Fewer U.S. patients are traveling abroad for non-emergency medical procedures, such as hip replacements or cosmetic surgery, because of the recession.
From 2007 to 2009, the number of Americans traveling abroad for elective medical procedures is expected to have fallen as much as 13.6%, according to a report by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, a research center focused on trends in the health care system.
Rising transportation costs and decreased consumer incomes and savings probably contributed to the fall in medical tourism, the report says. During the recession, patients also may have opted to forgo non-emergency procedures, the bulk of medical tourism.
In 2007, about 750,000 Americans traveled abroad for medical care, many seeking procedures that are 30%-70% cheaper abroad, even with the cost of travel, Deloitte research shows. In 2008, as the U.S. economy stalled, the number fell to 540,000.
The report projects an increase by the end of 2009 to about 648,000 patients -- still 13.6% fewer than in 2007.
The Deloitte Center also predicts the number of American medical tourists will rise by 35% each year through 2012.
Pent-up demand and improvements in international medical care will likely fuel the rise, says Paul Keckley, executive director of the center. Many international physicians are trained in the USA, then return to their home countries to practice, he says.
"Say that you don't like your nose," Keckley says, and there is a doctor trained at John Hopkins University who now works in Turks & Caicos Islands in the Caribbean and charges about 40% of the U.S. price. "Would you go? What if one of your friends had had that procedure and she said it worked for her?"
While many physicians abroad are trained in U.S. medical schools and are qualified by organizations such as the American College of Surgeons, there is concern that training for professionals such as anesthesiologists may not be as strong, says neurosurgeon T. Forcht Dagi. He is chairman of the American College of Surgeons' Committee on Perioperative Care and a teacher at the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.
Another concern is cultural. In the USA, Dagi says, it is "very, very important" that patients give informed consent, acknowledging they understand the facts and possible risks of treatments and procedures. "But in other parts of the world, culturally, that may not necessarily be the case," he says.
There may be gender differences, for example, and more information may be given to men than to women since it is not always understood in other countries that women have the right to make their own choices, Dagi says.
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