Commerce Department, University HealthSystem ink $500,000 deal

The University HealthSystem Consortium has been awarded a 3-year, $500,000 agreement from the U.S. Department of Commerce as part of the National Export Initiative that intends to increase the number of foreigners coming to U.S. health care providers for medical care, also known as medical exports.  

The award will be used to better quantify and grow the number of medical exports, which researchers and the government believe may have a large impact on the U.S. health care economy, the two groups said.

The project will be led by UHC's Comparative Data & Informatics department, headed by Senior Vice President Steve Meurer.  

“Our goal is first to define and measure medical exports coming to the U.S. and quantify their impact on our health care economy,” Meurer said in a statement. “Subsequently we will develop strategies to stimulate growth in the number of international patients choosing U.S. health care providers.”

Meurer and Samuel Hohmann, who are both on the faculty at Rush University, will establish forum for international patient programs; create a standardized set of data elements to be reported on international patients; host a series of meetings focused on strategies to increase the global competitiveness of U.S. health care providers; and develop strategic relationships with foreign ministries of health and private payers.

The award is part of the National Export Initiative, which intends to double medical care exports by 2015.  

The United States is experiencing increasing competition from hospitals abroad for patients with specialty-care needs, and researchers estimate the current trade surplus for medical travel to the U.S. could be as high as $1 billion.