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Medical tourism gains popularity; Brandery might buy in

A start-up company seeking money from The Brandery in Cincinnati is looking to cash in on the increasing popularity of medical tourism. Medko Health is a finalist in the latest round of Brandery funding.

Medko helps connect people with doctors in foreign countries so patients can receive quality medical care at a cheaper price. Co-founder Nick Kwan and two others started the company out of a medical need. Kwan needed to have surgery while in Spain and the mother of one of the other co-founders was required to have a hip replacement abroad. They said there was no easy way to make contact with doctors in foreign countries.

Medko lists doctors on its website and then takes a percentage of what they charge. Kwan says the doctors are fully vetted. "You're pretty much going to get a list of doctors and each doctor has a profile and so you can see the profile where they studied, what languages they speak." He says you can message the doctors directly.

The majority of Medko's doctors are in South America. Kwan would like to expand the pool to Europe and Asia.

Countries, recognizing the money-making opportunity, are also appealing directly to patients

South Korea's Severance Hospitalhas been marketing medical tourism for years. Patients mainly come from other parts of Asia and Russia. Director of the hospital's International Health Care Center, Dr. John Linton, says thee are a couple of reasons people become medical tourists:

  1. The procedure is not available in one's native country or it's too expensive.
  2. You're a patient with enough money to afford better doctors in another country.
  3. Other countries are better at it.

Alexander Filiminov flew to Severance Hospital from Vladivostok, Russia to get a kidney transplant, something his country didn't offer him. He likely paid half of his bill in cash before the operation and the rest before he left. However the hospital does have agreements with at least 60 overseas insurance companies.
South Korea is one of six Asian countries industry experts say are becoming the most popular medical destinations. The others are:

  • Thailand
  • Singapore
  • India
  • Malaysia
  • Philippines

Medko's Kwan estimates people save an average of 70 to 80 percent on medical costs by traveling outside the U.S. He cites an Indiana woman he helped who needed a bariatric procedure. She was quoted $40,000-50,000 in the U.S. In Chile, doctors did the surgery for $11,000.
Puerto Rico is the latest to jump on the medical tourism bandwagon. The country estimates its costs are 40 to 60 percent lower than the U.S. The goal is to have 30,000 patients generating $300 million in three years.

CNBC reports in 2013 nearly a million Americans went overseas for medical treatment.

WVXU Reporter Ann Thompson was in South Korea in 2012 and did a story on medical tourism. Read her stories here.

Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting.