Ultimate Outsourcing

Procedures performed in CHRISTUS's Mexican locations cost a third to two-thirds less than they would in America. And when its biggest hospital, in Monterrey, became one of the first in Mexico to be accredited by the international Joint Commission (www.jointcommission.org), an independent nonprofit hospital-safety accreditation organization, its foreign patient load increased exponentially, from one patient a week to eight or nine. People come from as far away as Alaska in search of bariatric, plastic and cardiovascular procedures, as well as knee and hip replacements and hospital officials plan to start hiring more English-speaking staff, translators and concierge services, says Arturo Garza, CEO of the CHRISTUS Muguerza Group in Mexico. He expects the volume of American and other foreign medical tourists to only grow.

Americans already make up 30 percent of the patients at CHRISTUS's Reynosa facility, which opened this year and is not yet internationally accredited. "Reynosa's part of a cross-border strategy," says CHRISTUS CEO Dr. Thomas Royer. There are opportunities for similar hospitals to be built in about 40 other Mexican communities close to the American border. But the company is waiting to see how Mexican-American immigration policies develop before making any bold decisions, he says.

Insurers are looking into cross-border health care, as well. For years, Southern California's Blue Cross Blue Shield has offered a cross-border health insurance plan that grants drastically reduced premiums to patients who get certain procedures performed in Mexico. But not all proposals have been met with excitement: Texas state Sen. Eddie Lucio, who represents counties including Cameron and Hildago, last year proposed a bill that would have allowed U.S.-based insurers to cover health services in Mexico for Texans living within 75 miles of the border. The bill didn't make it out of committee.

Meanwhile, medical tourism worldwide continues to grow. The industry grossed an estimated $60 billion in 2006 and is expected to hit $100 billion by 2012, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry and McKinsey and Co. Generally, people travel to foreign countries for better deals on procedures ranging from breast implant surgery to in vitro fertilization cycles, or for access to experimental surgeries that haven't been approved at home.

There are downsides to getting serious medical treatment abroad—whether it's a face-lift or a knee replacement. Accurate statistics on botched procedures involving foreign nationals at hospitals around the world aren't available, but critics point out in addition to the lack of information about the quality of care in various countries, there are inherent drawbacks in a situation where patients have to return to another country to get follow-up care. And of course there's often a lack of access to malpractice insurance coverage in Mexico and other countries. But a similar argument could be made against American health care, the University of Texas's Warner says: "It's not clear that you have such wonderful protections here, especially if you can't afford to get the care, so then you go to a public facility that's more or less protected from too much malpractice liability."

These concerns aren't stopping Texans who view the hospitals across the border as an affordable alternative. Dorthea says that three of her friends have also gotten medical care in Reynosa, and she'd recommend the hospital to any of her acquaintances. It remains to be seen whether more Americans will take a gamble and bet that Mexican hospitals can provide care that is as good as their counterparts north of the border. Meanwhile, as Warner points out, for the uninsured, Mexico may be the only option.

© 2008