How does the facilitator get paid?

Pricing and fees are an area where people frequently have difficulty. You should feel comfortable knowing exactly what you are paying for with the company you choose.

It is important for you to know whether the travel facilitator receives commissions for referrals or has a fee for service structure. Commissions are a legitimate method of compensation in many fields. But there is growing concern that a facility may be steering referrals by the use of commissions. They appear to be the dominant method of revenue currently in place. 

There are also important value added or experience improving benefits that you can discuss with the facilitator. It is important if you are sharing the expenses with your insurer that you understand exactly what they will or will not pay for before you leave.

It is important to at least have a plan to help out should there be a complication in your recovery. Will you have access to additional cash or credit for an infection etc. 

Are you bringing a companion? How will their needs be addressed and paid for when you arrive? Good planning also includes attention to the important financial questions.

Travel Safe, Be Well.

Jim McCormick MD

Premiere Medical Travel

Do I need to speak a foreign language overseas?

Fluency in more than one language is always helpful but it is not necessary.

Premiere will coordinate with facilities that have fluency in English or the ability to readily access translators. Suppose you knew English and Spanish, but chose a Thai facility. That second language would not be very helpful. But if you speak Tagolog and English, you may have a cultural affinity for the Philippines.

We, at Premiere, will have understand who are your best choices: medically, financially, culturally etc.

Travel Safe, Be Well.

Jim McCormick, M.D.
Premiere Medical Travel Company
818.917.6189

How has the exchange rate (us dollar) affected medical tourism?

Currencies valuations fluctuate against each other all the time. In fact, it is the largest trading market in the world. Trillions of currencies are exchanged daily.

There may be an advantage comparing countries for the most favorable exchange rate. The likelihood of a sudden shift that will affect your terms are low. Timing your medical needs will not help you in any measurable way.

The dollar seems to be strengthening recently. This may help your purchasing power over the long haul. For that matter, the destination facilities may charge a higher price to offset the difference. The net result may be that you have a better deal, but can you wait 18 months or two to three years for that currency exchange to change significantly.

Time your healthcare to your medical needs and compare two or three countries simultaneously.  Premiere Medical can help with these issues. That is what a quality outfit can accomplish.

Travel Safe, Be Well.

Jim McCormick, MD
Premiere Medical Travel Company
818.917.6189

Why won't insurance companies pay for this choice?

The question is probably better phrased "When will insurance companies pay for medical tourism?"

In my estimation they will, but there needs to be some significant developments in the industry before they fully enter the arena. These large businesses require structure to enter. The issues of lines of responsibilities and where transition points occur are very important. The clarity here must be crystal clear. There can not be an excess number of unanswered questions.

There is a very compelling reason for insurers to enter the space. My intuition says that the landscape must be formed and refined. Quite likely there are activities happening in the back ground that are creating the fog-shaping which leads to more certainty and clarity. The clarity leads to entry.

The First World Congress on Global Healthcare and Medical Tourism will be happening in San Francisco this September. The companies and entities attending will be meeting to help shape the environment. You will see them enter, but when the time and environment is well defined.

Be Well, Travel Safe

Jim McCormick MD
Premiere Medical Travel Company
818.917.6189

Can our company help with financing my trip?

This is a good question fro a few reasons.
We at Premiere are strongly considering a financing arm to assist people with this option. Our impression is that it would help clients meet their medical needs. Arranging for financing requires a significant process to be developed on our part. We aim to eventually provide this service to qualified clients. We do not have it available at present.

WHen looking to finance an investment it is an interesting proposition to consider financing your health care needs. Cars for example depreciate with time, while investing in your health would carry implications that your life got better and you are able to potentially earn more money.

We will surely include this option as the company grows.

Be Well, Travel Safe

Jim McCormick MD
Premiere Medical Travel Company
818.917.6189

What is a Wellness Center?

