There are several barriers to creating a medical travel ecosystem that offers patients access to quality, connected care at an affordable price whenever and where ever they want to go to get it. Medvoy is helping to solve one of those problems, lack of continuity of care, by offering services that will help patients and their doctors exchange documents and communicate before, during and after their travel.

We look forward to working with  patients and other medical travel stakeholders in dental/medical and wellness services, infrastructure development, economic development professionals and travel and hospitality to give patients the quality services they deserve.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA

President , CMO and Cofounder –  Medvoy

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That said, investors are still clinging to the promise of big returns fueled by patients losing their health benefits because of high unemployment, the aging population requiring more units of care and exploding costs of healthcare. If you think the medical travel industry is set to explode, there are some areas of investment to consider:

Foreign Healthcare infrastructure

Foreign Travel and hospitality infrastructure

Tools and support companies

Supporting global healthcare insurance and travel products

Firms in the medical travel supply chain

Expatriate retirement health cities and communities

Like other industry sectors, gold, for example, you can invest in the product itself, the people who create the product, or investments that pools risks, like mutual funds or exchange traded funds.

Look for companies in markets where the supply of care does not meet the demands of a growing middle class, that provide products and services delivering low, cost high volume care, and that provide platforms and infrastructure designed to reduce transaction costs for billing and collecting and value-based information.

Despite it’s growth, I think patients are still confused  about the multiple products and services that all seem to be the same. If you are considering offering medical travel benefits to your employees or are  considering leaving home for care, here are three questions you should ask  that might help you separate the wheat from the chaff.

Who do you get connected to?

The traditional referral model is your doctor, someone you trust,  refers you to another doctor for  specialty care or consultation. In most instances in medical tourism, however,  a facilitator or other intermediary  connects you  to a hospital or ground agent partner in another country who connects you to a doctor on the medical staff of the overseas hospital. All those steps can be confusing, add middle-man costs, and create opportunities for errors.

How do you establish some kind of relationship with the consultant before leaving home?

Since it is impractical for you to see your foreign consultant preoperatively face to face, take advantage of facilitators, like Medvoy, that can help connect you to your doctor using telemedicine communications technologies.

What’s the difference between one facilitator and the other?

As the market matures, industry players are creating ways to differentiate themselves and break from the rest of the pack. In general, facilitators compete on price, access, service, experience and their product. Just as Hermes sells quality, Wal-Mart competes on price and Nordstrom’s is know for service. Decide what’s most important to you and pick a facilitator that will deliver.

Some of us will turn inward and will seek ways to set goals and fit more into our ever hectic schedules. Many will be trying to fight the holiday bulge and race off the gym holding steadfastly to our resolutions. The holiday retail numbers were strong, economic indicators are improving and even the typically droll economists are optimistic about 2011.

• Will 2011 be the year that you take care of those lagging health problems? One in five Americans put off going to the doctor due to the economic climate, so demand for procedures such as knee arthroscopy or a hip replacement is likely to increase.
• Will this be the year that you finally get over the fear of the dentist? Prothodontists can help restore your smile through implants, bridges and fixtures, while Cosmetic Dentistry deliver an entire “smile makeovers”- filling in gaps, veneers, whitening teeth, etc.
• Or will this be the year that you will finally has that cosmetic surgery procedure done? Newer methodology for facelifts and eye lifts (Blepharoplasty) utilizing a laser can significantly lower downtime and get you back to work looking refreshed in no time.

The year has just begun – what do you want to with it?

Leaving home for care is nothing new. People have been traveling around the world for treatment since the beginning of time. Now we call it medical tourism, and it is growing quickly.

Patients seek care away from home because it is cheaper, unavailable in their home location, can be accessed without waiting for a long time, can be combined with a travel experience and can be kept secret. Despite the talk of healthcare reform, patients and employers are paying more for care with no forseeable decreases and they are looking for safe, affordable alternatives to care in the US.

There are several serious barriers to adoption and penetration of the notion of leaving home for care. In fact, we’re not even sure what to call it these days. “Medical tourism” has morphed into global healthcare referral or medical travel, underlying the fact that we are talking about healthcare in a different place, not sipping Margueritas by the pool. The growth of the industry is being fueled by mostly medical outsiders who see the commercial potential of opportunities that have resulted from medical cost inflation, globalization and cheap information and communications technologies.

There are lots of opportunties for physicians in the medical travel industry. Substantial challenges to the traditional notions of face-to-face care, continuity of care, itinerant surgery and global healthcare information exchange are but a few of the issues that the medical provider establishment will have to confront as medical travel continues to grow around the world.

As a Prothodontist, a specialist who has studied the mouth and jaw for an additional three years and replaces the look and function of lost or damaged teeth, Dr. Lorenzana specializes on full mouth reconstruction and is board certified by the- a distinction that less than five percent of US Dentist can claim.

People from around the world come to Lorenzana Dental Center because his credentials make a difference; Dr. Lorenzana studied Prosthodontics for three years at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the Medical University of South Carolina. He went on to graduate as a member of the honorary dental society, Omicron Kappa Upsilon, and received his Doctor of Dental Surgery from Baylor College of Dentistry, where he was also a professor in Prosthodontics for ten years. The American Board of Prosthodontics also requires stringent recertification every eight years which keeps him abreast of the latest technology.

As an American citizen born in El Salvador, Dr. Lorenzana has the mindset of an American and also practiced for seven years in Highland Park, a tony suburb of Dallas, Texas. He is a respected researcher and speaker, has visited facilities all over the worlds and prides himself that he uses the same standards, advanced techniques, materials and equipment that you would find in the United States.

See the video interview.

Founders Dr. Alejandro Lasso and Dr. Andres Fernandez Rodriguez are highly experienced and board certified – including certification by the American Association of Cosmetic Dentistry. Additionally, Dr. Rodriguez is recognized as one of the preeminent maxillofacial surgeons in the country and is a member of several international boards, including the International Asociación of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, American Academy of Implant Dentistry, American Association of Cosmetic Surgery and American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.

To learn more click here.

Dental Cosmetics Costa Rica Doctors

Secondly, ask how and where they practice. For example, plastic surgeons and dentists are likely to practice and operate in private clinics or ambulatory surgery facilities removed from a hospital setting. Some may even own the clinic and they should divulge that information to you. If something goes wrong during a procedure, make sure you understand how and where you would get emergency care, how you would be transported there, and who would pay for it. In addition, unlike more and more hospital facilities that are being accredited by the Joint Commission International, (click for a list of accredited hospitals) the organization responsible for making sure hospitals adhere to acceptable practices and procedures, independent, free-standing facilities frequently are not similarly examined or accredited.

Finally, and perhaps the most difficult information to find, is the outcome and results of a given procedure. Ask ” How many of these operations do you do in a week, a month or a year ?” Also, inquire about the number of cases that result in complications, the need for revision surgery or significant morbidity i.e. something that unexpectedly doesn’t work the way it should after surgery, or postoperative death. Most doctors, including those in the US, will be unable to give you an accurate answer because they don’t keep good records or have an unreliable system to keep track of results. Sometimes the best you can do is to talk to someone who has had a similar procedure.

Getting information about a doctor and his or her results in not easy, wherever they practice. The more information you know, however, the better you can determine whether surgery away from home makes sense.