Visit www.whosp.com – 43 million people in the US are without health insurance and the number is growing…reports Fox 11 News Channel from Los Angeles USA Some Americans are choosing a different course and taking their healthcare in their own hands and outsourcing it to foreign countries like India, where yoiu can treated at a fraction prices at the cost here. –Sent via heyspread.com Upload videos to multiple sites quickly
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Posted in Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment, Interviews, Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Medical Treatment/Health Treatment Subject By Speciality, Travelling For Surgery Abroad / Medical Surgery Overseas
Tagged americans outsourcing healthcare overseas, health tourism, healthcare outsourcing overseas, medical tourism india, Report in Fox 11 news about medical tourism
Laser spine surgery in India has made a revolution in the field of sophisticated medical services. Indian doctors have proved themselves globally with emphatic results. Some people can get better with time if back pain not much severe but getting better isn’t always easy, and it can be very difficult to overcome such back pain problem. But some of the techniques for spine surgery take less time for recovery. So the best way to overcome this difficulty that too at an affordable price is to experience a spine surgery in India. Laser spine surgery is a process in which herniated intervertebral discs are treated by decrease of intradiscal pressure through laser energy. This is introduced by a needle inserted into the nucleus pulposus under local anesthesia and fluoroscopic monitoring. Laser spine surgery in India would definitely prove beneficial for the international patients who are deciding to take low price laser spine surgery in India. Indian spine surgery hospitals at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad are assisting international patients for getting successful laser spine surgery in India. Laser spine surgery in India would be more beneficial to patients because it takes lesser time for completion and still has less to pay at the laser spine surgery and treatment hospitals in India. Laser spine surgery in India with world class medical tourism can be described as a healthy holiday. In most cases, medical tourists are not your average vacationers opting for medical or …
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Posted in Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment, Healthcare Service Providers, Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Medical Treatment/Health Treatment Subject By Speciality, Travelling For Surgery Abroad / Medical Surgery Overseas
Tagged medical tourism india, spinal surgery coupled with vacations
For centuries, people have been traveling far and wide to be healed and yet today with all the information available at the fingertips, patients are still wary of trusting their health in the hands of a doctor thousands of miles away. However with the numbers of uninsured pegged at 47 million and the numbers of those not covered by dental insurance at 120 million, the medical scenario in US is grim with no end in sight.
Increasing medical costs and decreasing health benefits, is taking a heavy toll on those with either no insurance or a limited cover. At an age when health benefits are most sought, people struggle to stay healthy instead, for fear of rising medical bills. More often than not, the decision to stay healthy is taken right out of their hands and lands them in emergency rooms, where they are taken care of for the moment, but a lifetime of medical bills choke them to death. Even for those who live under a false security blanket that they are insured, having paid fat premiums all their productive years on the assurance that they will be provided quality health care when they need it the most, were in for a rude shock when news broke out that California Blue Cross, the state’s largest health insurance providers has been found guilty of systematically dropping policy holders, when they become sick or pregnant.
In a scenario like this, most often they are forced to seek out alternatives and one of the most attractive on the horizon in traveling to other countries, which promise the same medical attention if not better at 1/10th of the costs as in a hospital in the US. What however finally clinches the deal for the patient, to board the plane and travel 10,000 miles for the very first time in their lives, is a promise of a holiday in an exotic locale thrown in as part of the healing process.
The promise of a world class medical treatment at any of the Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited hospitals in India, China, Thailand, Philippines and others, an extended comfortable stay for the patient and a family member in hospital rooms which offer the luxuries of a five-star hotel room and the availability of a 24 hour registered nurse beats the odds out of treatments here. Besides the crippling costs, the hospitals budgeting needs here means shorter and shorter post-operative stays, which does not bode well with the elderly and the pregnant women.
Though over the last ten years, medical tourism in these countries is booming, thanks to half a million foreign patients to India alone till last year, there are still several millions who are hesitant to take the first step and research the information needed to put their mind and body at rest with the medical options available elsewhere. For those not so discerning patients, Global Health Care Facilitators have stepped in to find low cost, yet quality health care. One of the only three organizations promoting medical tourism here in the United States, Global HCF is just a click away from making a smooth transition to a hospital on foreign soil. The organization based in Cookeville and Nashville, Tennessee not only helps partner the patient with the right doctor, it also makes travel arrangements, takes care of accommodation and food with a consolidated bill at the end of a comfortable healing holiday.
