its workforce.  Therefore, companies that offer a global healthcare benefit option to their employees can greatly strengthen the overall morale and productivity of their workforce.  This is a new medical benefit at no cost to the employer or employee.

·       Seamless integration with any existing medical plan: A global healthcare benefit program can be seamlessly added to an employer’s existing employee benefit program and without any startup or ongoing expenses for the employer.  This medical benefit is in addition to the medical plan that is currently in place.

·       Single bill for employee claims: When considering the implementation of a global healthcare benefit program, one common concern among employers is whether or not significant internal resources and staff to administer patient claims and billing are involved.  Satori World Medical meets this challenge by handling the entire billing process for the employer, in which a single bill in U.S. dollars is provided for all services rendered, thus reducing company claims processing costs and with no foreign currency exchange fluctuations.

We are extremely excited about our partnership with McGregor & Associates because we believe our program will allow them to significantly improve the quality of their participating employers’ benefit administration processes, as well as their own, resulting in improved value and reduced costs across the board.  McGregor & Associates understands the importance of providing quality improvement solutions that increase employee and customer satisfaction, competitiveness, and financial performance.

What is Medical Travel and What do Companies Need to Know to Incorporate a Global Healthcare Benefit into their Employee Plan Design

By Steven Lash, President & Chief Executive Officer, Satori World Medical

Medical travel, whereby Americans travel to international hospitals to receive medical care outside the U.S., is becoming an increasingly viable option, not only for American patients, but for U.S. employers and insurers, as well.

According to the 2008 Deloitte Survey of Health Care Consumers, the medical tourism industry is poised to grow substantially over the next decade. The survey reports that medical tourism will be a $4.4 billion industry by 2009 and increase to $13.9 billion by 2011. The report also forecasts that by 2010, six million Americans will travel abroad for medical care, compared to the 750,000 Americans who received medical care outside of the U.S. in 2007.

Why?
In addition to skyrocketing healthcare costs and rising insurance premiums, a combination of factors has led to a substantial increase in the popularity of medical travel: favorable clinical outcome results in high quality accredited international hospitals; the escalating cost of healthcare in the US; an increase in a patient’s own 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.

Despite the growing popularity of medical travel, though, one of the biggest challenges that I observe from employers who I speak to about this is that they don’t exactly know how or where to start when it comes to incorporating a global healthcare benefit option into their company’s overall employee benefit plan design. Therefore, I hope this blog post will provide some valuable guidance and insight into the key benefits of medical travel to an employer and how employee benefit decision-makers can start offering a global healthcare benefit option to their employees.

Why Medical Travel?
For an employer, there are a number of compelling reasons to consider medical travel. Among the most significant are:

• Dramatic cost savings: On average, there is a cost savings in excess of 50 percent to receiving medical care outside of the U.S. In turn, employers can dramatically lower their employees’ healthcare expenses. Employers can pass a portion of these significant saving on to their employees. With Satori World Medical’s innovative Health & Shared Wealth Program™, an individual can select a Satori Global Network™ provider for their medical procedure, and a portion of the savings is deposited into their employer-funded Health Reimbursement Account (HRA). Employees can use these funds to finance their future medical expenses. What’s more, the funds are 100 percent tax deductible for the employer while tax free to the employee. Additionally, it is important to note that this is a 100 percent medical benefit so there are no out-of-pocket expenses for the employee, and the package includes all travel and accommodations for the patient and his or her companion. And for the employer, there is no startup cost to add this global healthcare benefit to their existing plan design.

• Superior medical quality, safety and patient care: Many hospitals in other parts of the world offer quality care and favorable clinical outcomes that are equivalent or superior to U.S. hospitals. International medical quality and safety are simply not an issue. Hundreds of international hospitals are now accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI), an arm of the U.S. hospital-accrediting body, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). These hospitals have leading-edge technology; nurse-to-patient ratios exceeding U.S. standards; U.S./U.K. or equivalently trained and Board Certified physicians; medical and nursing staff that is fluent in English; as well as affiliations with prestigious U.S. medical universities, such as Harvard Medical, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic and others.

• U.S. companies can compete better globally: Global healthcare models result in major economic benefits for U.S. companies because the costs of their employees’ healthcare are greatly reduced. As a result, companies can be more profitable and competitive in today’s global marketplace.

• Employee retention and satisfaction: An organization’s financial strength is built and reinforced by reducing costs and investing in the financial security and well-being of its workforce. Therefore, companies that offer a global healthcare benefit option to their employees can greatly strengthen the overall morale and productivity of their workforce. As a result, companies are able to recruit more qualified and talented job candidates, as well as improve employee loyalty and retention.

• Seamless integration with any existing medical plan: A global healthcare benefit program can be seamlessly added to an employer’s existing employee benefit program and without any startup costs for the employer. An employer’s existing health benefit program isn’t replaced, but rather augments the current benefit package to provide employees with an additional choice and new medical benefit at no cost.

• Single bill for employee claims: When considering the implementation of a global healthcare benefit program, one common concern among employers is whether or not significant internal resources and staff to administer patient claims and billing are involved. Programs such as the one offered by Satori World Medical meets this challenge by handling the entire billing process for the employer, in which a single bill in U.S. dollars is provided for all services rendered, thus reducing company claims processing costs and with no foreign currency exchange fluctuations.

Getting Started
If you, as the employer, have decided that a medical travel program might be right for your company or organization, the first step is to find the right program.

Many medical travel providers or companies cater to patients who are uninsured, so their model is primarily focused on providing medical care at the lowest possible cost to the patient. It is important to assure that the organization meets certain quality standards. One way to determine the quality of a particular international hospital is to look for the JCI accreditation or seal of approval. JCI sets over 350 standards of excellence for international hospitals to meet that ensure the quality and safety of patient care.

In addition, when selecting a medical travel company, it is important for you as the employer to be educated about what services and fees are or are not covered. For instance, are the patient’s costs of travel and transportation fully included in the benefit program? How about the costs for a companion? Are there any deductibles or direct out-of-pocket costs required for the employee? What about start-up costs and administration fees?

Ultimately, there are a number of important reasons why employers should consider offering a global healthcare benefit program to their employees. While a medical travel program is not meant to replace the need for a domestic employer-funded healthcare benefit plan, it can help companies drastically reduce their employees’ medical costs, while at the same time, offer employees more choice and control over their healthcare and medical expenditures.