4 ms·

Who's interesting in doing a healthcare tourism startup? Especially if you know the medical system well. Serious. Hit me up. My wife has gone to Russia twice f

Who's interesting in doing a healthcare tourism startup? Especially if you know the medical system well. Serious. Hit me up. My wife has gone to Russia twice for dental work (her home country). Was a fraction of the quotes here, including airfare.

bubbleRefuge 13y ago
I second the idea. Had lots of dental work done in latin america a few years ago. Probably saved about 70% on dental costs + we had a nice vacation. What about liability?
- markvdb 13y ago
  While I agree that liability is important, it becomes less of an issue with treatment so much cheaper, especially for issues that do not threaten your ability to travel. If something goes wrong, you can still go for the 80% cheaper corrective treatment.
ixacto 13y ago
It could work if it was accredited/malpractice was covered somehow, then just make a hospital in Mexico or the Bahamas. Of course it would need to be less expensive than the USA, have better outcomes, and have the same level of legal responsibility...we are a very litigious nation.
- EGreg 13y ago
  Why a single hospital? Have a website which lists hospitals and reviews of people, the prices charged, and even the doctors who practice there. Then people could book the trips through the site, which would take a 5% cut. Is this any good: http://www.treatmentabroad.com/medical-tourism/ratings-and-reviews/ http://www.treatmentabroad.com/medical-tourism/ratings-and-r...
  - mjn 13y ago
    I'm a bit skeptical of crowdsourced ratings for this kind of thing, given the relatively poor quality (and frequent gaming) of ratings on sites like Yelp and Amazon. Some objective information, like third-party-audited statistics on treatment outcomes, on the other hand, would be very valuable.
    - EGreg 13y ago
      Well great, you've got a problem a startup can solve :)
      - mjn 13y ago
        True, and I'd love to see that kind of information. But it's a hard problem: doing solid outcomes analysis of hospital procedures is orders of magnitudes harder than crowdsourcing reviews!
        EGreg 13y ago
        It is. You'd have a big barrier to entry for competitors.
gojomo 13y ago
It's a good idea... and also already a big thing. Look at all the AdWords for [dental vacation] and similar searches. Amish groups taking train rides to Mexico for dental work paid in cash is also apparently a thing. It could be much bigger, across more procedures... but often people needing care are, by virtue of both age and their current medical worries (and past experiences with bad providers), less adventurous. A big breakthrough would be if Congress, as a cost-saving measure, allowed Medicare payments for out-of-country treatment.
- falk 13y ago
  "A big breakthrough would be if Congress, as a cost-saving measure, allowed Medicare payments for out-of-country treatment." If Congress cared about saving money when it comes to Medicare they wouldn't have passed Medicare Part D, which by design doesn't allow for the negotiation of lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies like the Department of Vererans Affairs is allowed to do. The fact of the matter is that a lot of palms are getting greased in Washington when it comes to healthcare. Thus why Obamacare doesn't have a public option. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Part_D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Part_D
  - tryitnow 13y ago
    Precisely. I worked a little bit for a large pharma company (in a finance capacity) and I saw first hand how incredibly profitable it is for the US government to not have negotiating power on drug prices. Pharma companies make a wildly disproportionate share of their global profits in the US simply because they don't have to negotiate with a large 'super-buyer" (e.g. medicare). Now if pharma R&D were productive I wouldn't have a problem with this, but it's notoriously unproductive (and not just because of the admittedly overly burdensome FDA regulations). I would support a grand compromise: 1) for pharma companies: reduce FDA hurdles for drug approval, but add more aggressive post-approval tracking (to reduce the risks associated with a lower regulatory hurdle) 2) for the rest of us: allow medicare to negotiate aggressively on price, this will have a ripple effect and lead to lower drug prices for all.
  - refurb 13y ago
rdouble 13y ago
Everyone I know in Tucson already goes to Nogales for dental work.
clueless123 13y ago
You could start with a list of procedures & average prices plus an AirBnB component,then mix it with a good deal finder for airfare. *Personally I got major Dental surgery by a top doctor in Peru for ~ $300
lucidrains 13y ago
This is a great idea! Emailed you!
staringispolite 13y ago
Two friends and I are working on exactly this! Would love to talk. I'll PM you with my contact info. Another good place to start understanding the (dis)incentives in US healthcare pricing is Time magazine's "The Bitter Pill" http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2136864,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2136864,00..... Though it's important to note it's not just a US -> abroad market, it's a many-many graph. People travel for cost, procedure availability, doctor specialization, for the experience of travel, etc. If anyone is interested in talking and passionate about this topic, I'd be happy to treat you to coffee with my co-founder and I in downtown SF. Feel free to email me, my email is in my HN profile.
pessimizer 13y ago
I was looking for this today, and was surprised that I couldn't find one. Wish you luck and speed, because I need some dental work done and never have any idea where I should take vacations.
dome82 13y ago
I am working on an idea for medical tourism. We should talk. I'll email you soon :)

bubbleRefuge 13y ago

I second the idea. Had lots of dental work done in latin america a few years ago. Probably saved about 70% on dental costs + we had a nice vacation. What about liability?

