Idaho Hospital Sets its Sights on Medical Tourism

Offering short wait times for surgery, low infection rates, and luxe accommodations, a small physician-owned hospital near the Canadian border hopes medical tourism will raise its inpatient volumes by 10%.

Ask the average person to tell you what they know about medical tourism and they'll likely talk vaguely about plastic surgery in South America or Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

They most certainly will never mention Idaho.

But, if Northwest Specialty Hospital's (NSH) recent push to attract Canadian patients is successful, that may change.

The 22-bed hospital in Post Fall, Idaho, is about 100 miles from the Canadian border. Before it launched its medical tourism package last month, about 0.5% of its patients were Canadian. Those patients' stories are what sparked the idea to reach out to our neighbors to the north.

"With being so close to the Canadian border, we have been looking at this program for a few years. But late in 2014 we decided to move forward with the program," says CEO Rick Rasmussen. "I also had worked with many Canadians in the last year and had heard them talk about the very long wait times for surgery."

To kick-off the marketing push, NSH added a prominent Canadian flag on its website. The flag links to a microsite which promotes the hospital's medical tourism options. The site focuses on bariatric and orthopedic service lines and prominently displays costs for common procedures: $22,500 for a total hip replacement, and $15,750 for a lap sleeve procedure.

While many patients may balk at the cost, for some the benefits of being treated in an American hospital are worth it. And, for NSH, that demographic is worth going after.

"We can provide the Canadian patients a surgery within weeks of them scheduling it versus waiting up to 18- to 24-month wait times," Rasmussen says. "We also can provide them with a hospital that has one of the top patient satisfaction rates in North America with exceptional experienced surgeons, versus those patients having no say what hospital they will be going to [in Canada] or what surgeon will be doing their surgery."

The microsite pushes these points, listing the accolades and awards the hospital has received and pointing out its low rate of infection.

"Our infection rate at Northwest Specialty Hospital is 0.053%, which is more than five times lower than the national rate of infection," the website states. "This number reflects our dedication to quality service and superior standards compared to the national average."

In addition to those benefits, the medical tourism packages offer Canadian patients luxe accommodations. NSH has partnered with the nearby Coeur d'Alene Resort, a high-end lakeside hotel and spa that looks like it was airlifted from the Swiss Alps. The resort houses patients, family members, and loved ones as part of NSH's packaged prices.

The medical tourism microsite also highlights nearby entertainment options, such as golf courses and ski trails—it's clear the hospital is trying to appeal to Canadian patients with money to spend.  

Though the target audience for this initiative is different, the message is not.

"The message is the same—we provide patients on both sides of the border with high patient satisfaction, low infection rates, single-patient rooms, five-star food, top-ranked surgeons, and a great staff," Rasmussen says. "It is different because we mostly see insured patients from the Americans, but the Canadians are cash-pay patients for us, so that creates some differences."

Since the microsite launched in December, NSH has treated four new Canadian patients, who heard about the program via word-of-mouth. The hospital is currently working with an ad agency to further roll out the campaign to targeted Canadian cities.

Rasmussen is also using the packaged pricing for Americans with third-party providers, such as Bridge Health, which helps self-insured companies connect with packaged price programs. So far they have seen a few patients through this method, and other companies are reaching out to learn more about the packaged prices.

"Our ultimate goal would be to see 10% of our annual inpatient volumes come from both the Canadian and third party medical tourism programs in the US," Rasmussen says. And he's not just the CEO. He's also a bariatric patient.