Urinary Incontinence and Medical Tourism
From the Spring 2010 issue of Quality Care®, NAFC's newsletter
From Healthbase
Depending on the cause, type, and severity of your bladder control problem various viable interventions may include weight loss, exercise, medication, bladder retraining, biofeedback and electrical stimulation, as well as changes in your lifestyle. If these more conservative treatments fail, then surgery could be a possible treatment. If surgery is an option, you may consider medical tourism.
Medical Tourism
Medical tourism, as you may be aware, is the act of traveling from one city to another within your country (domestic medical tourism) or to another country by crossing international borders (overseas medical tourism) to obtain medical care that is either not available or not affordable at your local provider. The popularity of medical tourism is largely due to the often high quality of care at a highly discounted price. Therefore, it is no wonder that medical tourism is generally practiced by uninsured or underinsured patients who pay for their procedures or other medical care out of pocket. Healthcare providers participating in medical tourism boast of modern facilities with state of-the-art equipment, technologies, and surgeons who may have been trained or educated in the U.S. or Europe. All this comes at a cost that may be as much as 60 to 90 percent cheaper than typical U.S. hospital and physician charges.
Surgical Treatment of Incontinence Abroad
Several procedures that are offered in the U.S. are also offered abroad for the surgical treatment of all types of urinary incontinence-stress (SUI), urgency (UUI), mixed (SUI and UUI), etc.
For treating SUI in women, sling procedures such as tension-free transvaginal (TVT) sling, transorbturator tape (TOT) sling, and minisling procedures involve the use of synthetic mesh and are available overseas. Classic bladder neck slings harvest tissue from the patient herself, adding to the complexity and thus recovery time. Another type of procedure for SUI treatment offered abroad is the bladder neck suspension procedure, which can be performed through the vagina or through the abdomen and includes the Marshal-Marchetti-Krantz procedure (MMK procedure). The Burch procedure is an abdominal procedure, long considered the “gold standard” for treating stress urinary incontinence before synthetic materials were introduced for slings.
To treat severe UUI, procedures offered overseas include bladder augmentation cystoplasty or a newer, less invasive procedure called sacral nerve stimulation involving the implantation of a pacemaker type of device just below the skin’s surface in the lower back. For the treatment of urinary incontinence in men, some of the procedures available abroad include artificial urinary sphincter, male sling, and urinary diversion (also available for women).
Medical Tourism Destintations for Incontinence Surgery
Some of the most popular countries that patients from the United States travel to for urinary incontinence procedures are Mexico, India, Singapore, and Thailand. An important cautionary note is that the doctors, hospitals and related facilities vary considerably in quality, service and price outside the U.S. Regulations and standards regarding medical care and surgical procedures outside the U.S. are not uniform and extreme care and consideration must be exercised when choosing to have a medical intervention internationally.
Apart from the considerably lower cost of surgery, Mexico is preferred for another obvious reason - its close proximity to the United States. This means shorter travel times and more
convenience for the medical tourist.
Singapore’s reputation for high quality of care along with the large concentration of internationally accredited hospitals in the country plays a major role in its demand in the medical tourism market for incontinence surgery. Furthermore, English as the official language of the country makes communication with your international provider easy.
However, if you want the best value for your money, then India is the answer. The medical tourism hotspot offers prices on procedures that are unbeatable. For instance, a TVT or a TOT procedure, inclusive of the hospital charges and the doctor’s fees, costs approximately USD 2,500*.
Note that some types of urinary incontinence surgery abroad may involve two to three days at the hospital and three to six days at a nearby hotel before returning home.
If an incontinence surgery is what your local doctor has recommended and treatment abroad is what you wish to seek, then get your local doctor’s report along with any and all reports of diagnostic tests. Then call upon a medical tourism facilitator such as Healthbase (http://www.healthbase.com or 1-888-691-4584) that you consider to be reputable for a consultation with an overseas incontinence specialist of your choice.
*Note: The price mentioned is for rough planning purposes only. The actual price charged may vary based on your specific medical condition, the provider chosen, currency fluctuations, or for any other reason.
About The Author:
Healthbase, an award-winning Massachusetts-based medical tourism facilitator, is a one-stop source for global medical choices, connecting patients to leading internationally accredited healthcare providers around the world. Healthbase coordinates over 200 procedures like hip replacement, hip resurfacing, knee replacement, spine surgery, heart bypass surgery, bariatric procedures, urology procedures, dental treatments, laparoscopic procedures, cancer treatment, cosmetic surgery, etc. for a fraction of the typical cost of care in the U.S. with equal or superior outcomes. Healthbase’s partner healthcare facilities are located in 18 countries including India, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, New Zealand, Turkey, Hungary, Belgium, Spain, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil, Mexico and USA, and expanding. Healthbase caters to the needs of individual consumers, self-funded businesses, insurance carriers, health benefit plan consultants, third party administrators and those using Consumer Directed Healthcare Plans (CDHPs) or voluntary benefits plans seeking affordable medical travel and dental travel options. To learn more, call 1-888-691-4584 / 1-617-418-3436, email info.hb@healthbase.com or visit www.Healthbase.com.
