About Destination Healthcare™

Destination HealthCare™ is China Connection Global Healthcare’s industry leading approach to a centuries-old consumer medical practice, selecting the best medical care available and, when necessary, traveling to access it.

While it may surprise you, each of us has considered at some point the core principle of Destination HealthCare™.   If you’ve ever made a choice between doctors based on skill, reputation, cost, or available appointment dates; told someone you wanted to go to one hospital over another; or thought about whether to visit a specialist in another city, you’ve made one of the first Destination HealthCare™ decisions; where to go to get the best possible medical care when you need it.

The media and many service facilitators use the misnomer “medical tourism"; however, there is much more to destination healthcare.  Where medical tourism emphasizes the leisure aspects of your travel, destination healthcare recognizes that your health and medical needs are primary.  The few real destination healthcare companies carefully evaluate and select world-class medical facilities in international locations where you can secure premier medical services at affordable prices.  In addition, destination healthcare companies, like China Connection Global Healthcare, help you preserve the tax and expense reimbursement benefits for which you may be eligible.

Destination healthcare dates to the early Greeks who visited Epidauria, a territory along the Aegean Sea.  In the United States, destination healthcare began to take root in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when Americans suffering from tuberculosis traveled to sanitoria in places like Colorado Springs; Louisville, Kentucky; and Saranac Lake, New York, among others.  In the second half of the 20th century, destination healthcare developed further as patients traveled cross-country to leading specialty and teaching hospitals including the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Today, patients take advantage of the ease of global travel to access world renowned international hospitals able to provide premier medical care with costs far less than those in the US.

Destination HealthCare™ is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to high medical care costs, insufficient medical outcomes, delays in access to specialist care, and lack of patient control.
 
Destination HealthCare™ focuses on world class hospitals and physicians. We’ve chosen to work exclusively in the Chinese health care market, using hospitals that are world-renowned for excellence. This dedicated market means we don’t compete with other firms for hospital access. Three of China Connection’s hospitals are designated as centers of excellence by the World Health Organization.

Destination HealthCare™ delivers premier quality at significant cost savings over the same procedure in the US and Europe. A hip replacement in the US which costs over $60,000 can be delivered for less than $7,000 in China. Stroke recovery, a $100,000 process in the US, is just over $20,000 in China and offers greater therapeutic attention. When you include insurance benefits, you can save thousands of dollars more. Where insurance benefits aren’t available, our medically focused program ensures you have the maximum tax and medical reimbursement program advantages available. In one recent case, the US cost for our member, after insurance, was going to be $7,500. In China, the cost is less than $1,500.

Destination-based medical care is not for everyone or everything.  It can’t replace either the routine doctor visit or a critical trip to the Emergency Room.  Destination HealthCare™ is, however, an effective alternative to US care when you want premier medical outcomes at more manageable costs for major medical care.

If it’s this good, why isn’t everyone doing it?

• First, not every medical procedure is a candidate for destination healthcare. It doesn’t replace routine doctor visits or emergency medicine.
• Second, not very many people are aware of destination healthcare and its benefits. Because it is often confused with medical tourism, people confuse it with traveling to an exotic place near the beach to have cosmetic care.
• Finally, it’s still relatively new as a corporate benefit. Companies are coming to realize that they can offer employees and their families an alternative to the high costs of American healthcare. In 2007, over 3/4 million Americans traveled overseas for healthcare. That number is expected to more than quadruple in the next few years.