Three reasons emerge for medical tourism, and they have helped support Planet Hospital's expansions. First, procedures remain far cheaper in many overseas markets than in the United States. Second, some needed treatments are more accessible and can be scheduled sooner than at busy U.S. facilities. Third, certain specialized treatments may not even be available in the United States, due to differing health care regulations and even cultural acceptance of some health care practices.
"We still do the standard medical tourism procedures," Moss says. "We still do the hearts, and the knee replacements, and the spines and the hips." But the company has found a real niche in more sophisticated treatments that are either not available in the United States or are in short supply or extremely expensive here.
"We offer procedures that aren't available in the United States," Moss says. For example, his company works with several Chinese hospitals that provide stem cell therapies. It also works with medical facilities in Japan and South Korea for very expensive cancer therapies, including proton beam therapy.
"The U.S. has only eight to 10 beam-therapy treatment centers," he explains. And the cost can easily hit $250,000 for a 12-week treatment regimen. Costs in Japan and South Korea are only a fourth of that, and the treatment is more readily available.
Likewise, Planet Hospital has developed and expanded a surrogate birth program in India. "We may create the embryos here and then take them to India, where they are deposited in the surrogate," Moss says. "Or in some cases, our clients want an Indian egg donor." The legality of the procedure hinges on the baby needing to be genetically linked to one of the parents, Moss explains.
More than half of Planet Hospital's surrogacy work is with gay and lesbian couples, he says. And with same-sex marriages being recognized by more and more states, the demand by same-sex couples for surrogate birthing services has been expanding.
Accreditation bodies have been expanding their reviews of foreign hospitals to include more facilities and to provide accreditation of specific procedures and disciplines. The Joint Commission International is the major U.S.-based provider of foreign hospital certifications. It has a list of certified facilities and countries on its website.
A smaller list of recommended international health care providers has been drawn up by Patients Beyond Borders, a provider of medical tourism information.
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