German health officials are visiting Israel to learn about the opportunities and health benefits available at the Dead Sea, while Israel's tourism industry hopes to promote medical tourism from Germany. A delegation of representatives from Germany's Health Ministry and health funds arrived in Israel for a three day visit at the initiative of the Tourism Ministry, the Dead Sea Hotels Association, and the Tamar Regional Council. The objective of the visit is to present the medical benefits of the Dead Sea and remove any obstacles for German tourists who are interested in receiving medical care in Israel.
In the medical travel industry's first in-depth survey of patient experiences with medical tourism, WorldMed Assist examined who travels for international healthcare, why they travel, what savings motivate them, how they compare the quality of care overseas with care at home, and how they rate companies that help arrange international treatment. Of those who had completed a medical journey, twice as many rated their international care as superior to that of the United States'.
A lot has been written about the looming physician shortage that will have global implications. But leaders in India's surging private healthcare industry report an interesting trend: More and more Indian doctors are choosing to practice in their native country.
Even those who have been educated and practiced medicine in the West are deciding to join private healthcare networks or start up their own medical groups back home.
"Over the last two years, we now have almost 28 very senior clinicians who have come back from the U.S. and the U.K. after spending many years over there and almost reaching consultant status in both the U.S. and the U.K. with an average work experience of about 15 to 17 years," says Vishal Bali, CEO of Wockhardt Hospitals Group.
The rise of India's economy and the access to state-of-the-art technology at many of the corporate hospitals there have helped to entice physicians who perhaps a decade ago might seek work visas to developed countries.
But that's only part of the story.
Indian doctors' changing preference isn't just because of the allure of the nation's growth story. Some physicians there say practicing in India actually affords them a better lifestyle as well. These docs say they can practice patient-centered medicine without the burdens of onerous regulations and high cost of operating a practice in the U.S.
When he was a medical student some 20 years ago, Aniruddha Malpani, MD, revered the U.S. medical system. Today, Malpani is an IVF specialist who owns a private clinic in Bombay. "But as time has gone by things have changed, and the reason I feel sorry for U.S. physicians is I feel they got squashed between patients, lawyers, third-party payers, HMOs, and the government; they seem to be on the receiving end for everything."
Malpani, like most physicians, enjoys spending time with his patients practicing medicine, and he says doctors in the States are too stressed out and overburdened. "It seems like a no-win situation to me," he says. "[Physicians] have all the responsibility for providing the care, so they are not allowed to make mistakes, but they have very little authority."
By comparison, Malpani describes India's healthcare industry as being in the midst of a honeymoon period. There's great demand for high-quality physicians, he says, and still physicians there are able to spend time with their patients.
This isn't to suggest that private hospitals in India don't have to compete for the best medical staff members or that the country overall isn't impacted by the global shortage of physicians. But the trend is a good sign for India's healthcare and medical travel industries, because access to well trained and motivated physicians will go a long way to making sure private hospitals there deliver the care and patient experience needed for continued growth.
More on Physician Leadership
I will be facilitating a C-suite peer panel at this year's Top Leadership Teams in Healthcare conference called "New Medical Staff Models for Strategic Growth." In the conversations I've had with the panelists—including Edward Murphy, MD, president and CEO of Carilion Clinic; Kelby Krabbenhoft, president and CEO of Sanford Health; and James Leonard, MD, president and CEO of Carle Foundation Hospital—I expect this will be a lively discussion that covers many of today's hot issues between hospital executives and physician leaders. Visit topleadershipteams.net to find out more about this year's program, which will be held at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, Oct. 16-17, 2008.
Robert Tenant, senior policy advisor with MGMA, discusses the CMS proposed timeline for implementing the ICD-10 code set and explains the administrative burden it could place on medical practices. +
Advanced care for heart attack and other cardiac patients will continue to be offered in Waterbury, CT, the state's top hospital regulator has ruled. The Heart Center of Greater Waterbury has been threatened with closure since July, when its temporary state permit to operate expred. During its three-year trial period, the center had fallen short of performing the number of open heart surgeries required by the state to earn permanent approval. During a four-hour hearing in Hartford, patients, doctors, hospital administrators, and local officials pleaded for a six-month extension, arguing that patients would die if they had to travel from Waterbury to New Haven or Bridgeport for heart procedures.
Whistle-blowers helped authorities recover at least $9.3 billion from healthcare providers accused of defrauding states and the federal government, according to an analysis of Justice Department records. The Justice Department ramped up efforts in the 1990s to combat healthcare fraud by using private citizens with inside knowledge of wrongdoing, and they now initiate more than 90% of the department's lawsuits focusing on healthcare fraud.
Michael Young starts his job as head of Atlanta-based Grady Memorial Hospital on Sept. 2. Billed as talented, aggressive leader with a reputation for turning around troubled hospitals, Young is the latest in a string of CEOs at Grady, most of whom have quickly come and gone and left the hospital with little changed. But he comes to Grady having turned around a smaller hospital in western New York that had similar problems to those at Grady.
Nashville-area employers negotiating benefits with health insurers for 2009 are seeing medical costs in their health plans rise 8% to 12%, local insurance brokers said. With companies facing challenges from a U.S. economic downturn, they're under more pressure to rein in expenses, prompting some companies to pass on more of the costs to their employees, change the mix of insurance offerings, or give employees incentives to live healthier lifestyles.
Some Iowa businesses are moving away from healthcare plans that offer high deductibles in exchange for low costs, according to an annual report on employer benefits. The shift from consumer-driven health plans comes as Iowa employees and employers take an 8.8% bump this year in health insurance costs, according to a report from David P. Lind & Associates, an employee benefits consultant. Employees also face higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, the study showed.
Novant Health officials will host a community forum to present their plans for a 47-bed acute care hospital in Holly Springs, NC. Local residents will have an opportunity to ask questions about the proposed $110 million project. Mark Billings, president of Novant's Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, and other officials from the hospital chain will be at the forum. Novant's bid to build a Holly Springs hospital has run into competition from Wake County's two largest hospitals, WakeMed and Rex Healthcare. Both have announced separate expansion plans for elsewhere in the county.
