Purchasing Treatments
This information is intended as a guide only. Always consult with a trusted qualified medical practitioner before considering any potential treatment
Purchasing Healthcare
Healthcare spending is a major annual expense for most individuals, families and businesses. Healthcare costs are also increasing typically by 10 -15% each year in many western countries
Typically, we do not think about healthcare as something we should purchase, however would you buy a holiday or a car without shopping around?... Probably not, yet many people do not feel in control of their healthcare spending. For example, do you
- - Know how much you spend on healthcare annually
- - Shop around for a major health purchase e.g. a surgical procedure?
- - Get the right amount of tax relief on your healthcare spending.
-Getting better value when purchasing anything, usually follows some key principles:
- - The more volume you purchase, the lower the price you pay
- - More transparent competition in the marketplace reduces prices for consumers and businesses
- - Providers with a lower cost base, can offer a lower price and still make a profit
- - If you claim the right tax relief on your purchases this effectively reduces the price
These principles equally apply to healthcare purchases and this is why Avantis Health Members enjoy more choice and less cost than other patients.
Consumer driven healthcare
Consumer Driven healthcare describes the increasing trend of individuals taking direct control of their healthcare finances, deciding how they want to spend their healthcare budget and ensuring they get the best treatment at the right price. Usually it involves patients pro-actively choosing their healthcare suppliers from a broad range of options.
In 2003, recognising the growing trend of consumer driven healthcare, the US government introduced legislation to support consumer driven healthcare by offering tax relief on saving in Health Savings Accounts....to date over 6 million Americans have opened health savings accounts. Although tax relief varies between countries, Avantis Health offers health savings accounts through local partner banks. Contact us for more details....
More Choice, Less Cost
The alternative to paying expensive and complicated health insurance, which gives little control to the consumer, is to open an Health Savings Account and purchase you healthcare through the Avantis global network of approved providers. Using this model you can
- - Save before you Spend
- - Buy more cost-effective healthcare solutions
- - Access our healthcare purchasing experts for advice and guidance on this process
- - Optimise the tax relief available for your treatment
Self pay Versus Health Insurance
There are no "right and wrong" approaches to funding your healthcare. Some people are happy to pay premium for total piece of mind, others want to take control over the finances required to cover their healthcare. However there is a growing awareness that many patients are paying heavily to be treated by a limited number of local suppliers for certain procedures. At the same time health insurance premiums are increasing year-on-year with little relief in sight.
The right approach for you will depend on a number of individual factors and circumstances including your:
- - Desire to take control of your healthcare costs
- - Financial circumstances
- - Attitude to risk
- - Current status of your health
- - Confidence with the level of choice you have at present
Types of Healthcare Expenditure
Most people pay directly for healthcare expenses or they pay health insurance premiums to cover certain costs. However health insurance providers do not necessarily purchase procedures and medicines etc at cost-competitive prices. This can result in increased premiums through no fault of the consumer - who may not have incurred any expenditure in a given year.
There are typically two major categories of Healthcare expenditure:
- Routine day to day expenses for example medicines, medical goods, first aid equipment etc
- Non-routine healthcare expenditure for example diagnostics, operations, treatments etc
- Routine day to day healthcare expenditure
Most routine healthcare purchases are commodities, where it is possible to compare prices on a fairly standard product e.g. medicines, plasters etc.
Many of these purchases are low cost items so it can seem like too much hassle to shop around for the best price and for individual patients it probably isn't worth their while checking the prices offered by different retailers. Worse still, because these purchases are typically infrequent, often individuals do not claim their full entitlement to tax relief on these purchases.
Avantis Health Purchase Card
The Avantis Health Purchase Card can be used for all healthcare purchases, it works like a normal credit card, with some special benefits:
- - All your healthcare purchases (routine and non-routine) are tracked in one place
- - Our network of pharmacies will be launched in the near future, which will offer material discounts off all purchases with the Avantis Health Purchase Card
- - It simplifies your tax claim at the of each year and optimises the amount of tax relief you receive.
- -Non-routine healthcare expenditure
For non-routine healthcare expenditure, where the costs are typically material and the occurrence less frequent, significant potential savings exist for those who are willing to shop around and/or travel for their healthcare ...
There are two key choices for consumers:
1. Have your treatment at home
2. Travel abroad for treatment (also known as "Medical Tourism")
Factors to consider when Purchasing Healthcare Abroad
There are a number of factors to consider when purchasing treatment, including:
i. Availability of treatment
ii. Quality of treatment / providers
iii. Price / cost of treatment
iv. Aftercare
v. Privacy
i. Availability of Treatment
As the demand for healthcare has increased significantly in some countries long waiting lists for treatment in public health services are now reality for millions of patients. , In certain cases patients have to wait for a number of years for non-emergency treatments. Treatment is typically available to those who choose private healthcare providers at home and for those willing to travel abroad for treatment.
