WorldCity Business Magazine

Doctors without borders

by Richard Westlund

A Miami company matches health care specialists around the world with the patients who need them.

For decades, Miami hospitals, clinics and physicians have marketed their services to affluent Latin Americans, allowing international executives to coordinate their check-ups and surgical procedures with business meetings or vacations in South Florida. Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, for example, arranges flights, hotels, interpreters and even visits to nearby Aventura Mall for its affluent international patients.

But that personal attention extended to well-heeled Latin Americans addresses just one aspect of patients’ needs in the international health care arena, according to Jonas Haeger, president of Surgical Team in Key Biscayne. Even before they get to Aventura Hospital or other medical centers, foreign patients must make a series of decisions, including which physicians to use. That’s where Surgical Team comes in.

“Healthcare is one of the largest industries in the world, but the systems are very different from country to country,” says Haeger, whose company matches patients with surgeons in select specialties. “Today the quality of the best surgeons and physicians is very similar around the world, creating new opportunities for patients who are willing to travel.”

U.S. residents travel abroad for care, foreigners fly to the United States for some medical procedures and patients in Europe or Latin America may fly to other continents to find specialists. Statistics are not available detailing the number of patients who turn to international medical services, but Haeger believes the market is growing steadily.

For starters, countries with more affordable health care like Mexico, India and Thailand are competing to offer procedures once dominated by the U.S. medical system. In many cases, Haeger says, patients are looking for treatment that may not be covered by U.S. or foreign insurance policies. Their primary-care physicians may refer them to Surgical Team.

As evidence of that growing demand, dental, medical and surgical clinics have sprung up along Mexico’s northern border, catering to middle-class U.S. patients drawn by the lower cost of procedures in Mexico. Countries like Cuba, Costa Rica and Brazil have even built entire medical-tourism industries around international patients. Out-of-country cosmetic surgeries are especially popular with U.S. patients, who may pay just a quarter of the price for a comparable procedure in the United States. Even more, the patient can recuperate from a facelift, tummy tuck or liposuction while on a foreign vacation and no one at work needs know the real reason for the trip.

For those who can afford it, medical care in other countries may also be speedier than at home, Haeger notes. This can make foreign doctors and medical facilities appealing for patients in countries such as Canada, Sweden or Great Britain where health care is nationalized and there are waiting lists for elective surgery.

Patients in the developing world Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia sometimes turn to doctors and hospitals in other countries because they do not have access to specialized procedures at home. These patients include the very wealthy who want and can afford top specialists, regardless of geographic location. Alternatively, expatriate executives assigned to offices in Miami or other global business hubs may prefer to travel to their home country for treatment. “Latin America is filled with experienced dentists, surgeons and physicians whose services are far less expensive than in the U.S.,” notes Haeger.

Trouble shooting

One of Surgical Team’s tasks is to assist potential patients who are struggling to find skilled physicians overseas. “Most patients have never traveled outside their own country and don’t know where to go for medical services,” says Haeger. “As a result, they have a hard time finding the right doctor or even getting solid objective information.”

It’s also tough for surgeons to reach out and attract international patients, especially in countries that restrict physician advertising and marketing. That’s where Surgical Team and competitors like Thailand-based Cosmetic Surgery Travel or South Africa’s Nu Look come in. They charge physicians a fee and, in exchange, use the Internet, e-mail and telephone to match the doctors with patients seeking their services.

Surgical Team now works with a global network of about 60 physicians focused on three specialties: gastric bypass procedures, alternatives to hysterectomies and techniques to correct hyperhidrosis, or excess sweating. All three are elective surgeries growing in demand worldwide and frequently not covered by insurance.

One of Surgical Team’s physicians is Dr. Juergen Eisermann, a specialist in the technique of laparoscopic myomectomy to remove fibroids from the uterus; use of a laparoscope averts the need for large incisions. Eisermann, a graduate of the University of Munich, is the founder and medical director of the South Florida Institute for Reproductive Medicine, with offices in Miami, Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Another Surgical Team physician, Dr. Karl Miller, conducts some 200 gastric bypass procedures a year at the European Surgical Institute in Salzberg, Austria. Most of his patients throughout Europe, North America, Saudi Arabia and South Africa learn of his services through Surgical Team.

“I believe the volume of international patients will grow in the future,” says Miller. “More patients are looking closely at the costs and benefits, especially for elective procedures. To serve them, it’s important to focus on the patient’s individual needs, educate them and provide them with a skilled, full-service medical team.”

Surgical Team describes available procedures and information about surgeons on its Web site, www.surgicalteam.com. Then Haeger’s company puts patients directly in touch with surgeons, even arranging nighttime conference calls between patients and doctors in different time zones or providing references from other patients. However, Haeger makes it clear that it’s the surgeon not his company who provides medical advice to the patient. Once the connection is made through Surgical Team, a physician’s office schedules the procedure, bills the patient directly and handles the rest of the paperwork.

Patients may book their own flights and make other travel arrangements directly, or they may ask Surgical Team to make the reservations. The company puts patients who need financial assistance in touch with a U.S. lender. All contact is long distance. The patients never need show up at Surgical Team’s offices.

“Our staff has helped hundreds of patients to have surgery across borders,” says Haeger. The company has a staff of three multilingual employees.

To recruit physicians to his network, Haeger attends international medical conferences and asks leading surgeons to recommend colleagues. “If we feel patients could benefit from a certain type of specialist in Asia, I start calling or e-mailing other doctors to find who the best person might be in India, Pakistan or Malaysia,” he says.

Born in Argentina to Swedish expatriates, Haeger, 48, earned an MBA from Stockholm University in 1979. He worked for Swedish cosmetics company Oriflame before moving to Miami in 1989 to help a group of European investors renovate and sell a cluster of South Beach properties. After completing those transactions in 1996, he founded Surgical Team. Haeger declines to disclose the company’s revenues or patient volume.

But if he’s quiet about his company, Haeger has taken an active role in South Florida’s international business community. He serves as chairman of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce and his wife, Lita, is president of the Association of BiNational Chambers of Commerce in Florida. Haeger is also active in the Swedish American Business Council, which is advocating changes in U.S. Homeland Security requirements to make immigration procedures easier for foreign business travelers entering and leaving the United States.

Haeger says the demand for companies like Surgical Team will grow as international travel continues to rise. “Because of different rules and regulations, there is a definite lack of transparency in the world’s healthcare system,” he says. “That means there is a clear need to facilitate the transfer of information and that’s something Surgical Team has been doing very effectively for nearly a decade.