a big selling point having an american doctor ferguson said the american surgeons work closely with a mexican counterpart and local nurses nash buys additional malpractice coverage for the american physicians who could be sued in the united states by patients unhappy with their results in the past medical tourism has been mostly a blind leap to a country far away to unknown hospitals and unknown doctors with unknown supplies to a place without us medical malpractice insurance said james polsfut the chief executive of nash we are making the experience completely different and removing as much uncertainty as we can medical tourism has been around for decades but has become more common in the past 20 years as more countries and hospitals around the world market themselves to foreigners there are of course risks to going outside the country including the headache of travel and the possibility that the standards of care may be lower than at home if something goes wrong patients will be far from family and friends who can help and it might be more difficult to sue providers in other countries chasing lower costs the high prices charged at american hospitals make it relatively easy to offer surgical bargains in mexico in the united states knee replacement surgery costs an average of about 30000 sometimes double or triple that but at galenia it is only 12000 said dr gabriela flores ten medical director of the facility the standard charge for a night in the hospital is 300 at galenia flores said compared with 2000 on average at hospitals in the united states the other big savings is the cost of the medical device made by a subsidiary of the new jerseybased johnson johnson used in fergusons knee replacement surgery the very same implant she would have received at home costs 3500 at galenia compared with nearly 8000 in the united states flores said galenia is accredited by the international affiliation of the joint commission which sets hospital standards in the us but to help doctors and patients feel comfortable with surgery here nash and galenia worked to go beyond those standards more employers step up efforts to help workers address mental health that included adding an extra autoclave to sterilize instruments more quickly using spacesuitlike gowns for doctors to reduce infection risk and having patients start physical therapy just hours after knee or hipreplacement surgery i glenn cohen a law professor at harvard and an expert on medical tourism called the model used by nash and a few other similar operations a clever strategy to attack some of the perceived risks about medical tourism it doesnt answer all concerns but i will say its a big step forward he said its a very good marketing strategy still he added patients should be concerned with whether the hospital is equipped for all contingencies the skills of other surgical team members and how their care is handed off when they return