Health Check Costa Rica on the International Medical Travel Summit Part 1 of 5

The Medical Travel summit hosted by the Promed Council of Costa Rica was an outstanding event that highlighted the direction of this very important industry in Costa Rica.  Attendance was robust with many of the major players in Medical Tourism represented as well as several large Real Estate development firms with a vested interest in medical tourism projects in Costa Rica, also included were countries like Panama and Colombia attempting to get their nascent Medical Tourism efforts before a larger audience. The speakers ranged on many important topics and several truly stood out.  The thrust of this conference and its speakers was and is attention to quality standards in all facets of the medical tourism industry. From medical travel facilitators to institutional care providers the message was clear. Excellent quality of care, attention to quality and transparency of service are the watchwords that will carry this industry forward in huge leaps of growth that many seasoned forecasters are predicting. Winning the confidence of the potential patients can only be done with consistent high quality medical care, transparency of service and the excellence of the hospitality industry which supports it.

Several highlights of the conference included Mr. Robert Repke of Global Medical Conexions. Mr. Repkes’ talk was of particular interest as his company provides consulting services to many major companies who have turned to the Self Insurance model as a matter of necessity and we believe foresight. These companies like many individuals have found that the standard insurance carriers are simply too expensive and simply not nimble enough to cater to their demographic specific needs.  Not all companies are created equal either in demographics or their insurance needs. Tailoring a self insurance program to fit has the potential to save North American companies billions of dollars over time and the Medical Travel model stands to be a major beneficiary of such forward thinking strategies. Incentivizing employees for medical travel is certain to become a hot topic for debate in the near future. One we will follow closely. What was striking to us and should be encouraging to participants in this industry was just how new this concept is and how few companies are actually embracing this model. With many excellent carriers such as Lloyd’s of London mitigating liability quite affordably for companies offering Medical Travel as an option, the risk infrastructure appears to be evolving rapidly around Medical Travel and the growth potential in this area given these developments is simply staggering.

Another very important and informative speaker at the forum was Attorney Stephen M. Weiner member and Chair of the Health Law Practice. Mr. Weiner touched on some very important liability and risk issues specifically for Medical Travel facilitators. The long arm of United States Litigators is alive and well here in Costa Rica and the fine line between being a facilitator and a care provider is one we facilitators must tread carefully. Extreme care must be taken by facilitators to be transparent in their documentation and the scope of their services. A facilitator must go above and beyond in building the lines of communication with potential clients and delineating where facilitation stops and care giving begins. Facilitators offer a valuable service helping patients negotiate the often confusing and intimidating labyrinth of international travel add this to the uncertainty of Medical Care in a foreign country and the growing importance of the facilitators role and therefore liability becomes clear.

The medical travel Summit and Promed have embraced a very important role in Costa Rica’s medical tourism future, and emphasized the need Building trust promoting accreditation, bringing industry leaders together and most importantly promoting standards of excellence within all facets of this industry in Costa Rica. In part two of this series we will examine some of the other major themes at the Summit and the role of the Costa Rican Government in embracing transparence in Medical Tourism