Forget Singapore or Costa Rica for medical tourism. If patients are looking for a bargain in joint replacement, they should first research the U.S. The Chickasaw Nation Medical Center in Ada, Oklahoma, charges $5, 304 for a knee replacement, according to the consumer comparison site nerdwallet.com. Bruce Watson, of Daily Finance, reports that the next most expensive hospital for a knee replacement is Medina Memorial in Medina, New York, where the tariff is $14, 788.
Watson calls the variation in medical pricing within the U.S. “stunning” noting that Monterey Park Hospital in Monterey Park, California charges $223, 373—or 42 times as much as Chickasaw and 15 times as much as Medina Memorial for that knee replacement.
Hips and knee replacements are not the only high ticket items. Major differences in price exist for most surgical procedures. Watson wrote that prices for angioplasty range from $13, 314 to $203, 522 and the cost to have a pacemaker installed can vary from $15, 128 to $167, 628.
Obviously, not all hospitals or surgeons have the same expertise or experience with complex procedures. Patient outcomes vary from institution to institution. But if medical tourism is a temptation, prospective patients should look to what is available in the U.S. before purchasing their tickets to India.
Here in the UK some headlines regarding the NHS sending patients to India to help cut costs in UK hospitals were prominent last weekend. The idea is as it sounds with some additional benefits for the NHS. Besides shipping their patients thousands of miles away for their treatment they would also be sending some surgeons away to perform some procedures in Indian hospitals on Indian patients. At the same time Indian physicians would be shipped over to the UK to gain much needed experience on UK patients in UK hospitals. Sounds mad, tis mad. Gone for the UK patient flown thousands of miles from home will be the visits from friends and family that are an important part of the recovery process. Additionally one has to wonder how their, already disturbed, digestive systems will cope with Indian cuisine or English cuisine cooked by Indians. One also has to raise the question of the comparative hygiene cultures. Has anybody checked this out before hand? Cheaper up front costs may well be multiplied many times over if the returning patient has either: received sub-standard surgical expertise and requires revision; contracted some tropical infection that the NHS has no experience with that does not manifest until the patient is back home; a psychological condition (PTSD springs to mind) as a result of not being in contact with loved ones throughout a traumatic medical procedure. Who said, “Stranger in a strange land?” One also has to question what the medico legal position will be for UK patients if their surgeon has flown the coop and is back home on the sub-continent, or, how they stand if a procedure performed in India goes awry. Did anybody check this route for rocks?