What to know before you consider 'medical tourism'

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- When you look at the Mexico Cosmetic Center website in Tijuana, you understand the draw for surgery.

A Mommy Makeover there will run you at least $10,000 less than in the United States plus you get a few nights in a hotel.

"You can pay a lot less," said Josef Woodman, who runs Patients Beyond Borders out of Chapel Hill.

The multi-billion dollar and growing medical tourism industry has been thrust into the spotlight after two men were killed in Mexico in an armed kidnapping.

They made the trip with a friend scheduled to undergo a surgical procedure there.

Years ago, Woodman went with his father to Puerto Vallarta for dental implants where his dad saved thousands of dollars.

"I think he was quoted $37,000 in the US, and he got it done for $14,000," Woodman said.

Woodman founded the group Patients Beyond Borders, a consulting firm that works with accredited hospitals and ministries of health in places such as Thailand and Mexico.

The goal is to find patients the best care at the best prices.

He zoomed from a border town on a business trip with the group Medical Departures which has booked 130,000 trips in the past 10 years.

"All I can do is look at the success rates with the very top clinics," Woodman said. "I do know that the biggest problems medical travelers have is when they price shop and when they go to clinics that are substandard."

Dr. Duncan Hughes is a plastic surgeon with Synergy with offices in Raleigh and Cary

"They were looking to shave a couple of thousand dollars off their surgery, and I get that that is real money," Hughes said.

He said he has treated a lot of patients who have had those surgeries in Mexico. He gets calls to fix the ones that didn't go well.

"Folks end up spending more money because of the complications and because they need to see me, and I'm a second surgeon and my time is worth money," said Hughes.

Woodman is working with people to give them a safe alternative while saving them thousands.

"Most of the folks are the working poor," he said. "They have a reason for coming. Healthcare is one of those few places where there are options and those options are growing as the quality of healthcare improves in destinations around the world."

ABC11 also spoke to a Duke law professor on Thursday night.

He said competition is the biggest thing missing in U.S. healthcare. And just because you're going to a developing country doesn't mean the quality of care is going to be any less.

It's just important to do your research and go to someone who is board-certified, he added.