Good Luck!

This would be a very complex and large-scale/long-term project. To be honest, by the time a database is complete, many of the medical costs will be outdated or the likes. I did read about a physician in NYC that keeps a listing of medical costs in Brooklyn but that's about it. Not to mention that he had to go undercover and call a good 100+ some care providers for the quotes with his own time. The only reason he did this was to help his patients find the most inexpensive route for medical care and they pay him to provide this. As for entire countries and multiple countries, this is indeed a trivial idea especially if it lacks compensation for compilation/organization. Do you have a method for gathering data from even under-developed nations?

its a great idea. However i live in the UK where healthcare is free. so i personally have no need for it.

However if i was in the position of some people in some countries, this would be a valuable resource.

In countries where medical costs aren't socialized, you will have a tough time getting this information from the different medical practitioners. Their prices are probably not something that they want their competition to get a hold of, business is still business, even when it comes to healing the sick.

International insurance carriers should have a list of reasonable and customary expenses...

It could give a consumers/medical tourists an idea of how much above or below their country's norm a provider is...Maybe a provider rating scale with it?
This might be helpful for folks looking for elective surgeries...

Hard to implement, costs vary by place, time and doctor, and some doctors charge people different amounts if they have or dont have insurance.

Why don't make a business from this idea on CH?
It will be easier for CH-members to join in that way. (If you want your idea crowdsourced, but I supose you want if you post it here)

due to international discrepancy of cost..I guess wiki thing would do...

Actually if it focused on specific procedures provided by specialist outfits worldwide who cater to health tourists, it could work - but I'd be surprised if this didn't exist.

The costs would readily come from the centers seeking foreign patients and the business could focus its energy on building referral networks with those local physicians who want to provide options to people whose lives are affected by slow/poor healthcare.

I think if you could do this it would be welcomed.

I don't think you can do this, for the reasons MAH and PeeJayEl describe.

I agree with most of MAH's statements. However, I'm curious - other than cosmetic procedures (which vary in price substantially from practice to practice) why would people want to know how much procedures cost ?

GroundLoad Posted: February 1, 2008, 7:08 pm

I agree with most of MAH's statements. However, I'm curious - other than cosmetic procedures (which vary in price substantially from practice to practice) why would people want to know how much procedures cost ?

Hi Groundload, please find a link to a Hospital which I visit for checkups each time I pass through Bangkok. You will notice that procedures cost around 1/5 to 1/10, of what the same procedure would cost in either the USA or Europe.

I feel that if the focus were on building a database of reputable clinics such as BNH Hospital below, it would be of assistance to many people in the west who cannot afford western medical costs.

http://www.BNHhospital.com

Hi!!! I belive that CharonV has hit the nail on its head. To some extent he also wants to say that let your system evolve. I would say that our idea holds enormous potential. I will elucidate it; As a matter of fact, medical expenses in developed countries are huge. If the system you are proposing can be built, it will promote medical tourism in a big way. Its the best of both worlds, for developed and developing countries. And yeah, let ur system scale up, meaning collecting data from reputed hospitals will not be a big problem. Web spiders and the like can be helpful. I would say ur idea ROCKS and is implementable!!! Go ahd buddy... :)

too huge and bold!

This system will encourage people to niggle down their health care, and get the cheapest care at the expense of their long term health. Very bad idea.

The best way to proceed is to fill a need identified by Guy and CharonV.

spam u will never see this guy here again

I like the idea. With medical tourism on the rise, this could be very useful once expanded to cover that aspect. Otherwise too it will be useful to many.

I don't know if you are in the United States but here in the States, providers charge different amounts to different insurance carriers. A lot of the data can be licensed. I am not familiar with other countries and medical tourism is a new term to me. Interesting if difficult idea.