We at Premiere define medical wellness clinics as a destination for you, a traveling patient, to gain powerful new insight into your particular disease or illness and how to best manage it.

In our view, having a pile of paperwork handed to you in an office after a hasty visit is not an effective way for you to learn about your illnesses and their management. We are developing offerings where in addition to your procedure, you receive an intense several week set of sessions that incorporate daily lessons, time to reflect, time to learn and time to renew who you are and how to best approach your illnesses.

What would daily lessons, nutritional tips, exercise instructions, yoga, meditation give you? In our belief, the best chances at a holistic and healthy life. Will you leave the experience illness free? Not likely, but you will be more empowered, more fulfilled and more likely to make the most effective changes in your life for the better.

In our view, the wellness clinic is an avenue to a new life and a rebirth or redefinition of who you are. Better nutrition, better exercise habits and healthier mindsets can change your physiology and potentially reduce the number of medications you need to take. Reducing medications, can reduce costs and medications related complications. This alone is a leading cause of preventable deaths in hospitals. Pills are easier solutions to write out when time is compressed so much in the office setting. It would seem to us at Premiere Medical that the investment in your health will pay for itself very quickly from a financial, health and well being perspective.


Be Well, Travel Safe


Jim McCormick MD
Premiere Medical Travel Company
818.917.6189

Medical Tourism: The Economist Article 8-16-2008

The Economist a prestigious business and politics magazine has a brief article on Page 12 that discusses the impact of Medical Tourism from several points of view. See Article Here

The dialogue discusses the impact on destination hospital resources and infrastructure. The contention is that the inbound traveler is adversely affecting utilization and redirecting resources from the desperate needs of the local population. There is another impact, the elevation of local economies and the active attempt to retain skilled talents in these countries to serve the growing population.

For instance, the Philippines is considering an offering to retain nurses to work in a hub of medical tourism in Cebu. The country sees the potential for this growth industry and needs to build a workforce to meet the needs of the patients. The influx of outside money is almost always beneficial to a local economy.

The article also cites a number from other recent publications that represents the lost revenue as a result of the siphon effect from domestic US healthcare by medical travel. This is a compelling example of market forces affecting price and demand curves. The price in some minds is excessively high in the US. A new competitor is entering the territory and that beneficial competition will affect pricing. That effect's positive or negative effects are centered upon where you as a business are positioned. As a consumer, you may well see prices begin to move downwards, but not enough to offset the margins that medical travel have to offer.

There is far more value available for those seeking medical travel abroad. Stay tuned!
As they say... May you live in interesting times.


Be Well, Travel Safe.

Jim McCormick MD
Premiere Medical Travel Company
818.917.6189

Is the medical care equal to, or better than the US?

As my business professors would answer...that depends.

What metrics and outcomes are you comparing and how are you comparing them? If you are comparing the World Health Organization's statistics on healthcare monitors we, in the US are doing a terrible job. If you are asking for the ability to go to a cutting edge tertiary care hospital and receive the latest greatest and hopefully best options we have more than you can imagine. They are however very expensive and not cost effective solutions to large scale healthcare issues.

Now mentally go to a community hospital or an inner city hospital faced with significant budget issues and concerns. There are less choices and less cutting edge (read more expensive) options available. Some places must transfer out heart attack patients for cardiac catheterizations. Other hospitals must transfer patients out for brain surgery emergencies and others for trauma patients. So if you had one of these conditions and the facility you wound up at does not treat that condition than you are at an potentially inferior hospital for that specific condition.

Some hospitals only specialize in a specific disease class or age groups. Examples would include cancer specialty hospital, eye institutes, orthopedics facilities and geriatric or pediatric hospitals. So arguably if you are in one of these hospitals and develop a condition outside their scope of practice you may receive inferior care or need to be transferred to receive adequate care.

Now move to a nitty gritty facility with many poor people who are very ill consuming many precious resources. They should have access to their needed medical care. But can the facility or the government spend endlessly to provide the latest, greatest and most expensive care?

