Can Health Care Jobs be Outsourced? (license, college, medical, require)

[a34dadsf]

Originally Posted by pvande55

You didn't see the "60 minutes" segment on medical tourism? The fiirst patient needed open heart surgery but couldn't afford to get it done in the US.

Bingo. There are countries like dubai which are ACTIVELY investing in building health facilities (hospitals, universities, labs etc.) which cater directly to medical tourists. Whats going to happen is that you'll get expensive, labor intensive procedures done overseas in one of these medical tourist facilities. Basic primary care will be done on massive levels in the USA to lower costs.

[aspiring_natural]

Then does this mean that Americans (and other 1st world countries) are going to be pretty much f***ed when it comes to trying to find secure, stable employment?

[MAXIALE02]

On the flip side of all this medical tourism are the unanticipated side effects. I have seen people who choose to have bariatric surgery done in a foreign country (to save money), come to a U.S. emergency room with side affects. In one case, this woman's lap band (stomach band) had slipped and the doctor didn't want to have to take her as a patient. His reason being that he didn't perform the initial surgery and didn't want to be held liable for any complications. Could you imagine having life altering surgery in a foreign country, being in serious pain and not being able to afford to go back and see the initial physician. People who do medical tourism are nuts. They have little recourse.

[MAXIALE02]

Healthcare is pretty bad. It used to be the last honest profession but heathens have found their ways into our health. Between Insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry and agribusiness, we humans don't stand a chance. We've financially pillaged the earth, I guess humankind is all that's left.

[MaryleeII]

Originally Posted by MAXIALE02

On the flip side of all this medical tourism are the unanticipated side effects. I have seen people who choose to have bariatric surgery done in a foreign country (to save money), come to a U.S. emergency room with side affects. In one case, this woman's lap band (stomach band) had slipped and the doctor didn't want to have to take her as a patient. His reason being that he didn't perform the initial surgery and didn't want to be held liable for any complications. Could you imagine having life altering surgery in a foreign country, being in serious pain and not being able to afford to go back and see the initial physician. People who do medical tourism are nuts. They have little recourse.

I have seen this happen with surgery done in this country. I had a hip replacement done, then 10 years later, developed problems,loosening, etc. well, in the meantime I had moved, and the surgeon who did the first surgery had died. Still, I was treated with suspicion, and flat out turned down by 2 surgeons. WTH do they expect, time passes, doctors retire, die, etc. You can't be expected to stick with the same doctor forever.

But I always think of that when I read about medical tourisim, not worth the risk of not having someone here to follow up with. You can't just hop a plane with life-threatening conditions and get treatment.

[NJBest]

Originally Posted by MAXIALE02

On the flip side of all this medical tourism are the unanticipated side effects. I have seen people who choose to have bariatric surgery done in a foreign country (to save money), come to a U.S. emergency room with side affects. In one case, this woman's lap band (stomach band) had slipped and the doctor didn't want to have to take her as a patient. His reason being that he didn't perform the initial surgery and didn't want to be held liable for any complications. Could you imagine having life altering surgery in a foreign country, being in serious pain and not being able to afford to go back and see the initial physician. People who do medical tourism are nuts. They have little recourse.

Originally Posted by MaryleeII

I have seen this happen with surgery done in this country. I had a hip replacement done, then 10 years later, developed problems,loosening, etc. well, in the meantime I had moved, and the surgeon who did the first surgery had died. Still, I was treated with suspicion, and flat out turned down by 2 surgeons. WTH do they expect, time passes, doctors retire, die, etc. You can't be expected to stick with the same doctor forever.

But I always think of that when I read about medical tourisim, not worth the risk of not having someone here to follow up with. You can't just hop a plane with life-threatening conditions and get treatment.

It's not even trivial. The United States has the best doctors of the world. So the amount of errors is going to minimal. However, medicine is hardly an exact science. There will be mistakes... even here.

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by chem-grad

Lets face it. There is so much medical info available for free on the internet nowadays. When I go to the doc, I try to research all my symptoms on webmd. So I even know what medications he might prescribe me. Sometimes I find I know more about my disease than he since I researched the heck out of it. The only reason I go to the doc is because I can't write a prescription for myself.
Could they outsource to docs in INdia or China? Maybe they could see and diagnose the patients on webcam? They might be willing to work for $10/hr instead of the $100/hr we pay docs here

They already are.

Haven't you noticed all the indian doctors and nurses in your local hospitals as of late?

[aspiring_natural]

Originally Posted by 313Weather

They already are.

Haven't you noticed all the indian doctors and nurses in your local hospitals as of late?

Are most of these Indians the ones who grew up here (went to high school, college, in the States), or are you talking about the ones who came straight from India (as in, they completed medical school there)?

[malamute]

Originally Posted by aspiring_natural

I think the question shouldn't be Can Health Care Jobs be Outsourced? but rather, Are Health Care Jobs going to be Outsourced? and if so, why hasn't it been done?

They are outsourcing as many as they can. Medical transcription, billing for example are very often outsourced.

Some jobs like nursing cannot be so easily outsourced.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by MAXIALE02

On the flip side of all this medical tourism are the unanticipated side effects. I have seen people who choose to have bariatric surgery done in a foreign country (to save money), come to a U.S. emergency room with side affects. In one case, this woman's lap band (stomach band) had slipped and the doctor didn't want to have to take her as a patient. His reason being that he didn't perform the initial surgery and didn't want to be held liable for any complications. Could you imagine having life altering surgery in a foreign country, being in serious pain and not being able to afford to go back and see the initial physician. People who do medical tourism are nuts. They have little recourse.

You can't blame the physician for not wanting to take her as a patient, since she already has damages from the first doctor that she cannot sue, she's going to want to sue the hell out of the American doctor.

It's very likely a botched surgery like that will have complications.