A decade ago, the idea that medical procedures might move offshore was unthinkable. Today it is a reality. What trends have facilitated this process?
The idea of medical procedures moving offshore is a reality because the United States is experiencing shortages of their radiologists and their doctors, whose responsibilities entail reading and interpreting dissimilar medical images including the X-rays, CT scans as well as the ultra sounds. This is so because the sector is experiencing high demands of radiologists compared to the rate at which the radiologists are graduating from the medical schools. Therefore, the existing imbalance has enabled the procedure to move offshore.
Is the globalization of health care good or bad for patients?
Globalization of health care is good to the patients because it reduces the workload experienced by the radiologists thus cutting the costs spend by the patients. However, globalization has shortened the total time used in interpreting the images. For example, when using radiologist from India, it is possible to interpret the images at nighttime and be ready to attend to a physician in the next morning.
Is the globalization of health care good or bad for the American economy?
Globalization of health care is not good to the American economy. This is because globalization of healthcare will lower demand for the American health services hence making them to collapse since most of the country’s workers will be moving to offshore places such as India.
Who might benefit from the globalization of health care? Who might lose?
America might benefit from the globalization of health care because the set regulations, personal preferences and practical considerations states that most of the health services must occur in the country where the patients come from. Therefore, this implies that patients from America will not be able to travel offshore in order to access their treatment. The regulation also calls for the license of radiologist to occur in the state that made the image.
Do you think that the U.S. government should restrict the outsourcing of medical procedures to developing nations? What if U.S. medical institutions certify physicians in those countries?
I think it is vital for the U.S government to restrict the outsourcing of medical procedures to developing nations. This is so because outsourcing will encourage collapse of the American health services, as many patients will prefer moving to offshore places such as India in order to access cheap services. If the U.S medical institutions certify physicians in those countries, it is imperative that they regulate the total numbers of physicians considering those in America in order to reduce the existing imbalance.
