I’ve been watching with great curiosity the rise in popularity of medical travel. Since 2005, more than half a million Americans have traveled overseas seeking healthcare that is cheaper and allegedly of the same quality. Traveling to Singapore, India, Brazil or any number of exotic destination countries for major surgery that it is 50 to 80 percent cheaper may sound enticing. Especially when a procedure such as a triple bypass could cost $130,000 in the States, but only $10,000 in, let’s say, India.

But what about the quality of care? How do you know that you’ll receive equal or better quality outcomes than you would from a double board certified cardiothoracic surgeon right here in North America? There’s ample data on the cost of care posted on international care web sites, but please tell me you wouldn’t simply make your choice of hospital and surgeon on the price tag! Finding the quality provider requires A LOT of work to ferret through regulatory (Joint Commission International), third-party (International Organization for Standardization) and internal assessments. Finding quality indicators (mortality and infection rates, etc.) is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Despite increased competition that US providers will face (more on this in another blog), I hope medical travel gets its act together. I’m eager to see international providers market their quality with as much transparency as they do their price. In the meantime, caveat emptor – buyer beware.

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