Medical travel is a cost-effective option for employers

Sep 2 2009

In the quagmire of health care reform, with challenges to ensure quality, align costs with outcomes, and build incentives for consumers to shop for services, medical travel emerges as a solution that benefits employers, individuals and the U.S. health care system. BridgeHealth Medical, Inc. (www.BridgeHealthMedical.com), the nation’s premier provider of medical travel services, points to the expanded scope of domestic and international Centers of Excellence as the most compelling opportunities for accessing high quality care at lower cost, particularly for the under- or uninsured who need surgery.

Victor Lazzaro, Jr., CEO of BridgeHealth states, “Medical travel is not a panacea, but it does force transparency in terms of quality and costs and should be factored into the proposed programs now on the table to fix the U.S. healthcare system. Medical travel exemplifies the concept of private sector competition, as fostered by global and domestic companies, and can have the same impact on health care delivery as it does on other industries. Today, Americans can readily travel to the optimal provider, whether that site is within the United States or outside our borders.”

Lazzaro points out that US-based health care providers have already demonstrated a willingness to compete at a global level, and are approaching the market with the delivery of quality services at lower costs. With the expanded definition of medical travel to include options within the US and outside the country, Lazzaro expects that the medical travel industry will thrive regardless of specific nuances imposed under health care reform packages.

“Today, BridgeHealth offers access to over twenty superior hospitals and hundreds of health professionals in over a dozen states across the US,” he explains. “We’ve expanded upon our existing international footprint for high-demand medical procedures, and now offer a wide choice of top hospitals and options for accessing expert providers at significant savings. We’ve brought a whole new meaning to the words ‘medical travel’, and this should resonate with government decision-makers as they craft health care reform packages.”

He says that these Centers of Excellence, wherever they are located, routinely demonstrate better outcomes at lower costs, adding, “Better outcomes mitigate liability claims, which in turn means less defensive medicine. The American health care system will reap substantial benefits from medical travel, with savings that are sufficient to offset a major portion of the $1.5 trillion cost of providing universal access to coverage.”

BridgeHealth offers worldwide access to the best accredited hospitals and qualified physicians, offering small and large businesses affordable coverage. Individuals benefit from the door-to-door coordination of high quality, low cost procedures both domestically and overseas that can help reduce their costs across-the-board.