SPOTLIGHT: The risks of medical tourism

Without a doubt, patients can save thousands of dollars if they go overseas to receive high-ticket medical procedures. But do patients know what risks they're undertaking when they go to, say, India to have a coronary bypass performed? Medical tourism companies that facilitate these trips are unregulated. Worse, the hospitals themselves may be unregulated as well, with no need to, say, get the international JCAHO certification available outside of the U.S. It's also difficult to get third-party information, such as medical board status, on physician performance. All told, medical tourists may end up doing a lot more research than they'd expected if they want to protect themselves, one author suggests. Article

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