Would you travel to an all inclusive tropical resort if there is dialysis there?

[alexweitz]

Hi All,

Would it appeal to you if you could find a resort in a nice tropical vacation destination (Costa Rica for example) where they offered the following:

* Dialysis Treatment offered on location by American Company with American standards.  No driving 20 miles to a local hospital or clinic in the shady part of town for example.

* The resort was all inclusive and offered nice menu options consistent with a dialysis diet.

I know that Medi-Cal and Medicare don't cover treatments out of the country, but do any of you have private insurance that would cover treatments when you travel outside the country?

The reason I am asking is because I work for a small well respected dialysis company in San Diego CA and we thought it would be a great idea to try to provide better vacationing options and standard of care for dialysis patients.

If you have any ideas for us or would like to contact me directly with your insurance information, I would be happy to check with your insurance company to see if treatment on a trip like this would be covered.

Overall we think this could be a great idea and a win-win for everyone involved.  If we get the movement moving, more insurance companies may be open to covering it because it would probably be cheaper for the insurance company due to the fact they won't have to pay for a hospital stay because you would be at the resort.

Thank you for your time!

-Alex Weitz
Rensana Dialysis
San Diego, CA

[Cupcake]

Spam, spam, green eggs and spam. But sign me up if they do PD

[Simon Dog]

An important question is pricing.  Would travelers be able to shop for bargain rates, or get a generally good deal, or would they be constrained to paying the list price hardly anyone every pays?    Would the dialysis company insert itself as a middleman in the travel arrangements and try to make money by taking a cut of that action in addition to the dialysis fee?

Dialysis at Sea requires customers to book their cruise through them only (at a higher than "best available" price).  You are not allowed to book a cabin on the same ship and buy the dialysis at sea medical service as a separate product.

[Paul]

Personally a "tropical vacation" is not my kind of vacation, but that is just me. Talking of vacations in general, yes, a guarantee of "quality guaranteed" dialysis would make me likely to take that vacation. However as Simon Dog has said, price is important. There are some rich people with knackered kidneys, but most of us are on reduced circumstances due to extra costs caused by the illness, and in many cases loss of job/move to part time from full time work. If you are too expensive I doubt there will be enough people able to afford it to make the business model financially viable. But price it as low as you can (while still making a reasonable profit) and I think you have a good business plan.

P.S. WRT "American Company with American standards" Having had both Fresenius treatment and NHS treatment (so can compare US with non-US dialysis), coupled with the world's view of American healthcare - If you are advertising this service outside the US I'd soft pedal (and preferably hide) the "American Company with American standards" line.

[Charlie B53]

Does this coastal vacation include the use of a boat and fishing?

Paul may be right about not advertising an "American' Dialysis Company.  Either Fresenius or DaVita by name should be well enough recognized as reliable.

Perhaps Congress people should be written to, asked to modify rules to include vacation coverage in 'approved' providers such as any of the major Dialysis Companies normally operating within the U.S.

Granted, many cannot afford much of a vacation but with coverage approval I don't doubt that there could be some that would take advantage and make the trip.

[Simon Dog]

Perhaps Congress people should be written to, asked to modify rules to include vacation coverage in 'approved' providers such as any of the major Dialysis Companies normally operating within the U.S.

It is unlikely that would get traction since a cornerstone of Medicare is "US hospitals at Medicare rates".     The later is important, since no travel company would be likely to accept Medicare rates.

[iolaire]

My main concern is any center marketing themselves as a holiday treatment program probably would have higher costs than local providers.  For example local providers cover their costs with local patients, any visitors should be a nice bump in income that they didn't plan for.  A holiday provider would have low (or zero) fixed income from local patients and would need to charge significantly more to cover the cost of staff waiting around for visiting patients.

Regarding insurance my Aetna plan paid 50% of my costs for foreign dialyses, because it was out of network.  Had I reached my annual co-pay limits they might have moved to 100% but for some of the more expensive treatments $700 USD they started to cap the amount they would pay saying it was more expensive than it should be.

I usually paid from $200-$300 for treatments when I traveled around the globe.

On the plus side scheduling dialysis around the world takes work, some people who might not travel on dialysis might choose such a program if they knew about it - similar to people who use Dialysis At Sea.

As with most businesses the plan will work or fail based on your marketing ability.

[Riki]

I would jump on it, if prices were reasonable.  As a travel professional in training, I don't like Dialysis at Sea's overpricing, but there is no other way to get dialysis while on a cruise.

There is a resort company called Get-Away Dialysis and they have 2 resorts in Mexico that have dialysis units on the grounds.  They are not dialysis resorts, but resorts with dialysis units.  The company is Canadian and the dialysis units are designed to meet Canadian standards

Their website, in case anyone is interested
http://www.getawaydialysis.com/