markvdb 13y ago
While I agree that liability is important, it becomes less of an issue with treatment so much cheaper, especially for issues that do not threaten your ability to travel. If something goes wrong, you can still go for the 80% cheaper corrective treatment.

ixacto 13y ago

It could work if it was accredited/malpractice was covered somehow, then just make a hospital in Mexico or the Bahamas. Of course it would need to be less expensive than the USA, have better outcomes, and have the same level of legal responsibility...we are a very litigious nation.

EGreg 13y ago
Why a single hospital? Have a website which lists hospitals and reviews of people, the prices charged, and even the doctors who practice there. Then people could book the trips through the site, which would take a 5% cut. Is this any good: http://www.treatmentabroad.com/medical-tourism/ratings-and-reviews/ http://www.treatmentabroad.com/medical-tourism/ratings-and-r...
- mjn 13y ago
  I'm a bit skeptical of crowdsourced ratings for this kind of thing, given the relatively poor quality (and frequent gaming) of ratings on sites like Yelp and Amazon. Some objective information, like third-party-audited statistics on treatment outcomes, on the other hand, would be very valuable.
  - EGreg 13y ago
    Well great, you've got a problem a startup can solve :)
    - mjn 13y ago
      True, and I'd love to see that kind of information. But it's a hard problem: doing solid outcomes analysis of hospital procedures is orders of magnitudes harder than crowdsourcing reviews!
      - EGreg 13y ago
        It is. You'd have a big barrier to entry for competitors.

gojomo 13y ago

It's a good idea... and also already a big thing. Look at all the AdWords for [dental vacation] and similar searches. Amish groups taking train rides to Mexico for dental work paid in cash is also apparently a thing. It could be much bigger, across more procedures... but often people needing care are, by virtue of both age and their current medical worries (and past experiences with bad providers), less adventurous. A big breakthrough would be if Congress, as a cost-saving measure, allowed Medicare payments for out-of-country treatment.

falk 13y ago
"A big breakthrough would be if Congress, as a cost-saving measure, allowed Medicare payments for out-of-country treatment." If Congress cared about saving money when it comes to Medicare they wouldn't have passed Medicare Part D, which by design doesn't allow for the negotiation of lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies like the Department of Vererans Affairs is allowed to do. The fact of the matter is that a lot of palms are getting greased in Washington when it comes to healthcare. Thus why Obamacare doesn't have a public option. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Part_D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Part_D
- tryitnow 13y ago
  Precisely. I worked a little bit for a large pharma company (in a finance capacity) and I saw first hand how incredibly profitable it is for the US government to not have negotiating power on drug prices. Pharma companies make a wildly disproportionate share of their global profits in the US simply because they don't have to negotiate with a large 'super-buyer" (e.g. medicare). Now if pharma R&D were productive I wouldn't have a problem with this, but it's notoriously unproductive (and not just because of the admittedly overly burdensome FDA regulations). I would support a grand compromise: 1) for pharma companies: reduce FDA hurdles for drug approval, but add more aggressive post-approval tracking (to reduce the risks associated with a lower regulatory hurdle) 2) for the rest of us: allow medicare to negotiate aggressively on price, this will have a ripple effect and lead to lower drug prices for all.
- refurb 13y ago

rdouble 13y ago

Everyone I know in Tucson already goes to Nogales for dental work.

clueless123 13y ago

You could start with a list of procedures & average prices plus an AirBnB component,then mix it with a good deal finder for airfare. *Personally I got major Dental surgery by a top doctor in Peru for ~ $300

lucidrains 13y ago

This is a great idea! Emailed you!

staringispolite 13y ago

Two friends and I are working on exactly this! Would love to talk. I'll PM you with my contact info. Another good place to start understanding the (dis)incentives in US healthcare pricing is Time magazine's "The Bitter Pill" http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2136864,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2136864,00..... Though it's important to note it's not just a US -> abroad market, it's a many-many graph. People travel for cost, procedure availability, doctor specialization, for the experience of travel, etc. If anyone is interested in talking and passionate about this topic, I'd be happy to treat you to coffee with my co-founder and I in downtown SF. Feel free to email me, my email is in my HN profile.

pessimizer 13y ago

I was looking for this today, and was surprised that I couldn't find one. Wish you luck and speed, because I need some dental work done and never have any idea where I should take vacations.

dome82 13y ago

I am working on an idea for medical tourism. We should talk. I'll email you soon :)