BUSINESSNews in brief - Aug. 4, 2008Business group provides medical tourism guide for employers - Aetna reimburses overcharged students, underpaid doctors Business group provides medical tourism guide for employersA national business organization has released an issue brief on medical tourism to inform and guide employers in their evaluation of this health care option. National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit association of more than 300 large U.S. employers, said employers should have a clear understanding of the critical issues involved in medical tourism, which is expected to become a $110 billion market by 2012. The brief provides statistics about the current marketplace, identifies those procedures most commonly performed abroad, lists the most-frequented destination countries and their standards, and explores the key drivers of current interest in medical tourism. It also covers quality of care, patient suitability, benefit coverage components, care coordination, legal/liability issues and the potential versus actual cost savings of medical tourism. The AMA House of Delegates in June passed guidelines for medical tourism that focus on making it a patient's choice whether to go overseas for care. The guidelines also call for patients to be informed fully of the medical risks of travel and of the quality of the facilities involved. Aetna reimburses overcharged students, underpaid doctorsAetna is sending checks to members and doctors after discovering mistakes in its payment calculation for out-of-network doctors. The payments affected were for care for students insured by Chickering, its student health business. Aetna bought Chickering in 2003 but is reprocessing Chickering claims dating back to 1998, said Aetna spokeswoman Cynthia Michener. She said the company was still calculating exactly how many people were affected, but said, "It will be a small percentage of out-of-network claims." Karin Rush-Monroe, another Aetna spokeswoman, said more than half the reimbursements to students and doctors were for less than $10. Copyright 2008 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. |
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