Health care may not be so local after all. Employers are increasingly looking to medical tourism, or medical travel, to purchase health care services in bulk and at a lower cost, in exchange for their workforce hopping on a plane for a medical procedure. Lowes, for example, made a deal with Cleveland Clinic in Ohio to cover all employees heart surgeries; as part of the agreement, Lowes wont pay for heart surgery at other hospitals, Bloomberg reported in March.
The result is good for all parties. Patients have lower claims, and are receiving complimentary travel and airfare from employers for the journey. The employer gets lower-priced health care. Both potentially get better medical outcomes, since the concept is to select a hospital that frequently does a particular procedure. And, in turn, the hospital receives a burst in patients to their facility.
