Consumer choice is becoming more prevalent because either employers are not covering as many of the healthcare needs of their employees, or some employers are no longer covering their employees at all. With federal and private exchanges, the landscape of how people are acquiring healthcare has changed significantly. People are now forced to make a choice in what plan to buy, and they’re generally not well informed. People know how to buy a car, but buying a healthcare plan is very different. You have to know what network it covers and what the deductibles are. Some consumers are buying plans based on price alone, without realizing they have high deductibles or a narrow network. Whether you go through a private or federal exchange, you have to be mindful of what you’re buying. You may not realize the deductibles could end up being thousands of dollars. There needs to be a lot more education. Private exchanges will continue to grow, and time will tell how well that works. It will be interesting to see how the acquisition of healthcare plans change for consumers, based on availability, price and network. As Baptist Health grows and evolves, so does our patient profile. Because some of our technology and services are unique to the area, we collaborate with other healthcare organizations, such as children’s hospitals, to provide services. In Latin America, there are few similar facilities so we communicate our capabilities to doctors there, and they refer patients when necessary. For example, we recently had more than 100 doctors from Latin America present as we opened the doors of our Miami Cancer Institute. We hosted a series of lectures to familiarize them with the Institute and let them know how we can work together. One of our special services in the area of medical tourism is the focus on continuity of care. After patients leave us and return to their home cities, we connect with their local physician to ensure the care loop is closed.