Given the scenarios, I think we can agree that in the US there are different levels of care available which create a significant impact on the care received by our citizens.

Now let us move outside the US and examine this question again. Is it possible that there are hospitals outside the US who exist in countries that provide the latest, greatest care for those who can afford it? The clear answer is Yes. Then move to areas similar in capability to the US and the same gradients of care options appear.

As a medical traveler, you want to be helped in identifying the best facilities and the best providers for your condition in these locations. Then you can comfortably say that the care is comparable. On a more granular level you can say that the care is better than or equal to the US. But the question at that point is more a matter of all the amenities that you can afford when you select medical travel. These options are not even considerations when in the US seeking medical care.

Be Well, Travel Safe

Jim McCormick MD
Premiere Medical Travel Company
818.917.6189

Why is a pre-trip assessment and prearranged aftercare potentially beneficial?

Comprehensive end to end services. Simple words, complex solutions.

That is the basis for what we believe will be a successful company going forward. Those companies that provide simple elements without having the necessary options available for clients to purchase are making potential mistakes for their company and the industry. Clients who seek medical care abroad may not realize the complexity of the undertaking. We should be there to help them understand what is needed and what is required. Simple price points do not address issues such as who will care for wounds when you return home.

Medical Travel companies should consider these problems solved long before you book your first client. Having solutions already built into your business plan will save time, money and reputation when a problem surfaces. Your company should know who will manage the care and how it will be paid for. This complex issue happens occasionally when clients return with a problem and no one was willing to assist them.

There are expectations for continuity of care from the patient through the insurer/payer to regulatory agencies. As a participant in arranging a trip for the clients, our companies may appear to be their contact for services going forward. Simply letting them dangle to find their own aftercare does not help anyone in the arena.

You will get the commission on the first client, but that will not propagate into recurrent trips or referrals for friends and family. Good service and a comprehensive approach is one of the best methods of advertising. One satisfied customer can generate many new leads, while one unhappy client can lead to dozens of negative reports that amplify themselves and suppress potential leads. Is it worth the short term profit to create a self destructive cycle of negative advertisements?

How about screening people before they leave? Is there a value added service in providing this to your client? At first pass who would want to say no to a client. We all want to say yes to a sale. But look a bit deeper and there is a compelling reason to screen and say: ' No our services are not for you. Thank you for your inquiry.'

If you compete in a market on cost than you will need to accept nearly everyone to make up for small margins. The dilemma begins when a client purchases a package from your website and company and something was not screened well or reported by the client. Perhaps they were inaccurate about a condition or they had inappropriate expectations. They traveled with your company name and spent a good portion of their money on the roundtrip flight and some hotel expenses.

Then they arrive at the hospital. They are not candidates for the procedure. What happens next? Who refunds what to whom? Policies can help, but this will be a mess and quickly mushroom.

The patient almost always has the upper hand initially. It can be a very difficult situation to defuse. It is a battle of words. Regardless of the true findings later on, the initial PR stain can hurt your brand. Document can help but it is a reactive approach to the entire set of events and interactions.

You could develop a process and value added package that allows for both parties to meet, assess decide together whether this is the right person, right facility and right service(s) prior to engaging in a more expensive transaction.

Food for thought. Proactive preemption will nearly always beat reactive post hoc solutions.

Be Well, Travel Safe,

Jim McCormick MD
President and Founder
Premiere Medical Travel Services Company
818.917.6189

What do the AMA guidelines for Medical Tourism mean?

They are a set of principles that are a balance between the acknowledgment that this industry exists, is here to stay and a need to meet their member's concerns. Medical Travel and tourism are future competitors with general US medical practice. The industry is not large enough to be a business concern, but it is predicted to grow to that point.

