James Bae, M.H.A. Director, Strategic Business Development Korea Health Industry Development Institute USA 420 Lexington Ave. Suite 2546 New York, NY 10170 T.646.783.6093 C.646.737.2110 F.646.783.6099 www.khidiusa.org http://twitter.com/james_y_bae About James Bae James Bae is currently the director of Strategic Business Development at KHIDI USA, the U.S. branch office of Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI). His major responsibilities are to generate business collaboration between the U.S. and Korea in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare services and clinical research, as well as promote Korean healthcare in the U.S. His other professional affiliations include an advisory board member of the Center for Medical Tourism Research, and the member of Healthcare Leaders of New York, the local chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives. James holds a master’s of Health Administration from the University of Iowa. About KHIDI USA In 2008, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), together with the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, established the Korea Health Industry Development Institute USA (KHIDI USA). Based in New York, KHIDI USA was founded concurrently with branches in Singapore and China, in order to facilitate the overseas expansion of the Korean healthcare industry, as well as to encourage partnerships with overseas institutions. While supporting the entry of Korean pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, medical supplies, and functional foods into the U.S market, KHIDI USA also works to attract foreign patients to Korea and to promote Korea’s healthcare services. Furthermore, KHIDI USA attains the role of publicizing the advanced technologies and outstanding human resources of the Korean healthcare industry to the international community, including that of the U.S. Through MOUs with foreign governments, industries, and academia, KHIDI USA works to broaden awareness of the Korean healthcare sector and to contribute to the advancement of global healthcare. Medical Travel Today (MTT): Describe your experience in the healthcare industry. James Bae (JB): Initially, I began my college career in Korea and received my undergraduate degree in business communications. I later traveled to the U.S. to obtain my master’s degree in Health Administration from the University of Iowa. The combination of these two backgrounds allowed me the opportunity of working with healthcare facilities in both the U.S. and Korea. Eventually, I joined the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) as the international marketing manager to further develop the mission of the Korean medical travel industry. In 2009, I was dispatched to the KHIDI USA office as the director of strategic business development. Over the last five years, it has been my responsibility to initiate business development and collaboration, in terms of the healthcare industry between Korea and the U.S. I personally have a major interest in international medical travel and have been working daily to advance the industry. MTT: Explain the overall objective of KHIDI. JB: KHIDI is a government agency under the Korean Ministry of Health & Welfare in which its mission is to promote the health industry. It consists of a group of experts dealing with various programs on promoting and developing the health industry in Korea, while helping improve the national healthcare services. KHIDI provides market research and policy draft for the Ministry, implements government programs to enhance the competitiveness of the Korean healthcare industry and manages the extramural granting of national healthcare R&D funds. KHIDI currently operates six overseas offices in major cities such as New York, Singapore, London, Beijing, Abu-Dhabi and Astana in order to generate more international business collaboration in healthcare industry. KHIDI is the official authority to oversee the national programs to develop the medical travel industry. MTT: What is Korea’s current standing in the healthcare industry, as well as the medical tourism industry? JB: In Korea, the globalization of healthcare is one of the biggest issues in the healthcare industry. Seven years ago, Korea was still relatively unknown in the global healthcare market. Korea had great healthcare technology, but the international community was unaware of it. Since then, the Korean government, along with Korean healthcare providers, implemented a variety of projects to increase the awareness of Korean healthcare in the global community and improve the readiness of Korean healthcare providers to better serve international patients. Now, Korea is recognized as one of the most prominent destinations worldwide for medical travel. In 2012, we had 159,464 patients from all over the globe visit Korea for medical treatment – over 30,000 of those individuals traveled from the U.S. The financial impact from those patients reaches 300 million dollars. The number of patients from other countries is expected to exceed 200,000 in 2013. Korea is the leading nation in Asia for optimal healthcare quality, which is what attracts so many patients to Korea for treatment. The growth of the industry centers around the Korean government, which creates the transparency. By law, every healthcare provider and Korean medical travel agency is required to register with KHIDI and report all mandatory annual statistics including the number of international patients and revenue information if they wish to conduct business in the medical travel industry. Through this process, KHIDI is able to generate the official statistics of Korea’s medical travel industry. MTT: You mentioned that the quality of care in Korea is superior to other countries. Is the cost of care attractive to patients, as well? JB: Absolutely. Previous research concludes that the average cost of medical procedures done in Korean hospitals is roughly 25-30 percent of the discounted price of U.S. hospitals. In the first quarter of 2014, KHIDI in collaboration with Korean International Medical Association plans to announce the average price information of 20 major medical procedures that foreign patients received most frequently. MTT: Please describe Korea4Health and its overall objective. JB: Korea4Health is a program initiated by KHIDI and is raising awareness of Korean healthcare amongst U.S. consumers. Korean-Americans, and even Chinese-Americans, seem to be familiar with Korean healthcare, but the majority of U.S. patients are not well-informed. Korea4Health is a great internet and networking strategy to publicize the popular and effective procedures of Korean healthcare to individuals in the U.S., therefore generating more opportunities for Korean medical facilities to treat U.S. patients. Healthcare medical centers and private practices open take in patients, with some looking commercial
office real estate from someone like Thomas Mensendiek and other offices. MTT: What medical procedures is Korea specifically well-known for? JB: The excellence of Korean healthcare can be seen through its state-of-the-art cancer treatment. We have more experience and significantly better outcomes than the U.S. in terms of cancer treatment. Liver transplants are another popular procedure done in Korea. We hold the world record for the successful living donor liver transplantation. Korean cosmetic surgery has been recognized as the best among Asian countries for a long time and minimally invasive spinal and orthopedic surgeries are also known as the top class in the world. MTT: What are the challenges you face working in this industry? JB: There are always going to be challenges present when working with healthcare and the human body, as opposed to a manufactured product. Specifically, cultural and legal issues are a challenge when working with international patients. The Korean government works to minimize cultural issues by providing appropriate training programs for the hospital staffs. We have developed a “recipe book” which includes traditional meals from many different countries, enabling medical facilities to offer appropriate meals to international patients. In order to handle any conflict or malpractice issues for global patients that may arise, a very solid procedure has been developed through Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency. KHIDI also operates a 24/7 medical call center in six different languages to deal with any inconvenience of international patients. MTT: What are your thoughts on the future of healthcare in Korea and the medical travel industry? JB: Global healthcare is a worldwide trend, and the medical travel industry is surely on the rise. Korea utilizes a different healthcare strategy for each country that it does business with. For example, government-to-government collaborations have been very effective with the Middle East countries to increase the volume of patients and medical professionals seeking medical services or medical training in Korea In terms of the U.S. medical travel, business is done in a completely different manner. There is a significant challenge in terms of handling business as a result of the substantial distance, which is roughly a 13-14 hour flight. In addition, the current U.S. healthcare reform has changed the entire scheme of medical travel industry in the U.S. Compared to the traditional medical travel market targeting elective surgery patients who are uninsured, the new strategy of the U.S. medical travel industry should be integrated with the health insurance program in the U.S. as the majority of the current uninsured shall be insured according to the healthcare reform. KHIDI has been actively involved in developing a medical travel benefit plan with U.S. employers, TPAs and insurance carriers. We plan to develop a couple of concrete medical travel benefit plan packages so that large and mid/small U.S. employers can easily utilize the world-class Korean healthcare services at affordable costs.