Medical Tourism Pura Vida Style!

Average American incomes aren’t increasing at double-digit rates each year even though in some instances the price of fuel, housing and healthcare are. One option taken by growing numbers of Americans is to access the private boutique or concierge healthcare services available elsewhere in the world. “A new model of healthcare delivery known as medical tourism could potentially create 40 million new jobs and bring in 1 billion U.S. dollars a year to the Philippines, like the projection for India, if the novel idea comes to fruition here,” wrote Philip S. Chua, M.D. a cardiac surgeon emeritus at Northwest Indiana, and chairman of cardiovascular surgery of the Cebu Cardiovascular Center at Cebu Doctors’ Hospital in Cebu, Philippines (source: http://www.filipinoreporter.com/archive/3339/focushealth.htm). “The two essential attractive features of this notion include (1) a world-class medical facility with prompt and efficient medical care at a premium bargain, a fraction of the cost abroad; and (2) hustle-free healthcare delivery that also pampers the patients and their family, from the time they arrive at the airport to their discharge from the hospital and return to their respective country.”

Fear of terrorism, is one deterrent in these post 9/11 days to American willingness to travel more than 24 hours by air to the other side of the earth for a healthcare/vacation cocktail. Aside from the perceived terrorists threat and very real discomfort from the long flight many American travelers upon arrival in countries such as India and the Philippines feel alienated by their very different cultures. Another deterrent to the already rapidly expanding Far East’s healthcare outsourcing business (estimated growth in India 30% per year: source http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/healthcare/medicaltourism.html) is their competition in Costa Rica located only a few hours flight from most major U.S. cities. Costa Rica by comparison to the Far East is a Central American nation with a century old democracy that is a safe, friendly, and a premier international tourist destination. Former U.S. hospital CEO Richard Feldman is now the Managing Director of Medical Tourism of Costa Rica (www.medicaltourismofcostarica.com), which provides bargain prices on high quality healthcare scheduled between patient’s vacation leisure activities that his firm will arrange. Feldman recently answered a series of questions about his services, a few of which follow.

Hawley: What is Medical Tourism?

Feldman: Medical Tourism of Costa Rica is a medical travel service. By that I mean we offer alternative health care packages, alternatives to the U.S. and other healthcare systems, for people that are looking for affordable high quality services in a number of different areas. Particularly plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, and bariatric surgery are very common and other specialties as well. Those are the top three in terms of the type of patients we have coming down to see us.

It is a two-part package that we offer. We offer the medical piece. We offer the option for people who perhaps couldn’t otherwise afford these procedures in the U.S. or other countries where it is much less costly here in Costa Rica but just as good or better quality as in the U.S. health care system. And at the same time they get the chance to travel down to Costa Rica and enjoy this beautiful country and just have an incredible experience on the Caribbean, the Pacific, in the rainforest, and wherever. And it is those two things together that make us a very unique experience.

Hawley: What specific services do you offer?

Feldman: I am not a physician. I’m actually a healthcare administrator by training and ran many hospitals in the U.S. before moving to Costa Rica a couple of years ago. Our job at Medical Tourism of Costa Rica is to connect interested patients in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere with the appropriate specialist here in Costa Rica. So we make that initial connection, we explain the nature of our services, we can arrange whatever travel needs they may have. We will do the airfare, the hotel, surgical recovery homes, and the entire non-clinical package together for them, but in terms of who actually provides the services those are independent surgeons within our network.

Hawley: Are all services provided around the San Jose, Costa Rica area?

Feldman: Yes, we did that consciously because travelers begin their journey in the San Jose area. Once they get their treatment here then they can tour around the country once they are ready to do so.

Hawley: Is one time of year best to plan one’s medical tourism?

Feldman: A lot of people do come down now (Green Season) because airfare and hotels are a little bit cheaper. But Costa Rica is starting to see vacationers 12 months out of the year. You are really getting people down here most of the year now. And certainly for healthcare it is not particularly sensitive to the time of the year. People want to do what they want to do when they want to do it. So we aren’t seeing a tremendous amount of variance in when they come down. They are coming down every month.

Hawley: Would you describe the Costa Rican healthcare system and some comparisons to the U.S. system?

Feldman: There are two levels of healthcare in Costa Rica. One is the public healthcare system that any Costa Rican citizen or resident can avail themselves of. It is universal healthcare that is a full public healthcare system with hospitals and clinics all around the country. There is also a private healthcare system. And there are a number of private hospitals, some of which are affiliated with American medical schools. And those are facilities that for the most part upper income tourists and Costa Ricans would avail themselves of. It is a bit more accessible, with lower waiting times. You don’t have to wait in the ER as long I’m trying to say. What I am providing is offered predominantly through the private healthcare system. People come down and go to our hospitals which look and feel like American hospitals. The quality is very, very good. I would say that it is not unlike comparing one American hospital to another where you would say the orthopedic department at hospital-x in Florida is good, but maybe the oncology department isn’t so good. And you would go somewhere else. That is not too dissimilar from what we have down here. What I’ve done however, is I’ve selected doctors because I’ve worked at one of these facilities and I’ve selected hospitals that I know the work is as good or better than what is available in the U.S. And if it is not as good or better than what is offered in the U.S. then I won’t offer it.

One of the things that I’ve done that is a real advantage for us as compared to others in this business who are not healthcare professionals, is as a former hospital CEO I work directly with Dr. Suarez who I believe is the preeminent Plastic Surgeon in Costa Rica. He is both my chief of staff in terms of overseeing the quality care of all the work that is done in our network as well as he does the plastic and reconstructive surgery for people who are coming down here for that. I appreciate Dr. Suarez and the reasons I selected him are one his clinical training, and two he is bilingual. All of our doctors speak English. You can’t have people coming down for healthcare, which is such an important, piece of someone’s life and not be able to communicate with the physician, which occurs in other countries, but all of our doctors are perfectly bilingual. They have tremendous integrity. There are people who want certain procedures done and they will say no. You don’t need that. Or I don’t think it is appropriate. Or you may not have a successful outcome. So we do what we feel we can do, what we feel we can be successful at. And I feel that is just a more honest way of doing business.

Hawley: Feldman in 35 more minutes of a 45-minute interview gave in more detail the reasons one should consider their option of up to 75 percent savings on select high quality healthcare procedures. Find out more at www.MedicalHealthcareofCostaRica.com where all you need is your passport to access the savings. Contact Feldman through their website and see just what his firm can do for you!

Pura Vida!

Amigo Juan Hawley