The guidelines are available at the AMA website. It is worthwhile to discuss them. The first one: Medical Tourism must be voluntary. Yes I agree voluntary, but who or what company would force this option upon an unwilling client? Forced care overseas is a recipe for a medical and public relations disaster. So I agree voluntary, but the Medical Tourism industry has ethical participants.

In the second, third and fourth, there are important issues that are discussed. It is very important for many reasons to have Joint Commission International or International Society for Quality in Health Care certification. These two bodies ensure that facilities are using the right process and procedural mechanisms to ensure patient safety. The countries and facilities have the same quality assurance that we do or a different, but equivalent, process for assurance. This is important to the longevity of the industry. They are benchmarks that help us interpret important safeguards across cultural, political and language barriers.

The next two are intimately tied together. Follow-up care must be financed and coordinated prior to departure. A less well defined one: coverage for travel outside the US for medical care must include the costs of necessary follow-up care upon returning to the U.S. I am a strong proponent of aftercare. It is essential that this is available to the patient. Who should pay for the cost of after care is a more difficult question. Should the insurance company who receives the financial benefit of success care rendered abroad? Should the patient who is uninsured seeking the care overseas at a steep discount to the price a U.S. physician and hospital would charge? Should the destination facility be responsible for this fee? Should the facilitators? The premise is medically correct, aftercare should be available upon return. The business aspects of who pays for are open for discussion.

Physician outcome data and HIPAA Compliance issues are reasonable requests as goals. We do not have full transparency on specific physician outcomes and do not fully enforce HIPAA in the U.S. that is our goal, to move the country in that direction. It is the right goal for everyone. Our colleagues abroad may feel it is unreasonable to ask for a perform better than we do on our own metrics. But the goal is valid.

The last one we fully embrace at Premiere Medical Travel. First and foremost is the healthcare. We have taken a particular stance in calling ourselves medical travel and not medical tourism. We believe tourism highlights the tourism component too much. For simple procedure or health check ups, this is feasible, but to recover from major surgery while on safari is unreasonable. Health first, experience next and everything should follow properly.

In general the AMA has it right in our view. There are some gaps in expectation and performance domestically on the aftercare, payment, outcome measures and HIPAA issues that warrant further examination. We can only expect others to perform at the level we set, embrace and enforce for ourselves.

Travel Safe, Be Well.

Jim McCormick, MD
Premiere Medical Travel Company, LLC
818.917.6189

Healthcare Travel or Tourism?

Can we be both to you, our customer and patient?

Frankly, I am a bit skeptical. There are conditions that suit themselves to a combination trip. But can that brush be applied so broadly? Can you have heart bypass surgery and spend time traveling around a country with relatively fresh wounds that are still healing? Will your hip or knee replacement allow you to walk with enough ease to cover a significant amount of touring 1 week post operatively?

There are companies in this industry that are marketing themselves to be all things, to all customers, for all occasions and at all times. This is an impossible goal to achieve. It can lure many people in and then disappoint many as well. The providers, the facilitators, the customers need clarity.

Who wants to provide, or receive, what service(s) to, or for which patients?

Clarity:
The first issue and choice is the Quality of the Healthcare.
The second issue and choice is the Quality of the Value proposition.
The third issue and choice is the additional components built around the first two core questions if it is possible.

Does it make sense to you as a customer of healthcare providers to simply book a procedure on-line, book the travel on-line and jet off to a destination around the world and not fundamentally understand the first two core concepts?

Some companies break this down into a simple process map. Components of that process can be mapped and defined. It is a process that can be broken down into enough granular detail so any given set of details appear to make sense. But when you pull back up to the macro level, does it all still fit together in a manner that makes sense?

Yes; you can get a bypass for a great value. Yes; you can travel around an exotic country. Yes; you can fly to and from that location. Is it realistic to expect that the wounds will be healed sufficiently at 1 or 2 weeks post operative to have you truly enjoy the tourism? A critical question for you the consumer and purchaser: Are you expectations for the trip in line with the proposition offered and reality? If not, are you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

The investment, even at a huge discount to domestic care, still requires thought, planning and guidance. That is where a skilled professional services company can provide valuable guidance and assistance. The booking is the easy part.

