New NYC Med Travel Firm Is ‘Happy to Work With Travel Agencies’
by Nick VerrastroNew York plastic surgeon David Shafer, MD, has launched a Manhattan-based medical travel company that “would be happy to work with travel agents.”
 |
The new company, Medical Tourism NYC, is a division of Shafer Plastic Surgery LLC. The company is initially focusing on plastic surgery procedures for domestic and international patients, but Shafer’s business plan includes expanding the medical services offered to include orthopedics, dermatology and gynecology at facilities throughout New York City.
Medical Tourism NYC’s website and app allow clients to book their own travel directly on Travelocity as part of an agreement between the two companies. Shafer told Travel Market Report that the Travelocity booking capability is simply a convenience for patients who want to make their own travel arrangements.
The company does not currently have any formal arrangements with traditional agents. However, Shafer said, “We would be happy to work with travel agencies, and we are not interested in any form of commission. We would work closely with any company that has the best interest of their client and our patients at heart.”
The patients
More than half of Dr. Shafer’s patients come from outside of Manhattan and overseas.
“Our definition of medical tourism is not just international travel, but out-of-town travel as well,” he said. “Patients visit our office from all over the country as well as the world, so domestic markets are certainly a large part of our practice.”
In terms of patient demographics, “Many patients are business executives who stop by the office, during frequent business trips to New York City, for their regular Botox or filler treatments,” Dr. Shafer said. “Others are ‘jet-set’ types coming in for more extensive body or face procedures.”
Dr. Shafer’s first experience with medical travel came during his training at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “I worked with patients from all over the world. Part of the system at Mayo was accommodating out-of-town patients and maximizing their experience as they navigated through the health system.”
Travel Market Report interviewed Dr. Shafer about his new medical travel company and how it might work with travel agents.
Why did you decide to partner with Travelocity as opposed to another online travel agency?
Shafer: There really is no particular reason for choosing one over the other. I have always liked Travelocity’s interface, but I am sure that any of the services would work just as well. The integration into our website and app were seamless and worked well with my technical developers.
How does the Travelocity partner program work for Medical Tourism NYC?
Shafer: The Travelocity engine is embedded into our app and our website, allowing patients to directly search for their travel arrangements. Externally to the customer, it does not appear as Travelocity, but that is the engine running the search criteria and handling the booking of the tickets, hotel arrangements, etc.
Does Medical Tourism NYC have any direct involvement with the travel portion, or earn any part of the commissions Travelocity gets on bookings?
Shafer: There is a nominal portion of the booking fee which is passed over to us. However, by nominal I am talking next to nothing; so it really is not even a calculation in my consideration. If we were booking thousands of people per month it might add up to something, but at this point it’s not much.
What was your strategy behind setting up the company’s website and travel booking capability?
Shafer: The MedicalTourismNYC.com website and app were created in response to the Internet age. Videoconferencing and international travel are commonplace, and international borders for medical care are becoming less defined.
Through this technology, I can evaluate a patient in Europe and they can be in my office having surgery later in the week. I can then follow their progress over the Internet as well. While some might say that this puts a distance between the doctor-patient relationship, I have found that it actually strengthens it by allowing more direct and frequent communication between the doctor and the patient.
If a traditional travel agency wanted to work with you, how would you work with them?
Shafer: It is our intention to keep any external travel component and medical decisions separate. As far as any agreement, we could certainly present patients with a list of preferred or exclusive travel agencies.
Do you make travel-related recommendations based on the special needs of medical travelers – type of hotel, recovery time before flying home, if they should have a companion, ground transportation, etc.?
Shafer: Yes, depending on the procedure planned and the patient’s needs, we are able to tailor the aftercare for the patient. Most patients like the idea of staying at the hotel across the street from our hospital so that they are very close to our operating facilities and our office. Additionally, these rooms are already outfitted with everything needed for aftercare.
As an aside, I live just a few blocks away, so I am able to make afternoon and morning rounds on every patient while they are in town. We have nurses that specialize in taking care of body or face procedures.
We also like to tailor the patient’s psychological recovery to their physical recovery. We have nurses who are more holistic-focused and nurses who are more traditional. In talking with the patient, through our nurse coordinator, we attempt to find a good match for the patient’s aftercare. We have guidelines for length of stay and post-procedure activity and make recommendations accordingly.
Many patients bring a companion, but many also come alone as they do not want anyone to know that they are having surgery. Patients with companions may just require overnight nursing, while other patients may need private duty nursing for several days.
RESOURCES
Medical Tourism NYC, www.medicaltourismnyc.com
