Companies weigh medical treatments outside U.S.

1/22/2010

By Jennifer Wezensky | Special to the Kalam...

January 21, 2010, 9:35AM

Handout photo.Jeff Carter, CEO of Patients Without Borders.KALAMAZOO — The head of a Boston-based medical travel company met with several local businesses last week to discuss how international medical travel could fit into their employee benefit programs.

Patients Without Borders Chief Executive Officer Jeff Carter said local companies were “receptive” to the idea of traveling to hospitals in other countries for medical care for certain procedures and treatments that are not as widely performed in the United States.

“Across the board, all of the (Kalamazoo-area) employers we met with are intrigued with the concept,” Carter said. “How it fits into their own benefit programs varies.”

Carter would not identify the companies he met with but said he was invited by Kalamazoo benefit broker Scott Doherty, owner of the Doherty Agency in Portage. Doherty said he thinks Patients Without Borders can help employers provide more inclusive, integrated health plans.
Carter said the organization he co-founded in March 2008 works with companies to incorporate medical travel to expand health-care choices as well as quality services.

“Some illnesses are treated more effectively overseas,” Carter said.

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For more information, visit www.patientswithoutborders.us.

He cited stomach cancer as an example. In the United States, stomach cancer has a 20 percent survival rate because it is not that common. In South Korea, however, stomach cancer is far more prevalent and there are more specialists who treat it more often. Because of that, stomach cancer has a more than 50 percent survival rate there, Carter said.

“This is not a way of saving people money at the expense of quality,” Carter said. “These are accepted internationally accredited medical programs. Most of the major commercial insurers are looking at medical travel as a real option.”

The network hospitals offered through Patients Without Borders Corporate Services all carry the accreditation of the Joint Commission International. The JCI is an extension of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which is the accrediting body for hospitals in the United States. JCI accreditation is considered the “gold standard” for hospital accreditation internationally, and there are currently about 200 JCI accredited hospitals worldwide, Carter said.

The Patients Without Borders Corporate Services worldwide network is made up of about 15 hospitals. Carter said he expects that number to grow.

Carter said Patients Without Borders Corporate Services is focused on facilitating cardiac, spinal, orthopedic and women’s health surgical services. It also is pursuing other areas such as oncology