Jim McCormick, MD
Premiere Medical Travel Company, LLC
818.917.6189

Who is Your Client?

Before we get to the answer to that question, the situation in Thailand has settled for the time being. Remember situational awareness is an important component of advising potential travelers.

So who is your client?
Is it the destination facility?
Is it the potential patient?
Is it the affiliate for whom you generate fees?

A critical and analytic eye can help to identify who your potential client(s) are in a given business arrangement. The better you identify the client or customer the more you are able to provide valuable products and services to them. Being stuck in the middle and providing all things to all clients is a difficult position. It is a shotgun approach that can deplete capital rapidly. Focus allows precision, which preserves capital and creates a more effective use of content and cash.

While static sites allow anyone to find you, are you finding your customers?

The decision to be focussed is difficult. It mandates that you, as a business, potentially lose customers. There are benefits to shedding some customers and developing a more focussed approach.

We at Premiere Medical Travel can help you define an approach that best suits your business needs. Feel free to contact us and discuss the options that will help to grow your business.

Travel Safe, Be Well,

Jim McCormick, MD
Premiere Medical Travel
818 917-6189

Does a Complication Always Have to be a Disaster?

Truthfully no.

Medicine is a scientific art practiced by human beings. These three components fail. Even machines and computers running perfectly and incessantly fail at times.

Perhaps the better questions are:
1) Was the mistake or complications foreseeable and preventable?
2) Did the provider(s) make the best of the situation to correct the complication for the patient?
3) Do the people and the organization learn from the error and work to prevent it from happening again?

These are essential process components to any quality system. JCI mandates their existence at a surveyed institution.
Recently, I interviewed a patient who underwent abdominal surgery. She felt quite abandoned by her country and insurance company. The insurer contradicted itself in her mind. It would not perform the corrective surgery until she lost weight. They would not perform weight loss surgery until she corrected her first condition.

At this facility she had her weight loss surgery. One of her pre-existing hernias became stuck unrelated to her weight loss surgery. She was rushed back in the OR and had the hernias corrected. All performed quickly and with as much safety as could be achieved. The problem was rapidly identified and corrected. A turn she had not expected, but it was managed masterfully by this institution and its personnel.

To say that she was simply glowing is an understatement. There was not enough time to hear how happy she was that someone, this facility, took the time to give her the needed services that would allow her to get back to a healthy life. It took a complication in a foreign country to give her the keys for her life. The hernias were no longer there to cause her pain and discomfort. It was an inspiring story to hear her tell the events. She clearly felt and had the impression that this facility and its staff were on her side and acting to improve her health. It was clear in her mind which party had served her poorly.

So complications can have good outcomes. Not all, but some do end up with favorable events.

Travel Safe, Be Well
Jim McCormick MD
Premiere Medical Travel Company
www.premieremedicaltravel.net

What is a DVT and what does it mean for me as a medical traveler?

DVT= Deep venous thrombosis = blood clot (Typically in the leg) The real concern is if these clots break off and travel to your lungs. This can cause some significant medical complications.

There are certain important predisposing risks to developing a DVT. 

• Long Flights
• Underlying cancer
• Previous history of DVT
• Birth control pills 
• Obesity
• Recent hospitalizations
• Several other conditions.

So from the list we can see that this is a condition that is not exclusive to the medical traveler.

There are quite a few things that can be done to reduce the chance of this condition. First walking, simply walking is very helpful it pumps the blood out of our legs and back to the heart. Stroll around before the flight, wander up and down the aisles during the flight and walk after the flight. Getting up several time to move around when it is acceptable to the flight crew is important.

