Volume 4, Issue 15

This week in Medical Travel Today

Greetings,

To stay or to go? That appears to be the question of the hour for U.S. patients, providers, and businesses.
 
Under this week's INDUSTRY NEWS we have stories from six major print and online sources including USAToday, Crain's, The Denver Business Journal and fiercehealth.com, each examining how U.S.-based businesses and health care providers are attempting to provide care for consumers on American soil. Along with media attention, the domestic push is capturing the interest of large employer groups who continue to look for ways to control costs and ensure quality of care.
 
But not everyone's convinced. C. Philip Slaton, president of The Icon Group (see INDUSTRY NEWS), recently expanded his business to include the export of U.S. board-certified physicians and surgeons and their U.S. patients to destinations outside the U.S.
 
What do you think? We invite you to share your thoughts on this topic as well as any other story ideas and press releases you might have.

Cheers,

Amanda Haar, Editor

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT: Richard Baker, founder and president, North American Surgery
Editor's Note: Rick Baker is a medical services entrepreneur who founded Timely Medical Alternatives in 2003 to assist Canadians on long medical waiting lists to obtain timely surgeries at centers of surgical excellence in the U.S. at deeply discounted prices.  In 2005, Baker expanded his services to cover uninsured American citizens, and founded North American Surgery.  In the past seven years he has been helping Canadians and uninsured Americans, and reports that his two companies have saved the lives of seven clients, including an 8-year-old girl with a massive cranial infection.

Baker's companies have received significant publicity:  Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall St. Journal, Smart Money Magazine, US News & World Report, Kiplinger Personal Finance, ABC Television program “20/20” (twice), NPR Radio, Fox Television program “Fox & Friends.”

In July 2009, Baker gave testimony in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.  The event, sponsored by Rep. Eric Cantor, was a Republican Health Care investigative committee.  Baker was quoted as saying that the Canada Health Act, which regulates the delivery of socialized healthcare in that country, is responsible for more pain, suffering, and death than any other piece of domestic legislation in Canadian History.

Medical Travel Today (MTT):  Give us a brief overview of your company and how you got involved in this business.

Rick Baker (RB):  I am the president and founder of North American Surgery, which we founded in 2005 to help uninsured Americans gain timely access to reasonably priced quality surgery. I’m in Vancouver, Canada, but we help clients all over North America from Northern Canada right down to Florida and Hawaii. 

Continue reading in issue 15