Explosive Growth in Medical Tourism and Rise of Retail Clinics Provide Huge Cost Savings fo...( Disruptive Innovations Challenge ...),Health

Disruptive Innovations Challenge the Status Quo of U.S. Health Care System, According to Deloitte Center for Health Solutions Research Series

WASHINGTON, July 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 750,000 Americans left the country last year for less expensive medical treatments, a number projected to grow to six million by 2010, potentially costing the U.S. health care system billions. The number of retail clinics in operation has also soared by 220 percent from just 250 clinics in 2006 to more than 800 serving patients by the end of 2007. Both trends suggest that these new innovations are challenging the status quo of the traditional U.S. health care system as consumers seek better care, and greater access at lower costs, according to the results of a series of research released today by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.

"The emergence of disruptive health care innovations, such as medical tourism, retail clinics, medical homes, alternative medicines and cyber visits, present an industry paradigm with new players, new delivery models, new ways of partnering and new value propositions," said Paul Keckley, Ph.D., executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. "Our research suggests that while traditional roles in the health care delivery system are being threatened by these innovations -- creating initial worries for physicians, hospitals and allied health professionals -- they may also provide new and rewarding opportunities."

The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions research series includes a body of reports centered on disruptive innovations that are creating a shift from conventional models of service delivery and payment to a consumer-centric system of care in which price, quality and service delivery are key.

The three latest reports from the series include:

-- "Medical Tourism: Consumers in Search of Value," forecasts explosive growth in medical tourism over the next five years in outbound p
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