Case Example 4: The Details
The Situation: High Priority, Elective Orthopedic Surgery
A member of the Mobile Surgery International orthopedic surgery team recently carried out two surgical procedures in Panama that clearly exemplify the practical application of Centers of Excellence with Global Convenience™.
A movie stuntman from western Canada needed arthroscopic shoulder stabilization surgery, and an uninsured housekeeper from Miami required total hip replacement. For each patient, the surgical services, host facility selection and management, and all related case management issues were coordinated. Although the patients personally paid for the costs of surgery, they both received care for substantially less than it would have cost them otherwise.
The Canadian stuntman suffered a work-related shoulder dislocation. He received immediate emergency care at home and was given a referral for specialist consultation 5 months later. He was also informed that corrective surgery would take place 12 months later. But until his shoulder was stabilized, he was unable to work. He needed earlier action and was willing to pay to get it. He investigated an option in the American northwest, but with the mobile surgical model and care in Panama, he got the surgery he needed for half the cost offered in the USA. Four days after surgery he was home in Canada and soon thereafter he returned to work.
The American housekeeper was also treated by our highly experienced surgical team in Panama. She received a hip replacement using an American prosthesis and subsequent physical therapy for 60% less than the lowest cost available in her native Miami. She too quickly returned to work.
Patients need to overcome economic and other barriers to treatment choice and quality. The stuntman could have waited for care, but this would have meant nearly a year of lost wages. The housekeeper had limited economic resources and absolutely needed help overcoming financial barriers to treatment choice and quality. The mobile surgical model helped both patients overcome financial barriers as they received their treatment choice and quality.
The Solution: A Mobile Surgical Center of Excellence
The global package for hip replacement in Panama included:
- Operating room and 3 days in the hospital
- A respected American surgeon who had carried out over 4,500 joint replacement operations
- All surgical services and equipment
- An FDA-approved, American hip prosthesis
- A surgical assistant, an anesthesiologist, and a physical therapist
- A local continuum-of-care physician and physical therapy
- Complete coordination with the patient’s home physician
- Full follow-up consultation services
- Full clinical case management
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