For a World Of Good HealthTM

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For a World Of Good HealthTM
www.HealthTravelGuides.com
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Health Travel Creative Solution to the US Health
Care Crisis, Immigration Potential Boon for
Cross-Border Commerce
Presented byAlex Marxer, COO
Co-Founder Health Travel Guides, Inc.
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Health Travel not only represents a creative
solution to current health care system
issuesit might also be a driver towards
resolving the immigration issue long term. There
are regulatory and border issues we need to
address to realize this potential.
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Definition

• What is Health Travel?
• The act of traveling abroad to obtain health
  care.
• Who needs it?
• The uninsured and under insured
• People seeking affordable elective procedures
• Global Choice Health Plans

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Problem

• Starbucks spends more on health care than on
  coffee beans.
• New York Times, Nov. 16, 2006
• 48 million Americans without health insurance
  another 40 million underinsured
• 130 million Americans without dental insurance
• 2.2 million bankruptcies due to medical bills
  the 1 reason
• (77 had health insurance!)
• Demand for cosmetic procedures experiencing 10
  years
• of double digit growth
• U.S. health care costs now 12.2 of GDP
  (developed world
• average is 6)

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Reality

• Health Travel is already a 20 Billion per year
  global reality, projected to grow to as much as
  100 Billion per year by 2012.

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Challenges

• Credibility challenge magnified by provider
  proliferation on Mexico-U.S. border
• Disaggregation of information, especially patient
  testimonials
• Difficulty researching doctor/facility
  credentials
• Large number of competing providers places
  competitive focus primarily on price
• No means of equating Mexico provider training and
  hospital standards relative to known U.S.
  institutions
• No apparent government or medical/dental
  association oversight on standards, operations

Border medical care issues define / drive
Mexicos image as health travel destination.
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Solution

• Health Travel Guides is creating the
  infrastructure to make a global market place for
  health choices scalable and transparent.
• As a spinoff of ResortCom, which is 80
  Mexican-owned, HTG is uniquely positioned to
  bring Mexico to the top of health travel
  destinations.
• ResortCom is currently servicing 1 million
  travelers to Mexico spending 500 million
  annually
• HTG addresses the credibility issues through
  community, feedback, ratings and 100 process
  transparency
• HTG has the technology and marketing power to
  harness the existing
• and future profitability of medical travel

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Health Travel Immigration

• Health Travel as a driver towards resolving the
  immigration issue long term
• Health Travel creates a favorable image of
  Health Care Availability In Mexico
• Health Care is the primary concern for retirees
• 100 Million Baby Boomers are set to retire in
  the next 10 years. Many will choose to live in
  Mexico because of proximity, climate, cost of
  living and availability/quality of Health Care
• A considerable amount of jobs are created in
  Mexico.
• Combined with rising economic opportunities and
  declining population growth, emigration pressure
  is eliminated.

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Call to Action

• US Government support
• "There is nothing being done in Mexico, Thailand
  or India that can't be done just as inexpensively
  in this country.  But to do so, U.S. hospitals
  need to be freed from unwise public policy
  constraints.
• National Center for
  Policy Analysis President John Goodman
• Mexican Government and Health Care Community
• Create transparency mandate for the Mexican
  Health Care providers
• Credential facilities
• Provide competitive pricing
• Focus on/support branding efforts to raise
  perception of quality of Mexican Health Care
  system

Mexico should be 1
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For a World Of Good HealthTM
www.healthtravelguides.com
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Challenges

• Credibility is the greatest challenge facing
  medical tourism
• American Dental Association Dentists abroad
  are not held to the same standards as in the
  U.S.
• American Society of Plastic Surgeons Buyer
  beware. without a complete understanding of the
  medical standards for the health institution or
  facility, medical providers.. a patient can be
  at significant risk.
• American College of Cardiology Patients should
  be confident in the qualifications of health care
  professionals and the safety standards of the
  hospital.
• Arthur Frommer, Travel Writer There is no surer
  way to attract a barrage of hate mail than to
  suggest medical tourism. Immediately, dozens of
  U.S. doctors and dentists accuse you of putting
  people's lives at risk.

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Momentum

• U.S. health traveler confidence growing, fueled
  by positive publicity from consumers and credible
  information sources
• Foreign health care providers often have
  physicians with internationally
• respected credentials
• National center for Policy Analysis
• Medical Tourism Offers Hope To Control Health
  Care Costs
• As always there are challenges, but from
  humanity's standpoint ..medical
• tourism is something we ought to celebrate."
• Harvard Business School
• The Rise of Medical Tourism

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Momentum

• U.S. Pricing and Policy
• International health care fees 30 - 70 cheaper
  than U.S.
• Policy influencer recognition of the benefit of
  health travel
• For most American consumers, the fact that
  there is no connection between quality and cost
  is one of the dirty secrets of medicine.
• New York Times quoting Pacific Business Group
  on Health
• In Health Care, Cost Isnt Proof Of High
  Quality
• For those without health insurance, and for
  those whose language preference is Spanish, that
  pharmacists, and primary care providers in
  Mexico "fill-in" for the observed primary care
  provider shortage along the border.
• Gateway to National Library of Medicine

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Mexicos Competitive Strengths

• Proximity - easy and inexpensive access
• - over 400,000 Americans crossed the border for
  health care last year (some estimates as high as
  4 million!)
• World class physicians and facilities
• Large ex-pat communities
• Accustomed to dealing with American patients

Mexico should be 1.
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Partners and Providers
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Current Locations
San Francisco Headquarters
San Diego Operations and Main Call Center
Ft. Lauderdale Call Center
Mexico Provider Partners
Mexico City Call Center
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How HTG Works
Health Travelers
Affiliate Web Site (indirect)

• Business-to-Business
• OTAs (Orbitz, Expedia, Yahoo)
• Insurance (Cigna, Kaiser, On Call)
• Medical (Mayo Clinic, RevolutionHealth)

HTG Web Site (direct)
Customer Interface
Contact Centers (Multi-lingual, in-house and
outsourced)
Community (Lithium)Blogs, Knowledge Base,
Ratings, Forums, Feedback
Affiliate Interface
Web Services Integration
Financial Loan Servicing Collections CC
Processing Acct/Reporting
Financial Services Lenders, Credit Card
Services, Banks, Insurance
Health Care Procedure, Provider,
LocationResearch, Scheduling, Booking
Affiliate ServicesPre-Op and Post-Op
Services, Onsite Support, Nurse
Concierge, Telemedicine, Electronic
Medical Records
Travel Hotel Rental InventoryAir
Travel/GDS Hotel, Car Booking Engines Dynamic
Packaging
Travel Transportation, Lodging, Activities,
Concierge
Marketing Data warehouse,Multi-Channel
Marketing, Local Presentations
CRM
Medical Provider Interface
Hospitals
Doctors