The Methodology Behind our Medical Tourism Price Estimator

How Our Medical Tourism Price Estimator Works

Affordability is one of the driving forces behind medical tourism, and yet, exact pricing is one of the most difficult things to pin down before you embark on your health vacation.  Never mind the fact that in-person consultations are virtually impossible before you go abroad.  And never mind the fact that most hospitals (even US hospitals) don't like to publish their prices online.  There are still numerous other factors that make it difficult to determine how much specific procedures actually cost in individual countries: 

How advanced is your condition?

How old are you?

Will your operation require additional hospitalization?

Will you need an interpreter?

Will you require an escort to and from the hospital/airport?

What is the current exchange rate between your currency and the local currency?

Is it the busy season right now?

Are you getting several procedures done at once?

Is this a premiere hospital?

Is this a large medical facility or a private practice?

Are you booking this procedure through a medical tourism company?

Is this medical facility in a major city or in a more rural setting? 

Depending on how you answer the above questions, the total price for a procedure might be anywhere from 25% below to 25% above what we display.  The only way to get a clear-cut answer is to call the medical facility directly and receive an accurate quote in writing. 

So you might be asking yourself: 

 If calling directly is the only way to get a real quote, what value is this Medical Tourism Price Estimator? 

Simple.  Our Medical Tourism Price Estimator is designed to provide you with a starting point as you begin your medical tourism research.  For whereas it is impossible to provide exact quotes (for the reasons already mentioned), we can give you ranges to get you started on your travel arrangements and decision making.  

Let's say, for example, that you can't decide between India and Thailand for your hip replacement surgery.  Both countries have great facilities.  Both have tons of tourist activities.  However, after using our Medical Tourism Price Estimator, you discover that, on average, Thailand is 15% cheaper than India for this particular procedure.  You might decide to focus your future research on hip replacement surgeons in Thailand due to the savings involved. 

Ah!  Now I Understand.  But How Do You Guys Find the Prices?

It's not easy.  As already mentioned, most hospitals don't publish their pricing information.  Currency fluctuations also make it difficult since we present all prices in US dollars (with the option of converting to other currencies).  In addition, prices change over time, due to demand, new technologies, and countless other variables.  We've spent the last 16 months mining the data that we use in our Medical Tourism Price Estimator, and we could spend another 16 months and still not have a 100% perfect snapshot.  But over time, our Medical Tourism Price Estimator becomes more accurate thanks to the 3 approaches that we use. 

We basically: 

1. Gather as much information from our partners as they feel comfortable sharing.  Many medical facilities prefer to keep their pricing data private so that they can customize packages for their patients later on.
2. We scour the Internet for as many missing pricing points as possible, relying on the most reputable sources that we can.  These usually include hospital Web sites, scholarly journals, and articles from major publications.
3. We graph all procedures and countries to better determine patterns and trends.  For example, if our data show that country X is consistently 10% more expensive than country Y, it becomes easier to fill in missing gaps for both countries.

Dynamic, Ongoing Process

The above techniques are ideal for developing an overall snapshot, but even the best pricing estimates will eventually become obsolete unless they are constantly updated.  Thus we constantly seek new ways to keep our information as up-to-date as possible: 

1. As we accept more partners around the world, we are able to incorporate more accurate data. 

1. We never stop scouring the Internet for additional pricing points. 

1. We invite feedback from users like you.  If you ever find pricing information online that disagrees with what you find using our Medical Tourism Price Estimator, we invite you to contact us so that we may investigate and reconcile any discrepancies.

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