US Cooperative for International Patient Programs (USCIPP)

USCIPP’s Annual Benchmarking Survey of International Programs in the US surveys American hospitals and health systems with international programs. Recognizing that our members comprise most (but not all) US hospital and health systems with international health programs, this benchmarking survey is best considered as a lower bound for the actual size of the US market. The goal of this survey is to allow respondents to benchmark their programs against those at peer institutions through the data and insights. Due to the diverse group of member organizations, USCIPP’s survey is also able to distinguish pediatric versus adult services, which permits even stronger benchmarking capabilities.

The annual USCIPP member survey collects information about international market dynamics and inbound international patient volumes, cross-border healthcare collaborations, international telemedicine and remote second opinion services, US hospitals’ international operations, and more. The USCIPP program then anonymously aggregates and reports the information back to the membership via a series of static reports and through visualizations in a custom-built Qlik Sense data dashboard environment. The survey results are the only reliable source for industry information about international patient volumes and revenues at US healthcare institutions, as the data are submitted directly to USCIPP from the hospitals themselves.

Click here to view USCIPP’s high-level market update for the period between July 2019 and June 2020.

The USCIPP program is uniquely positioned to combine its annual benchmarking data with up-to-date economic, healthcare, and political information to provide comprehensive analyses on a range of topics. The portfolio and direction of USCIPP’s business intelligence work constantly evolve as Premium members strategically look to the future and make critical decisions for their programs. Premium members have expressed that USCIPP’s business intelligence work products have been used to inform specific business plans and international marketing, staffing, and business development decisions.

Long-Form International Market Reports
To date, USCIPP has released long-form market reports for Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Kuwait, Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. The market reports provide a comprehensive and deep analysis of each country’s economic, political, and healthcare environment through the lens of opportunities for international healthcare collaborations and outbound medical travel.

USCIPP Monthly International Healthcare Digest
The goal of the USCIPP Monthly International Healthcare Digest is to provide a broad understanding of the current international healthcare market. Each newsletter provides recent updates on shifting international market dynamics, with a focus on new global collaborations, international travel trends, political and economic developments in key countries, international insurance news, developments in cross-border telemedicine and remote second opinions, and more.

USCIPP International Healthcare Collaborations Map
Updated on a monthly basis, the USCIPP International Healthcare Collaborations Map is an interactive representation of all known international healthcare collaborations. It uses a project classification typology that was developed by the USCIPP team with input from our member organizations. This unique tool enables users to better understand the current players and projects in international markets of interest. (Note that the map is available to all Premium USCIPP members and USCIPP organizational affiliates as a standalone app outside of the Qlik Sense dashboard environment. Corporate members may access the map if they choose the Premium International Market Insights Dashboard as part of the “personalized experience” portion of their benefits, as the map is embedded in this dashboard.)

Premium International Market Insights Dashboard
This Qlik Sense dashboard contains all of the latest news compiled from our monthly digests, country-specific economic information, and healthcare data. The USCIPP International Healthcare Collaborations Map is embedded within and included as part of this dashboard. (Note that all Premium USCIPP members and USCIPP organizational affiliates are entitled to a Qlik Sense license as part of their membership, but members must proactively request access. Corporate members may access the Premium International Market Insights Dashboard if they choose it as part of the “personalized experience” portion of their benefits.)

In 2016, USCIPP members identified the development of standardized metrics to measure international patient experience and satisfaction that can be benchmarked across organizations as a high-priority need for the consortium. USCIPP partnered with Rush University’s Center for the Advancement of Healthcare Value (CAHV) to develop the survey instrument, methodology, administration platform, and database necessary to launch this initiative. USCIPP formally launched the initiative in April 2019. Since the official launch, participating USCIPP members have collectively surveyed thousands of international patients. The benefits that USCIPP members gain through their participation in this initiative include operational insights based on feedback gathered from international patients and their families results that may be benchmarked against trends at other participating organizations, peer discussions via monthly committee meetings, and methodologies specifically designed for international patients.

Click here to learn more about the USCIPP International Patient Experience Initiative and our other research in the international healthcare field. 

In 2019, USCIPP launched an initiative focused on conducting legal due diligence related to the cross-border delivery of international telemedicine and remote second opinions (RSOs). The cost of having local counsel evaluate legal issues related to the delivery of telemedicine and RSOs in a new country/jurisdiction can be very high – sometimes $20,000 or more for a single market. Given the significant fees required to commission this kind of work, USCIPP’s members have encouraged the development of a mechanism that would allow for hospitals to share in the costs of conducting legal assessments regarding the delivery of telemedicine and RSOs in countries/jurisdictions of high interest to the general membership. The goal of collaborating in this fashion is, of course, to enable USCIPP members to complete a large amount of their legal due diligence process for numerous countries/jurisdictions at a substantial discount vs. what it would cost for a single institution to do the work alone.

After polling the broader membership and consulting with experts in law, telemedicine, and international business at several prominent member organizations, USCIPP developed a request for proposal (RFP) to contract for legal services to evaluate cross-border telemedicine and RSO services in a number of different markets chosen by USCIPP members. The RFP was sent to multiple international law firms, and USCIPP’s members were given an opportunity to evaluate the responding firms’ proposals. Hogan Lovells—a large, global law firm with deep experience in this area—was ultimately selected as the organization that submitted the strongest proposal.

USCIPP and its member hospitals developed a standardized matrix that is used to analyze each market’s cross-border telemedicine and RSO legal/regulatory landscape. The final deliverables address legal issues related to the provision of telemedicine and RSOs in these markets. The resultant documents are meant to inform and empower individual institutions’ business and legal teams to develop tailored models of care with appropriate legal documentation.

Click here to learn more about the legal due diligence country reports that are currently available.