Milwaukee company intends to off-shore employee surgeries

[HereSince1628]

Everyone around SE Wisconsin was expecting health-care to provide secure jobs...guess again dudes your patients are headed to India.



Anthem, Serigraph unveil 'medical tourism' health plan
By Guy Boulton of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Nov. 12, 2008

Serigraph Inc., a specialty printer in West Bend, soon will be offering its employees expense-paid vacations for two to a foreign country.

The only catch is one of them has to have surgery while there.

The company has agreed to participate in a pilot project with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin that will allow employees to have certain elective medical procedures, such as joint replacements or back surgery, done in designated hospitals in India.

<snip>

http://www.jsonline.com/business/34337294.html

[spinbaby]

1. I know someone who went to Thailand for knee replacement

He raved about the experience--said it was like being in a luxury hotel and that the nurses were far more attentive than in any U.S. hospital.

[JHB]

2. Un-frikkin-believable

:wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

As if we needed yet another example of how insane the current "system" has become.

[HereSince1628]

5. Can we say the system is broken now? n/t

[daggahead]

9. I'd say so ... n/t

[fasttense]

3. Good, let the doctors lose their jobs to off shoring too.

Doctor's jobs are mostly protected by the US with exacting licensing and regulatory protections. It's about time they joined the rest of America in losing their good paying jobs to India.

[Donnachaidh]

11. oh you bet -- watch how quickly the medical community will have an epiphany

when THEY find themselves losing their seat on the gravy train.

[grannie4peace]

4. very interesting!!!!!

i can't imagine going to india for surgery!!!! it's bad enough going to a hospital in a different town!!!!!

[investintrains]

6. 10,000 free heart surgeries annually in Bangalore India

a hospital in Bangalore, India, the best equipped in the world
partly because of the donations of Isaac Tigrett..is 100%
free to anyone in the world, and performs 10,000 heart surgeries
a year through the donated services of doctors, nurses, and other
volunteers.

[LynneSin]

7. 60 Minutes did a special about surgery in Thailand and India...

and everyone who went absolutely raved about the experience. Mainly it was the uninsured facing seriously health care problems if they didn't get the surgery (heart bypass, hip replacement). Both hospitals were top of the line and probably in better condition and better staffed than most US Hospitals. Many of the docters were US trained and the patients were not forced to leave the hospital early to save costs.

I know it sounds scary but unfortunately they're doing it better overseas and in a more cost efficient way.

[HereSince1628]

10. It isn't a question of quality of care, it's another area of US employment going offshore

Not good.

[LynneSin]

19. Which is one more reason why we need single-payer 'universal' healthcare in this country

Our insurance companies make it a practice to deny deny deny if they can save a penny. Why should we suffer thanks to this major efficiancy?

[OregonBlue]

14. I get all my health-care at the Thai hospital covered in the 60 minutes piece. It is fabulous.

No red tape, care provided the day you show up. I recently had serious stomach problems while in Thailand. I went to Bumrumgrad Hospital. I was sent directly to a specialist who did a scope that day. Was in and out in about 4 hours. Total cost was under $200 and that included my prescriptions (turned out I have a serious bleeding ulcer) and follow-up care.

I have health insurance here but it costs $450 a month for me and my spouse and our deductible is $7000 each.

Besides the obvious difference in wages in Thailand as opposed to the U.S., there is an amazing difference in efficiency. There is no red tape, no bureaucracy. You show up, the intake desk assesses your primary complaint and sends you directly to that specialty. You are treated within an hour or so by an English speaking specialist and sent on your way. All lab work is done on site and done immediately. Results are sent directly to the specialist within a 1/2 hour. Once they have diagnosed and treated the primary complaint, you can either make an appointment to return for secondary problems (usually the next day) or go directly to that specialty. It is amazingly efficient.

Records are maintained just as they are in the U.S. but they include all lab work and pharmacy since it is a one stop shop. Much better coordination of care. Everything is computerized.

I have been getting my care there for several years and it is truly WONDERFUL.

[LynneSin]

18. The Redtape and bureaucracy is what kills american health care

Personally I'm not sure if I'm keen on forcing someone to go overseas for healthcare but I'm not opposed to suggesting it as a method of getting good quality healthcare and a much more affordable cost.

[OregonBlue]

20. Agree. I choose to get my care in Thailand because frankly, the care is better. My deductible is so

high on my policy that I end up paying all of the charges. Since I travel for business, it just makes sense to get my care where it is both better and cheaper. However, most people could not afford the ticket to Thailand whenever they need to see a doctor or surgeon.

[sutz12]

8. Gee, I thought people were coming HERE for medical care.

Another RW myth exposed.

:shrug:

[rdublue]

12. WHO ranks the US 37th in health care

We pay the most for health care and we get 37th? Of course India was 112, so I guess they are actually working at getting a better ranking.

[liberal N proud]

13. You know when there is nothing left in the nation for work...

We are all going to turn on the fat cats that sent all our jobs overseas.

:grr:

[Horse with no Name]

15. And then when something goes HORRIBLY wrong--BUYER BEWARE

you find out in the fine print that you cannot sue for malpractice.
Orthopedic Surgery TYPICALLY has a high rate of embolisms (throwing clots).
New standards in the US starting in January state that Medicare will no longer cover complications from the original surgery--and blood clots are one of the things they won't cover. How convenient for the insurance companies to start shipping folks out of the country for surgeries.
Just curious--if you die during or after surgery--who pays to have your body returned? I have a guess and it is NOT the insurance company.:eyes:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/press/release.asp?Counter=3219&intNumPerPage=10&checkDate=&checkKey=&srchType=1&numDays=3500&srchOpt=0&srchData=&keywordType=All&chkNewsType=1%2C+2%2C+3%2C+4%2C+5&intPage=&showAll=&Year=&year=&desc=&cboOrder=date

>>>snip
In last year’s final rule, CMS listed eight preventable conditions for which it would not make additional payments. In this year’s proposed rule, CMS identified nine potential categories of conditions, but based on public comments, is finalizing three of these. The new additional conditions in this year’s final rule include:



· Surgical site infections following certain elective procedures, including certain orthopedic surgeries, and bariatric surgery for obesity

· Certain manifestations of poor control of blood sugar levels

· Deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism following total knee replacement and hip replacement procedures

[Horse with no Name]

16. Speaking of these new guidelines and their impact

I witnessed something disturbing a couple of weeks ago.
A patient was VERY ill and literally begged the Doctor to admit him. This patient was very well insured and honestly should have been admitted.
The Doc said that the hospital was cracking down and that although the patient was ill enough...he wouldn't admit him because he could give him high doses of steroids and antibiotics at home. It would just take longer to get him well.
:wow:
What I questioned was the fact that somebody that ill would take a lot longer to recover without IV antibiotics. With the job situation these days...I had to wonder if that man would be able to recover before he was fired from his job or if he would have just been forced to go to work sick.:(

[Corgigal]

17. I personally like the face lift and safari that they offer

in South Africa. 60 minutes did a great story about that and I would consider it.

http://www.placidway.com/profile/634/

[ellacott]

21. They are also sending our medical records offshore, this is very troubling

They are already sending medical records to Pakistan and India for billing and transcription. There have already been situations where one of these companies attempted to extort money by claiming that they would sell social security numbers on the black market.

This is a serious trend that doesn't seem to upset many legislators. If any of those companies would decide to illegally use the personal information their prosecution is not guaranteed because they are outside of the U.S. jurisdiction.

I belong to a user group that has letters and petitions to our legislators to ask them to stop this practice.