Flexing your feet. If you are unable to walk due to flight conditions or other restrictions, simply pumping your calves mimics the walking. It may be as effective, but it is likely better than nothing. You can also do this far more frequently than walking. 

Compressive stockings are available to purchase. These support hose fit more snugly and increase the pressure in the lower legs. This helps to move blood out of the legs and back to the heart.  

Importantly, none of these require a physician to assist you with or guide you. These can be performed easily, by nearly anyone.

The next options require some guidance by a physician. Even aspirin, which is a blood thinner should be taken with a medical travel physician's advice. This may seem a simple medication, but if you thin your blood some surgeries may be delayed. Some blood thinners: wafarin (coumadin), clopidrogel (Plavix), enoxaparin (Lovenox) and others are more aggressive therapies. These require active physician oversight and written orders to administer. While there may be a role for these medications, it is likely small.

The benefit to all these medications is a reduction in the risk of DVT. There is always a downside. By thinning your blood you may find yourself bruising more easily. More significant bleeding can occur internally. They can also interact with other medications you are taking.

Begin with the first three and consult a medical travel physician for advice on the more involved options. 

Travel Safe and Be Well,

Jim McCormick, MD

Premiere Medical Travel Company

How will the challenging economic times in the US affect Medical Travel?

Similar to the economic challenges that are impacting the country faces, these forces will impact medical travel. While no one has a crystal ball, these are some thoughts on how this may play out going forward. 

Clients, both payers and patients, will want a better value for the money. The financial business landscape has changed significantly from less than a year ago. There are two most likely scenarios from my perspective. 

These very tough times will increase costs for the simpler transactional web based models for medical travel. The margins will squeeze tighter and tighter as the cost floor on these web based models making their environment difficult. Higher jet fuel costs, higher inflation, rising unemployment, a weakening dollar, and less available flights etc. will eat into their pricing structures. 

Those companies that have prepared themselves, anticipated these potential conditions and made adjustments to their operating models will fare better. Not without some difficulty. Those who are ready can create a growing client volume by best targeting clients, services and destinations. Markets are made by bringing these components together. 

The winners will need to add value to absorb or offset the rising costs and justify their pricing to begin with. These times make the potential client to expect more for their hard earned money. Our challenge is to deliver. Create value and return value. 

By focusing resources specifically, we can ensure that our strategies are more likely to succeed. It will not be good enough to be all things for all clients. There are some clear gaps in service that, if filled, will more than likely generate traffic. 

Tough times can also compel some interested parties to enter an arena, that they previously felt was not a viable option. Medical travel may become a forced market sooner than I had contemplated previously. Tightening belts can help companies and people to see the opportunities that lie ahead. 

Even in the most difficult of economic adversity, there are those who are willing and able to pay to improve their health. Who are they? Where are they? How do we find them? How do we communicate a value proposition that resonates within the client? That requires the crystal ball and skilled collaborative approaches.

In all challenges lie opportunity. 

This one and these times are no exception.

More to follow from Central America in the next few days!!

Jim McCormick MD

Premiere Medical Travel

818.917.6189

How would we promote Medical Travel from non-west coast states?

I was recently asked about how to move patients from a non-West coast location to receive medical travel related healthcare. This was the response. The original posting can be found at: http://fastcompany.com/blog/james-mccormick-md/medical-travel-tourism

There are many global destinations that can provide healthcare, besides asian locations. We can assist your patients in sourcing care that is medically appropriate, culturally relevant, geographically important, or for purely interest in a location for medical care. All that can be done at an attractive value proposition.

A potentially important consideration in the analysis is the delay for a client to return to an active productive life.  A 6 t0 12 hour flight and recovery time next week is potentially more attractive, than a several month wait for a procedure appointment slot in a hospital bed, OR, day surgery or conscious sedation suite etc.