To those cynics who believe in stories of botched surgeries floating around, Dr. Bill Thomas, the brain behind Global HCF, a seasoned traveler himself says that though life-saving medical procedures like heart surgeries, cancer treatment and elective surgeries like dental implants and cosmetic surgery cost as less at 1/10th of the costs of a procedure in the US, it is not because of a lack of expertise, rather a lack of malpractice suits and high administrative costs, which has crippled the health industry here. A surgery which would cost 50,000 dollars and above here in hospital charges alone can be performed for as less as 10,000 dollars all inclusive of medical costs and a holiday package, a realistic amount which can be put together with savings and loans. Global HCF takes care to see that they partner with JCI certified hospitals. In most cases the doctors have been trained in USA and in Europe and have impeccable career records, with less than one percent failure rates.
Countries like India which are actively promoting medical tourism are increasingly seeking JCI certification, to instill faith in the medical tourists coming to them, very well realizing that the publicity generated by one botched surgery could de-rail a burgeoning industry, expected to jump 30 percent every year. Besides the hospitals equipped with the latest medically advanced diagnostic equipments, Indian pharmaceutical companies too meet stringent requirements of the US Food and Drug administration. Medical advancements have meant that Indian doctors can now perform the hip re-surfacing surgery among others where the damaged bone is scraped away and replaced with chrome alloy, an operation which costs less and causes less post-operative trauma than the traditional hip replacement procedure done in the US.
To those who refuse to believe that anything could surpass the medical treatment available here in the US, there are statistics to show that the doctors in these developing countries, have far more expertise and a higher success rate in handling complicated life-saving surgeries, than the doctors here in the US, thanks just to the sheer volume of surgeries they handle on a daily basis. Besides in most cases, treatment here in the US is hardly an option for those with little or no insurance. In such a scenario, if traveling to an exotic destination would mean that they can be healed and lead a productive life post-surgery, instead of wasting away for want of expensive, medical care, then it certainly seems worth taking that one chance.
About the Author:
Vijaya Nadar freelance career started as soon as her daughter was born when going back to her full-time journalism career did not seem like a good option anymore. Ms. Nadar started writing for a syndicated agency in India, started by a retired journalist himself. Through that agency she has had articles published in several states in India, UK, Canada and the Middle-East.
Vijaya is presently contributing to newspapers here in the Unites States and community publications specializing in the medical field. In the last ten years of writing she has covered several issues including the medical field, legal issues, environmental issues, and women’s issues.
Vijaya now lives in the United States and has extensive ties to her community both here in the Unites States and in India.
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Posted in Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment, Medical Tourism/Health Tourism
Tagged california blue cross, cancer treatment overseas, comfortable healing holiday, cosmetic surgery overseas, dental implants overseas, Dr Bill Thomas, elective surgeries overseas, global health care facilitators, health tourism, heart surgeries overseas, low cost quality healthcare overseas, medical tourism, travelling for healing, world class medical treatment overseas
International health travelers planning medical travel abroad have to decide where to go for health care. There is a big deal of medical directories, different associations, societies and et cetera registered all over the world which are competing in helping to find the best place for treatment oversees and promoting particular countries, hospitals and providers.
The problem is that such helpers have as a rule no legal obligations, and approaches used are not always convincible, appropriate and efficient.
It remains a big challenge for medical traveler to find a trusted source for reliable online health information about the right destination for medical care including evidence-based medical information, quality reports, certification or accreditation, mortality data, infection rates, performance data and to protect himself from misleading health information.
Recognizing that European citizens are avid consumers of health related information on the Internet and recognizing that the difficulties by evaluating of medical information available, the European Council at Feira on June 19-20 2000 supported an initiative within eEurope 2002 and as a result Quality Criteria for Health Related Websites were developed in widespread consultation with representatives of private and public eHealth websites and information providers, other industrial representatives, public officials, and representatives of government departments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations.
