The Mexican Federal Government announced a new policy this week to promote medical tourism in Mexico. Medical tourism is when you go abroad for medical care. Their goal is to encourage U.S. residents (with an initial focus on the uninsured) to travel to Mexico for their medical needs, generating jobs and investment. Another objective is to use the additional revenue to continue the expansion of the medical infrastructure in Mexico.
Phase I of the policy is to set up the infrastructure for basic and intermediate procedures- with a focus on drawing down folks that are uninsured in the US for things like orthopedics, heart, cancer, dental, ophthalmology and plastic surgery. The goal for Phase II is to get US Citizens (especially Arizonans and Californians) to consider treatment in Mexico for advanced medical services.
Health tourism is also a main priority for the new Governor of Sonora (Padrés Elías) http://www.sonora.gob.mx/ for several reasons, not the least of which is Sonora’s close proximity to large populations in Arizona and California, and that fact that the Hospital CIMA Hermosillo in Hermosillo is certified by the Joint Commission (the largest certification and accreditation of the United States), and it has the capacity to provide high-quality services. In all, there are 8 hospitals in Mexico that are accredited by the Joint Commission http://www.jointcommissioninternational.org/JCI-Accredited-Organizations/.