There are some important obstacles for some clients that will prevent their opting for this type of care plan. We can incentivize clients to move past their internal biases and concerns. We need to help them move from a place of hesitancy and uncertainty about medical travel to a zone of comfort and excitement. We must lead that campaign. That is where a physician led organization has a role. I understand patients, their needs and how to communicate to them.

Our perspective looks at the price issue from a different angle. It is and always will be, a avalue proposition. How much does a potential patient value their time hampered by a quality of life condition that can be corrected in an expeditious manner? What value does a patient place on waiting to return to an active, productive and involved life? 

Price cutting implies (in patient's minds) quality shortcuts. While the assumption may not be valid, it is likely at the forefront of any healthcare consumers mindset when we discuss price cuts.

The size of the destination facility can be less important than the capability, skill and expertise of the providers. Many of the existing facilities have designated areas in the hospital for medical travels to cater to their needs. Some are specializing in specific types of care.

We both know that complete solutions are never simple. There are important initiatives that the industry is currently building to implement in order to strengthen confidence for consumers of non-acute healthcare.

This industry can not solve our problems entirely. Rather it will be a important contributor to the solutions of the the US healthcare dilemma we face now and going forward for several years.

We, as an industry, are working to ensure that US standards are incorporated into the processes and practices abroad. JCI, an international arm of JCAHO, inspects facilities abroad. They certify that these standards are in place. I believe this certification is essential to ensure confidence and growth.

In my opinion, facilitators should play a role beyond booking flights etc. They should ensure seamless travel, privacy, and bidirectional transfer of medical information. This promotes the conditions for the best possible outcome for all involved.

There will be an important role for expert physicians and teams that can ensure the care and process are at a level acceptable to US payers, facilities and patient needs.

I would enjoy speaking to you and your group about this subject.

Jim McCormick, III M.D.

General Manager and President 

Premiere Medical Travel

818 / 917- 6189

http://premiere-medical-travel-blogspot.com/

Is the Philippines moving forward at a faster pace?

Recent conversations with a well placed individual in Manilla's healthcare system would clearly say "YES!"

More and more facilities are coming to understand the importance of JCI certification in order to have US clients feel more comfortable about medical care abroad. The government bodies that oversee this field are encouraging a broader embracing of participation in this important program.

There was a fair degree of certainty that the new air line terminal will open in the very foreseeable future. A welcome addition to the experience. It is an important improvement to the first impression that clients will experience.

As I stated in a previous blog post, there is tremendous investment in infrastructure here that will bear fruit. Perhaps sooner than I had expected. It is a welcome change in the schedule. The quicker the infrastructure and capacity is built the faster the market can mature here.

How do the privacy laws work when I choose medical travel?

For patients in the US, there are strict laws (HIPAA) that prohibit the release of medical records without permission of the patient. This prohibition extends to spouses and domestic partners etc. 

When you leave the US, and our jurisdiction, you enter another one. Local laws will prevail. There may be no privacy laws to enforce. Votes can be cast with the choice of a destination that values your privacy.  This is an indirect means of enforcement.

You can ask for a privacy clause to in your contract. The contract enforcement will likely be in the other country, where the services are rendered. A client who has their privacy compromised, would likely have to file their lawsuit in another country which can be very difficult.

Carefully choose your facilitator and website. Travel service placement providers may not be subject to HIPAA.  Choose a company that holds your privacy dearly. They should maintain your privacy whether the regulations apply or not. The release of patient conditions can be damaging to the patient, the company and the industry. It is bad patient care and bad business.

One health care worker released medical records to a tabloid. The person is now facing federal criminal (penalty and jail) and civil suits that far exceed the few thousand dollars she received for the release.

Jim McCormick, MD

Premiere Medical Travel

Jim McCormick MD Premiere Medical Travel

Welcome to a leading edge site on medical travel and tourism. We encourage and welcome your input and participation. Our goal is to generate an educational and informative channel for the sharing of ideas, experiences, perspectives and information.

Best of Health

Jim McCormick, MD