These criteria consist of 6 major points and should be applied in addition to relevant Community law:
Transparency and Honesty Authority Privacy and data protection Updating of information Accountability Accessibility
Health On the Net Foundation from Swiss /www.hon.ch/, one of most respected not-for-profit portals to medical information on the Internet, established its code of ethical conduct which is based on Quality Criteria for Health Related Websites of the European Council.
We recognize the HONcode as a minimal requirement for any health related websites and websites dealing with medical tourism as well. Any patient looking for medical care abroad is advised to check the present of the the HONcode on the website of provider or facilitator of health services. It is the start but not enough for choosing a right destination.
That is why the Institute for Cross-Border Health Care (Homepage: www.meditravel-plus.com) established guidelines with the aim to help international health travelers to choose a right destination for medical travel and to assist individuals in making more informed health and healthcare decisions. These guidelines can be consistently used by international health travelers planning medical travel abroad.
Institute for Cross-Border Health Care guidelines on general principles of destination evaluation for medical care:
1. Not rely on advertising but critically analyze and check statistics, medical data bases and not at the least use your own common sense.
2. Be aware of the fact that some destinations have not only price advantages but of course some disadvantages as well. The quality of overseas hospitals and providers remains the most important and controversial issue.
3. Be sure that a destination where you are going to medical treatment is able to fulfill and satisfy all requirements needed according to US and EU standards to health care.
4. Pay attention at the provision of healthcare, life expectancy and maternal mortality ratio according to Mortality Country Fact Sheet of WHO (World Health Organization) within the country advertising itself as an attractive destination for medical travel.
5. Be aware of possibility of outbreak of pandemic as a result of poor hygiene conditions over the inhabitants
6. Consult health care data of a country in question and try to understand, whether or not it is worthy to go there and whether the services of the local medical provider could be trusted of. For more information it could be useful for medical tourists to visit the website of WHO: www.who.int/countries, which is available now in 6 international languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish.
7. Pay attention at the fact which total expenditure on health as % of Gross Domestic Product a destination country has and try to learn whether the destination country is able to provide health care for its own citizens, including doctors and medical stuff of the hospitals.
8. Try to learn whether legal procedures, law medical standards comply with US and European law
9. Be informed of responsibility for clinical oversight with the country of treatment and check legal status of providers
10. Be certain that the transfer of your medical records to and from facilities outside your home country is consistent with USA and EU guidelines and local follow-up care could be coordinated
11. Be informed of your rights and legal recourse, complaint proceduresin the case of undesirable outcomes prior to agreeing to travel outside your country for medical care
12. Be certain that you could resort to the legal process and obtain remedies in case of complication and should anything go wrong. So you can avoid an increased risk and uncalculated spending
13. Inform yourself about general agenda as domestic security, terrorism and political instability
14. Inform yourself about the prevalence of the corruption in Public and Other Institutions, which could infect local hospitals and health care in general. For more information about Bribe payer index and Global Corruption Barometer, please consult the website of Transparency International:www.transparency.org. The information about corruption is available in 7 international languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
15. Inform yourself about circulation of faked medication. Particularly in the developing world some countries praised in advertising as medical travel destinations are supposed and proved to be the centers of faked medication production.
16. Try to understand that a variety of different factors could result that the price you pay for affordable and chip surgery would be in the end very big. And it is not only about the money. In our globalized world it is difficult sometimes to compete well with chip prices. But chip medical services could always be not good nor has a good quality.
17. Be aware about differences in nutritional habits, religious practices, family interactions and other customs
18. Be informed aware of standards of clinical excellence, pre and post operative care, levels of English spoken and medical training, cultural and language barriers
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Posted in Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment, Healthcare Service Providers, Medical Tourism/Health Tourism, Top Tips (all), Travelling For Surgery Abroad / Medical Surgery Overseas
Tagged guidelines for international health providers, health care destinations, health service facilitators, health service providers, health tourism, How to choose the right destination for medical tourism, Institute for Cross Border Health Care, medical tourism, medical travellers, overseas hospitals, tips in selecting the right place for medical tourism, where to go for health care
