More patients looking at home before going abroad for medical procedures

F.U.D. -- fear, uncertainty, doubt

Galichia Heart Hospital in Wichita, Kan., recently decided that it could break into a market monopolized by overseas hospitals—and offer high-quality, more-convenient care to patients.

In conducting research of medical tourism options in other countries, “we visited hospitals in Singapore, India and the Philippines—the biggest areas drawing Americans,” says Steve Harris, the 85-bed hospital’s CEO.

What the hospital’s administrators found was that the travel experience to these countries “was awful,” Harris says. Recovering from heart surgery or hip replacement, then having to sit for 20 hours on a plane back to the U.S. from some common medical-tourism destinations, isn’t an ideal situation for many patients, he says.