Premium content from Phoenix Business Journal - by Chris Casacchia
Heila Gibb doesn’t have insurance and can’t afford an operation she desperately needs to enjoy the rest of her life.
So she is traveling some 300 miles to Hermosillo, Mexico, on April 30 for arthroscopic surgery to repair torn meniscal tissue in her knee, saving thousands of dollars in medical bills.
The same surgery in Arizona easily can eclipse $45,000. Gibb will pay $5,000 for the entire procedure, plus the flight and a two-night stay in the Mexican city.
Gibb is one of thousands of patients across the country who are opting for procedures outside the U.S. because of skyrocketing health care costs or no insurance. This phenomenon is called medical tourism.
A family practice in Tempe is working to dispel myths of poor medical facilities in impoverished countries, providing patients access to some of the best physicians in the world — and charging only $75 to do it.
“Trust is the most important factor,” said Dr. Robert Page, who launched MedToGo International with two sons: Dr. Curtis Page, a Harvard Medical School graduate who now works at the Page Family Practice; and Robert Page Jr., who spent more than five years screening more than 200 physicians and medical facilities in 45 cities south of the border.
“We are the only medical tourism company owned by American doctors,” said Dr. Robert Page, a Douglas native who co-founded the Tlaquepaque Free Medical Clinic in Guadalajara, Mexico, and once served as chief of staff at Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital.
Since commercializing the idea to provide high-quality care at a low cost to patients –– mostly Latino, underinsured or uninsured –– more than 300 have traveled to Tijuana, Hermosillo and Puerto Vallarta for lap bands, knee and hip replacements, hysterectomies, hernia procedures and metabolic gastric surgeries.
Julee Scheidenhelm, a 52-year-old Apache Junction resident, received a hysterectomy in November in Hermosillo for $7,000, saving more than $53,000. Sixty-three-year-old Carole Wooley of Lakeside, Calif., received a hip replacement in December in Tijuana, saving more than $40,000. Rolland Fischer, 62, from Woods Hole, Mass., spent $2,800 for inguinal hernia surgery in February in Puerto Vallarta. This rather simple outpatient surgery can cost more than $15,000 in the U.S.
Mark Sawko, one of MedToGo’s first medical tourism patients, had reservations about traveling to Mexico for a total knee replacement.
“I think everybody was little bit leery and tentative about it,” said the 53-year-old, who recently moved from Gilbert to Chicago to run his family manufacturing business. “No one is 100 percent comfortable when you’re going to a different country.”
But after talking with noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. Max Greig, researching the hospital and discussing the procedure with Dr. Robert Page, he decided to get it done.
Blue Cross Blue Shield had canceled coverage just days before the operation in the U.S., because Sawko had had three previous surgeries on the same knee and Blue Cross had a rider on it — meaning the company would insure him, but would waive coverage if anything happened to the knee.
“I had to have the surgery; it was locking up a lot. It was bone on bone,” said Sawko, who spent $13,500 on the surgery in Mexico, saving more than $30,000. He said he received better care in Mexico than he had in the U.S.
“I have no problem telling people it was a great experience. Everybody thinks they don’t use anesthetics, it’s a Third World country. It’s just not like that,” he said. “I just don’t see any downside to it at all. It’s a complete turnkey operation.”
An estimated 1.3 million Americans traveled abroad for health care in 2008, and the number is expected to double in 2010. Medical tourism is a $20 billion industry and could grow to $100 billion by 2012, according to a McKinsey and Co. report.
Despite its growing popularity, many U.S. doctors remain skeptical.
“People who seek medical care in the United States have access to information about their physicians and hospitals that may not be available in Mexico, so caution is warranted,” said John Rivers, president of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.
That’s why the Pages wrote “Mexico: Health and Safety Travel Guide.” Now in its second edition, the 640-page book, which contains doctor biographies, emergency phone numbers, maps, hospital and physician listings, translations, travel preparations, common health problems and reviews, has sold nearly 10,000 copies.
Dr. Raymond Woosley, president of Critical Path Institute in Phoenix and Tucson, discourages U.S. citizens from taking or buying prescription medication overseas.
“It’s just an unknown. I think our FDA is the gold standard,” he said. “We have the best regulatory agency in the world for health products.”
Dr. Jorge Gonzalez Durazo, a gynecological surgeon at Hospital San Jose in Hermosillo, Mexico, has performed four procedures for MedToGo, including Scheidenhelm’s hysterectomy.
His hospital is in the process of being accredited by the Joint Commission, which provides a seal of approval for health care providers typically based in the U.S. Durazo said health care has progressed immensely in Mexico and focuses more on personalized attention, comfort level and recovery than stateside.
“We have the necessary requirements to treat almost every kind of pathology, medical and surgical,” he said.
Dr. Rafael Inigo Pavlovich, who is performing Gibb’s surgery, said medical tourism is not the wave of the future. He said the future is now.
“This time of crisis is an opportunity for American doctors and Mexican doctors,” he said. “I have to embrace this difficult time and would encourage my American colleagues to see opportunities of binational consolidation — not to take us as their competitors, but potential partners. There is a bright future for creative and open minds.”
Gibb, a South African native who received U.S. citizenship five years ago, is looking forward to her surgery, which is expected to last three hours.
“I’m very impressed with (Dr. Pavlovich). He’s a perfectionist,” said Gibb, who couldn’t afford a $2,000-a-month insurance plan for herself and her husband. “The care I have been given and the love I have been given, I’m not afraid of this at all. I’ll be back in 48 hours.
