Medical Travel Today (MTT): What is Hospital’s history and experience in medical travel?

Sebastian Viramontes (SV): Hospital San Jose Tec de Monterrey is actually a university hospital. It was founded in 1969 and since then has provided care to many people in the community. In 1978 the hospital was granted to the Tec Monterrey System in order to found a school of medicine. At the beginning it was an 80-bed facility. Now we have 200 beds. A significant amount of that growth took place between 2000 and now. We’ve upgraded our technology to the highest standards – including a DaVinci in the surgery room, a PET CT and a CT Scan in our radiology service, just to name a few. At this point we really have everything needed to provide advanced specialty care. International patients began coming from other countries in the late 1990s. The noted bariatric surgeon Roberto Rumbaut trained here and performed LAP band and gastric bypasses at the University of Padua in Italy with Dr. Franco Favretti long before US doctors began doing it. As a result, he has a great deal of experience and proficiency, which people seek out. Bariatric surgeries were the first reason people began to come here and today it still is our highest volume procedure. Most of those foreign patients are Americans. They’re from Texas, California, Minnesota, Alaska, really all over. So it’s not just a geographic draw. Plus, now we also see a number of US patients for bone marrow transplants and general surgeries. MTT: What efforts are you currently undertaking to build this area? SV: After our success with Dr. Rumbaut in drawing patients in, we began agreements with other physicians. Then, in 2008 we launched our international program in earnest. We received our Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation in March 2008. Simultaneously, we began putting together additional services that we knew were desired by international patients. We also made some internal adjustments -creating translated signage, making sure our physicians were proficient in English, creating an English website, as well as opening an international patient office to facilitate the decision-making and follow-up care. MTT:Did those efforts result in more patients coming? SV: Actually our current international patient numbers are lower than they were in 2008. That’s largely due to the fact that in 2008, most volume came from bariatric surgery. Even though we were pioneers in this area, by 2009 and 2010 so many providers in Mexico and Costa Rica, and even in the southern US, began performing more of it at lower prices. We tried for a time to compete on price but then realized that we’re a tertiary care facility, and in our structure we have many costs tied to the safety and quality of the services we provide. We simply weren’t willing to compromise quality. At that point we went back to focusing on our core strength – providing high-quality specialty care. So while our volumes of patients are lower, they are now coming for procedures other than bariatrics. The demand now is for procedures of a higher complexity, like robotic prostectomies, bone marrow transplants, oncology care, and so on. MTT:Where does international patient recruitment now fall on the organization’s list of priorities? SV: It’s very important. We receive many patients from outside Monterrey – from South America and the US. Given the fact that we have built this high-specialty facility very close to the one we already have, well, we need more patients. We recognize that one of our challenges, particularly for US patients, is the perception about security in Mexico. This has been very harmful to us in terms of attracting patients. The ones that come appreciate that we have all the security measures in place. Every logistic is covered – pick up at the airport, all transportation to and from, and so on, is covered. That’s part of our strategy. Now we believe that in the next year the perception of security in Mexico will change. At that time, we expect to launch a very aggressive strategy to make us more visible to US patients. But right now, there’s not much upside to be had from a lot of marketing. There’s simply too much to overcome. MTT: I’m curious if your local government is stepping in to help you in any way? SV: We actually have a number of hospitals in Monterrey that come together to discuss strategies on how best to bring patients in. Government officials also participate with an eye towards the economic benefit of international care in the city. The importance of solving this problem is top of mind for the hospitals and the government. Editor’s Note: FYI, travelmarketreport.com recently featured an interesting piece “Medical Travel to Mexico Stays Healthy, Despite Safety Fears.” Click here to read.  MTT: Are you partnering with any facilitators or employers at this time? SV: Very early on there were a lot of facilitators coming to meet with us and tour our facility with the promise of delivering patients. It didn’t take long to realize that it made more sense to work with a few who were willing to showcase our services vis-à-visour competitors. At this point we work principally with three that once in a while send patients. Two are US-based and one is in Monterrey. Most of the patients they bring are from the US. The patients we get from South America mostly come directly to us via our website or through referrals. MTT: I’m curious, do the reciprocal training programs you have in place contribute to your international patient base in any way? SV: No, not at this time. Our international collaboration agreements are based on academic exchanges. So it’s really the school of medicine program. Students at our school have a chance to go to Johns Hopkins, Baylor or Methodist to further their training. There is a potential that, down the road, it could create opportunities for attracting patients. At this point we’re focusing on increasing our clinical affiliations in the area of cardiology. Beyond that, we are trying to really set a new vision for the way that healthcare is provided in Mexico. Since 2011, we have had a new leader, Guillermo Torre. Guillermo is actually an alumnus of our medical school. He then went on to practice in Houston where he was the director of the heart transplant center at Methodist Hospital in Houston. Last year he returned to Monterrey and is now leading our efforts to elevate quality of care and safety in our institutes and medical centers. A major milestone for us was organizing our doctors into private medical practices within our institutes, including Women’s, Rehabilitation, Internal Medicine, Neuroscience, Surgery, and our Research Center. We also launched our Institute of Cardiology and Vascular medicine. We’re excited about this as it brings together a group of cardiology doctors who create a plan of care, do reviews and measure outcomes on an individual patient basis. About Sebastian Viramontes Sebastian Viramontes is currently the head of the International Program at Hospital San José Tec de Monterrey, where he has been granted the responsibility of running its international department and direction for commercial affairs. Previously he was in charge of executing the trade and investment promotion of Mexican companies in Belgium and Luxemburg at the Embassy of Mexico in Brussels. Prior to this appointment, he was economic advisor of the Undersecretary for Economic Relations and International Cooperation at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before joining the public sector, he worked as a strategic management analyst for a global textile/chemical conglomerate. He has a B.A. in Economics from the Tecnologico de Monterrey and a Master’s in Public Policy with a concentration in quantitative analysis and non-for-profit management from the University of Michigan, Gerald R. Ford School. Mr. Viramontes is fluent in English, Spanish and French. He is married and the proud father of two children.