South Carolina-based Companion Global Healthcare expanded its international network this week by adding three new international hospitals. Inking the two separate deals—with International Hospital Corp., of Dallas, and India's Wockhardt Hospitals Group—allows Companion's American clients a wider choice for elective surgery and other medical procedures at Joint Commission International-accredited hospitals.
The addition of Hospital CIMA San José in Costa Rica, and two Wockhardt hospitals in Mumbai and Bangalore is yet another step in the maturation of the medical travel industry. Now Companion's individual and employer-sponsored clients, as well as more than one million members of Blue Cross Blue Shield and BlueChoice HealthPlan of South Carolina, can access care at these facilities at preferred network rates.
"International patients have experienced at Wockhardt Hospitals excellent clinical outcomes in an environment of personalized care, which is highly affordable," says Vishal Bali, CEO of Wockhardt Hospitals Group. "Companion Global Healthcare has empanelled our JCI-accredited facilities for elective care of its insured members after an extensive quality survey. This truly is an example of how globalization of healthcare is providing both insured and uninsured people the choice of affordable centers of excellence across the globe as their treatment destinations."
CIMA's CEO, Carole Veloso, points out that the full-service hospital employs English-speaking clinical staff, and Costa Rica is a relatively short flight from the U.S.
Since its start-up in 2007, Companion Global Healthcare continues to develop its hospital network, which now stands at 10 hospitals. Companion President David Boucher says that when the entire network is completed, Companion will probably have about 20 international hospitals. The firm is trying to be both deliberate and diverse as it includes hospitals that meet the various needs of potential medical travelers. With this in mind, Boucher is trying to add hospitals that are high in value and quality.
Gary Wood, Ph.D., International Hospital Corp.'s chairman and CEO, says the agreement with Companion bolsters his system's reputation of delivering high-quality patient care. "For the past 12 years, we have provided a U.S. standard of care to hundreds of thousands of patients in Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico, and helped build the private acute care hospital industry in Latin America," he says.
The deals Companion is making today could pay dividends in the near future as U.S. employers and insurers consider creating medical travel options that share cost savings with individual members. In a recently released study, the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions predicts explosive growth that could reach 6 million outbound medical travelers by 2010.
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California officials have nixed Anaheim Memorial Medical Center's $57-million purchase by Pacific Health Corp., which faces allegations that it defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal. This was the third time that an agreement to sell Anaheim Memorial has unraveled. The Attorney General's office cited several factors in the decision, including "pending criminal investigations" and a civil complaint filed by Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo accusing three hospitals of recruiting homeless people for costly and unjustified treatment.
Despite the mass exodus of doctors from the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina, a journal is reporting that doctors have returned to the city at a rate that has pushed their per-capita number above the national average. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences says the number of doctors in Orleans, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and Jefferson parishes has grown at from 239 doctors per 100,000 people in 2005 to 256 doctors per 10,000 in 2007. The national average is 237 doctors per 100,000, and the trend in New Orleans is one of many signs indicating the city's healthcare system is recovering, medical professionals say.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control has decided to allow another vote on an amendment to the South Carolina health plan that will make it easier for Lexington Medical Center to gain state approval to build a heart center. Lexington Medical asked the DHEC to make changes in the state's health insurance plan that would lower the minimum number of heart surgeries a heart center must perform to remain open and maintain quality. Currently, only Providence Hospital and Palmetto Health are certified to perform open-heart surgeries in the region. State officials have blocked efforts to establish a heart unit in Lexington, saying the region does not need a third open-heart surgery program. But Lexington Medical has remained persistent in making its case.
After a year of delays, Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo is taking the next step for an ambulatory services center. Plans call for a five-story, 190,000-square-foot outpatient diagnostic and treatment center. In addition to doctors' offices, the center will bring together about a dozen outpatient clinics currently located throughout the hospital, and there will be eight outpatient operating rooms.
Because they aren't sure how healthcare reforms will play out, many managed care organizations are hedging their bets by diversifying into new markets and product lines that offer a wide range of coverage and pricing options. Many of these products are designed to appeal to price-sensitive small-group and individual buyers. Managed care organizations traditionally considered these to be modest niche markets at best, but now view them as important for future growth, particularly if reforms initially focus on getting coverage for the uninsured.