ArticleSurgical endoscopy2014
Medical tourism and bariatric surgery: who pays?
Article in Surgical endoscopy, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Decision-making about bariatric and cosmetic medical tourism from countries with universal healthcare: a rapid systematic review.Globalization and health · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of patient and clinician experiences of bariatric tourism.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2026Pooled it
- Getting more than what you pay for? Managing complications of bariatric tourism at an academic center near the US-Mexico border.Surgical endoscopy · 2025Article
- Relationship Between Preoperative Surgical Fear, Anxiety, and Satisfaction Levels in Individuals Choosing Bariatric Surgery Tourism: A Descriptive, Cross-Sectional Study.Obesity surgery · 2025Article
- Development of consensus-derived quality indicators for laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy operative reports.Surgical endoscopy · 2022Article
- Missing something? A scoping review of venous thromboembolic events and their associations with bariatric surgery. Refining the evidence base.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2020Article
- Economic evaluation of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy compared to open radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer treatment in Ontario, Canada.Canadian Urological Association journal = Journal de l'Association des urologues du Canada · 2020Article
- Exploring isolation, self-directed care and extensive follow-up: factors heightening the health and safety risks of bariatric surgery abroad among Canadian medical tourists.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2019Article
- "I didn't have to prove to anybody that I was a good candidate": a case study framing international bariatric tourism by Canadians as circumvention tourism.BMC health services research · 2018Article
- Financial costs and patients' perceptions of medical tourism in bariatric surgery.Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie · 2016Article
- Bariatric surgery saves lives.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe objective of this study was to determine the short-term cost impact that medical tourism for bariatric surgery has on a public healthcare system. Due to long wait times for bariatric surgery services, Canadians are venturing to private clinics in other provinces/countries. Postoperative care in this population not only burdens the provincial health system with intervention costs required for complicated patients, but may also impact resources allotted to patients in the public clinic.
methodsA chart review was performed from January 2009 to June 2013, which identified 62 medical tourists requiring costly interventions related to bariatric surgery. Secondarily, a survey was conducted to estimate the frequency of bariatric medical tourists presenting to general surgeons in Alberta, necessary interventions, and associated costs. A threshold analysis was used to compare costs of medical tourism to those from our institution.
resultsA conservative cost estimate of $1.8 million CAD was calculated for all interventions in 62 medical tourists. The survey established that 25 Albertan general surgeons consulted 59 medical tourists per year: a cost of approximately $1 million CAD. Medical tourism was calculated to require a complication rate ≤ 28% (average intervention cost of $37,000 per patient) to equate the cost of locally conducted surgery: a rate less than the current supported evidence. Conducting 250 primary bariatric surgeries in Alberta is approximately $1.9 million less than the modeled cost of treating 250 medical tourists returning to Alberta.
conclusionsMedical tourism has a substantial impact on healthcare costs in Alberta. When compared to bariatric medical tourists, the complication rate for locally conducted surgery is less, and the cost of managing the complications is also much less. Therefore, we conclude that it is a better use of resources to conduct bariatric surgery for Albertan residents in Alberta than to fund patients to seek surgery out of province/country.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.