Ultra-Affordable Prices and no decline in quality of care
Kenneth Mays, senior director of hospital marketing and business development at Bumrungrad International Hospital, a JCI-accredited, 538-bed, tertiary-care hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, talks quality, physician training, and patient characteristics with The Hospitalist.
Question: What is the overseas patient distribution seen at Bumrungrad hospitals?
Answer: Thirty percent of our patients, about 300,000 per year, come from overseas. The largest group comes from the Middle East; 10 percent come from the U.S.
Q: Do you hire American-board-certified doctors?
A: All our clinicians are Thai and speak English. About 225 doctors are American board-certified.
Q: What is the insurance status of patients from the U.S.?
A: Most are uninsured. Others may have high deductibles, or their policies do not cover a particular treatment.
Q: What are the three top reasons patients come to your hospital for medical care?
A: First is quality. We provide expert quality care, which may not be available in their home country. Second is cost. We provide quality care, which can cost up to 70% less than a U.S. hospital. Third, faster access for patients waiting for elective procedures in countries like Canada and the United Kingdom.
Q: How do patients come to know about your hospital?
A: Mainly through word of mouth and Internet-searching. In addition, we have been featured in numerous media reports in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. A small percentage of patients come through intermediate companies [facilitators].
Q: Do you have any contracts with insurance companies in the U.S.?
A: Many insurance companies have had discussions with us, and we have contracts with the major insurers for expatriates. They will not cover intentional travel for medical treatment, but will cover medical care if the policyholder happens to be visiting Thailand. Some U.S. insurance companies are in the early stages of developing plans for international medical care for their employees.
Q: What challenges do patients face when they come for medical care?
A: Patients are mainly concerned about travel, coordination of care, and language, so we have about 120 interpreters.
Q: How would you compare your hospital with a U.S. hospital?
A: Patients say [our hospital] is more like a hotel than a hospital. One of the biggest differences is you know the total cost before you enter the hospital.
Q: How do you measure the quality of patient care?
A: Apart from JCI accreditation, we have our own quality measures like surgical infection rate and patient-satisfaction surveys. However, to compare international hospitals accurately, you have to perform risk adjustment, so recently we joined the International Quality Indicator Project (IQIP), a Maryland-based company that assists healthcare organizations in identifying opportunities for improvement in patient care.—RT