More U.S. patients give birth begun to travel abroad or confab retail clinics for aesculapian services, practices that could reduce expenses for consumers and health insurers simply also could cost physicians and hospitals billions of dollars in revenue every year, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports. According to a report lately released by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, the number of U.S. patients world Health Organization travel abroad for medical procedures -- such as cosmetic or joint surgeries or knee or rosehip replacements -- could step-up by around 10 times over the next 10 years to nearly 16 million. About 750,000 patients traveled abroad for medical procedures in 2007, and an estimated 1.5 jillion patients will travel abroad for services in 2008, the report card found.
Nations such as Brazil, Mexico, Singapore and Thailand take become "hubs for medical tourism" as medical procedures performed in those nations can price less than half as much as the toll in the U.S., "fifty-fifty when including outlays for airfare, hotels and meals abroad," the AP/Chronicle reports. Many of those nations market their medical tourism programs and have modernistic hospitals with physicians trained in the U.S., according to Paul Keckley, administrator director of Deloitte. At least one BlueCross and BlueShield Association plan has begun to promote medical tourism, and some U.S. teaching hospitals have begun efforts to match costs for medical procedures performed abroad to retain patients in response to the trend, Keckley said.
Retail Clinics
Deloitte also recently released a report that found the number of retail clinics has increased from near 200 in 2006 to about 1,000 in July. According to the report, Wal-Mart Stores late established agreements with RediClinic and several hospital systems to better half in opening about cd retail clinics by 2010, and CVS Caremark and Walgreen in the past times two years have acquired clinic operators and design to heart-to-heart more clinics in the future. Keckley said, "Significant numbers of people ar willing to vote with their feet to try something different, whether it's retail clinics or aesculapian tourism," adding, "U.S. providers are having to pay attention" (Johnson, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 8/3).
The reports are useable online.
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