May 28 , 2008

Live 90-Minute Audio Conference
Scheduled for Thursday, June 26, 2008 from 
1:30-3:00 pm ET 

Contact: Rebecca Stodolak
Phone:    800-516-4343

MANASQUAN, NJ -- May 28, 2008:  Global healthcare, also known as medical tourism, is an emerging industry that is no longer just a self-pay and cosmetic surgery phenomenon. Increasingly, patients are traveling for “serious” surgeries, including major non-cosmetic elective procedures such as joint replacement, heart valve replacement or back repair, with cost savings ranging as high as 60 to 90 percent.  Although many of these patients lack health insurance, some have high-deductible plans or are going for procedures not covered by their health insurer.   

More than 500,000 Americans chose offshore medical treatment from places like Thailand, Singapore, and India in 2005, according to the National Coalition on Health Care. McKinsey & Company estimates that in India alone, medical tourism revenue could hit $2.2 billion by 2012.   

“Amidst an increasingly bleak US healthcare landscape, informed Americans now have financial leverage when considering expensive medical procedures. With more than 100 American-accredited hospitals now offering hundreds of treatment procedures and super-specialties, it pays the healthcare consumer to be informed—the savings often far outweigh the rigors of travel abroad,”  according to Josef Woodman, Author, Patients Beyond Borders

Employers, health plans and benefits consultants are taking notice and in some cases are launching pilot programs to cover some procedures performed abroad, forming medical-tourism subsidiaries and considering policies to cover workers who head to a foreign country for treatment.   Organizations who understand the emerging market will be well-positioned to get involved early and to benefit as the field evolves. 

Join the Managed Care Information Center to hear insider insight into the opportunities as well as risks that are involved with the globalization of healthcare in “Emerging Trends in the Globalization of Healthcare: Can Medical Tourism Really Be An Alternative for Health Plans, Employers and Patients?” scheduled for Thursday, June 26, 2008 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm EDT.   Get perspectives from the employer, consumer, health plan and provider sectors.

   Presenters David Boucher, MPH, FACHE Assistant Vice President of Health Care Services Companion Global Healthcare, A Subsidiary of BCBSSC, Wayne J. Miller, Esq
Founding Partner Compliance Law Group, Renee-Marie Stephano, Esq. COO and General Counsel  Medical Tourism Association, Inc. Editor, Medical Tourism Magazine, Josef Woodman CEO Healthy Travel Media  Author of “Patients Beyond Borders,” will discuss topics such as: 

• The American healthcare crisis and its effect on the future growth of the medical tourism industry
• The current trends, and their drivers, in today's global healthcare market
• The connection between consumer directed healthcare and medical tourism and its potential
• The risks associated with global healthcare
• The role, if any – that medical tourism can play for health plans and employers
• Assessing the true financial savings in medical travel
• A frank discussion on the quality of healthcare overseas
• The value of accreditation
• Is it dangerous to travel for surgery to places where malpractice laws are limited?
• Legal issues surrounding medical tourism: The risks associated with offering medical tourism from both payers’ and providers’ perspectives, the latest compliance and regulatory concerns, payer and governmental requirements, and medical liability issues
• The importance of continuity of care and information exchange technology
• Can US and foreign providers work together, with some administrative and clinical tasks performed in the US and some overseas?
• Other opportunities for growth in the private health care sector available to insurers, supporting organizations and providers.
• Case Study: How and Why Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina formed a subsidiary, Companion Global Healthcare, Inc., to manage travel arrangements for enrollees seeking medical care overseas, and developed a network of overseas hospitals
• Live question and answer session