Avantis Health can ensure availability of treatment for its customers through our global network of over 1000 hospitals and healthcare providers.
ii. Quality of treatment
For many , your General Practitioner (GP) refers you to the local private hospital when treatment is required. Clearly quality of treatment is critical for non-routine healthcare. Quality of care is influenced by a number of factors which include:
- - Accreditation of healthcare facilities and practitioners
- - Quality assurance / cleanliness
- - Quality of the facilities
Because standards are everything when it comes to health care, it is not straight-forward to compare the quality of treatment across countries. Many countries have accreditation bodies locally, for example Commission International (JCI) fulfils an accreditation role in the USA, while in the UK and Hong Kong, the Trent International Accreditation Scheme is a key player. The different international healthcare accreditation schemes vary in quality, size, cost, intent and the skill of their marketing. They also vary in terms of cost to hospitals and healthcare institutions using them. Increasingly, some hospitals are looking towards dual international accreditation, perhaps having both JCI to cover potential US clientele and Trent for potential British and European clients
Other organisations include:The Society for International Healthcare Accreditation (SOFIHA), a free-to-join group providing a forum for discussion and for the sharing of ideas and good practice by providers of international healthcare accreditation and users of the same. The primary role of this organisation is to promote a safe hospital environment for patients.
HealthCare Tourism International is the first US-based non-profit organisation to accredit the non-clinical aspects of health tourism, such as language issues, business practices, and false or misleading advertising prevention. The group provides accreditation for all major groups involved in the health tourism industry including hotels, recovery facilities, and medical tourism booking agencies.
Avantis Health will support you in understanding the accreditation and quality assurance in place in our Provider network hospitals - this is a crucial aspect of your decision-making if you are "shopping-around" for healthcare providers.
iii. Price / Cost of treatment
The cost of medical care varies hugely between countries and even within countries there can be substantial variation between providers. This is because a number of factors influence the cost of a procedure: Demand on facilities, insurance costs, local wage costs, construction costs for hospitals, costs of medical equipment etc.
Without compromising on quality, you can make significant savings on your healthcare treatments and goods. This is important regardless of whether you are paying for the procedure yourself or whether your insurer is paying, as they will ultimately pass these costs on to customers!
Avantis Health can support you in achieving significant savings on your healthcare treatment by:
- Purchasing your healthcare at best value: Our global network of accredited providers quote to provide your healthcare needs. Our providers also offer special discounts daily.
- Providing Protection: We put a contract in place between the customer and the provider for the provision of the services purchased
- Financing your healthcare and managing the risk: A financing solution to enable you to save for your healthcare costs and to manage the risk through our innovative protection products. These products are provided in association with our partner Banks
- Ensuring you are not overcharged: We will audit your bill to ensure that you have not been overcharged.
For businesses customers, we:
Put your employees in control of their healthcare spending
Design and implement preferred provider solutions for your business to take account of your size, locations, budget, and the requirements of your employee's
Manage the cost of their healthcare benefits available to r your employees
Get me a quote
iv. Aftercare
After medical treatment, quality care is essential, particularly if there are complications. Clearly home treatment (i.e. in your own country) is the most straightforward as a patient can quickly go back to his/her doctor or hospital. If a patient has gone abroad for treatment, it is important that arrangements are in place for follow-up care, as required. Certain providers who treat patients from other jurisdictions have arranged aftercare service partner agreements with local hospitals. Avantis Health can advise you of these options as part of our detailed quotations
v. Privacy
Your healthcare is private to you and your .medical advisers The Avantis team that you discuss your healthcare requirements with are registered nurses and are therefore bound by confidentiality. Avantis Health has a robust privacy policy in place
Travel abroad for treatment (also known as “Medical Tourism”)
What is medical tourism
Medical tourism (also called medical travel or health tourism) is the term used to describe the rapidly-growing practice of travelling to another country to obtain health care services.
Such services typically include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries such as joint replacement (knee/hip), cardiac surgery, dental surgery, and cosmetic surgeries.
Why is it attractiveThe attraction of medical travel is convenience, speed and competitive prices Countries that operate public health-care systems are often so taxed that it can take considerable time to get non-urgent medical care. The time spent waiting for a procedure such as a hip replacement can be a year or more in Britain and Canada; however, in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Cuba, Colombia, Philippines or India, a patient could feasibly have an operation the day after their arrival. In Canada, the number of procedures in 2005 for which people were waiting was 782,936.
Additionally, patients are finding that insurance either does not cover orthopaedic surgery (such as knee/hip replacement) or imposes unreasonable restrictions on the choice of the facility, surgeon, or prosthetics to be used. Medical tourism for knee/hip replacements has emerged as one of the more widely accepted procedures because of the lower cost and minimal difficulties associated with the travelling to/from the surgery. Colombia provides a knee replacement for about $5,000 USD, including all associated fees, such as FDA- approved prosthetics and hospital stay-over expenses. However, many clinics quote prices that are not all inclusive and include only the surgeon fees associated with the procedure. Our quote facility will highlight these differences and give you the confidence you need to make the best decision.
What locations
There are many attractive locations for healthcare including...[see destinations]
There are three possible ways to arrange treatment abroad
1. Arrange yourself; do your own research and select a provider
2. Go through a medical tourism provider: these will put you in contact with the provider and let you deal with them directly
3. Use the Avantis Health solution:
- - We get quotations for our accredited network members (locally and internationally)
- - We negotiate a contract for you with the provider
- - We provide flexible financial solutions and access to credit, where appropriate
- - We audit your bill to ensure that the contact is adhered to
Compare prices for surgery and treatment across the world
Our "Get me a Quote" service enables you to get quotations for your healthcare requirements from our global network of providers.