Healthcare providers in Syracuse, N.Y., are seeking to deliver knee replacement surgeries, colonoscopies, cancer treatment and other medical procedures to Canadians who are subject to months-long waits for free medical care through their government's healthcare system, according to Syracuse.com.
The median wait time to visit a specialist in Canada has risen from 9.3 weeks in 1993 to 18.3 weeks in 2015, according to Canadian research group Fraser Institute. Residents of Ontario wait an average of nine months for a knee replacement or other orthopedic surgery, compared with just a few weeks in Syracuse, according to the report.
The Fraser Institute estimated 52,513 Canadians sought non-emergency care outside of the country in 2014, an increase of 26 percent from 2013, according to the report. Ontario was the providence with the largest number of patients who left Canada for medical care, with 26,252 patients. As of 2015, a reported 900,000 Ontarians have experienced problems accessing medical care in their country, and this problem is expected to get worse.
The University Hill Corp., a nonprofit planning and development organization that represents hospitals and academic institutions in Syracuse, hopes to advertise itself as a medical tourism destination to Ontarians. Syracuse may be able to attract a significant number of the 2 million residents of Eastern Ontario for medical care, who are only a 3.5 to 4.5 hour drive away, according to the report.
Canadian businesses have been increasingly buying private health insurance for their executive teams to enable them to seek medical care outside of the Canadian system.
Compared with the free medical procedures in Canada, a hospital bill for knee replacement surgery in Syracuse could be $20,000. Some have questioned whether there are enough Canadians willing to pick up the expenses. According to David Mankiewicz, president of the University Hill Corp., some Canadians already spend substantial amounts of money to travel to Florida for medical procedures.
"They fly over our heads to another market," Mr. Mankiewicz said, according to the report.
University Hill Corp. and Visit Syracuse, a tourist information center, are designing ways to offer package deals to Canadian medical tourists with a focus on concierge medicine.