Medical tourism: the role of the primary care provider.

Abstract

With medical costs rising and millions uninsured or underinsured, patients are paying cash in developing nations to access deeply discounted medical procedures. While medical tourism can be a cost-effective option, the phenomenon is not without risk: communication difficulties, endemic tropical diseases, unregulated hospitals, and organ trafficking complicate the landscape. These risks are precisely what put the well-informed provider in a position to educate patients to safely engage in the process. The incidence is difficult to calculate. An estimated 50 million patients travel abroad each year seeking medical services and 3–20% of Europeans receive treatment in another European Union country.1,2 Patients cite shorter waiting times, and lower costs as the primary motivators.2 Cardiac surgery or a knee replacement in a developing country can be a fraction of the cost due to currency exchange rates, lower labour costs, fewer regulations, little or no involvement of insurance companies, and low malpractice premiums.3 For example, a cardiac surgery averaging $113 000 (£85 880) in the US is done in India for only $10 000 (£7600).4 Figure 1 shows a cost comparison in GBP.4 Figure 1. Comparative costs of medical procedures in different countries in US$.4 CABG = coronary artery bypass grafting. Medical tourists usually …