Medical tourism interview with GlobalChoice Healthcare's CEO, Ken Erickson (transcript)

I recently interviewed Ken Erickson, CEO of GlobalChoice Healthcare for MedTripInfo. GlobalChoice isn't a medical tourism agency. It bills itself as a procedure management firm, offering employers a supplemental benefit that extends their provider network to additional US and international locations.Ken and I spoke about his providers and customers, continuity of care, accreditation, credentialing and malpractice, among other topics.Visit MedTripInfo for the audio version and full transcript.David Williams: Ken, thanks for joining me.

Ken Erickson: Thank you for the invitation.

David: Ken, what is GlobalChoice Healthcare?

Ken: GlobalChoice Healthcare is a company that was organized to fulfill the promise of medical travel. We have created a product called the GlobalChoice Health Benefit that provides access to hospitals--both in the US and internationally--and all the wrap-around services for one of our clients to access those medical facilities.

David: When you talk about wrap-around services, what sort of services are those?

Ken: The services are anything associated with the medical care, which means all of the pre-medical care, wrangling of medical records, and getting that person approved for care at the remote location. And then, all of the interrelated travel services to get them to the location, the care while they're at that location--all the logistical care while they're at that location--case management while they're there, and then integrating them back into their care system when they get back home.

David: When you talk about having a global network, I noticed that you've got facilities in very disparate locations ranging from Turkey, to Singapore, to Wisconsin, to Los Vegas, to Mexico. How did you decide where these facilities would be?

Ken: Internationally, it has to do with quality, cost, and location. We have actually worked through many, many different locations internationally. And we have really settled on those that we feel have the quality--have the JCI accreditation--and have the cost advantage. It needs to be a location that's actually somewhere that a US individual would actually feel safe, secure and it's clean. So that being the case, you'll notice that at this point, we're not in India.

David: And do you think India has potential or it's just too far in the future or just never going to be a good part of your mix?To continue reading, please visit MedTripInfo for the audio version and full transcript.