imageMore U.S. patients are faced with spending more out-of-pocket for health care services, to meet high-deductible health plans and rationally spend their health savings account investments. As rational economic men and women, some are seeking care outside of the United States where many find transparently priced, high-value, lower-cost healthcare. Check out the table from the Medical Tourism Association, and you can empathize with cash-paying patients looking for, say, gastric bypass surgery or a heart valve replacement.

My latest column in the Huffington Post discussed this trend, which points first to the Cleveland Clinic — a top-tier American healthcare brand that’s building a new hospital in central London — in one of the highest-rent districts in the world near Buckingham Palace. Medical tourism traditionally happens in hospitals, but the concept is taking on other forms in this re-shaping retail health category: on cruise ships, in hotels, and via global telehealth providers.

You can read more on the reshaping medical tourism market here in the Huffington Post.