Can this newest business make a splash?

A new medical tourism venture, Fly2Cosmetic, backed by San Serriffe based Laprofilo Private Equity Partners, will be launching in Europe and the USA in the summer of 2014. Today’s announcement poses some interesting challenges for regulators and existing players in the sector.

A new medical tourism venture, Fly2Cosmetic, backed by San Serriffe based Laprofilo Private Equity Partners, will be launching in Europe and the USA in the summer of 2014. Today’s announcement poses some interesting challenges for regulators and existing players in the sector.
Fly2Cosmetic plans to capitalise on the growth seen in the market for cosmetic surgery abroad and will build on the success of the low cost airline boom in Europe, evidenced by the success of businesses such as EasyJet, Wizzair and RyanAir. The new venture has an interesting business model and may prove to be a serious threat to the established agencies and facilitators in the market for cosmetic surgery travel.

An innovative sales model

Fly2Cosmetic will operate out of airports in the UK and USA. Patients will be recruited through local “Medical Tourism Hostesses”, emulating the “Tupperware party” model. Local sales agents or facilitators (“Hostesses”), will host Fly2Cosmetic parties in the homes of influential women within the community. At these gatherings, the sales agent will show videos of cosmetic surgery destinations and overseas clinics. Selected cosmetic surgeons overseas will be able to “visit the party” via Skype and answer questions from the guests in attendance. The invited guests will be able to place orders for surgery on the spot at pre-agreed prices, taking advantage of heavy discounts for bulk booking. Discounts of up to 30% will be available for the booking of more than ten surgeries by guests attending any one party. Fly2Cosmetic claim that this is a far more efficient method than selling online and having to go into lengthy correspondence with patients about the relative advantages of different destinations, clinics and surgeons. In exchange for their efforts, the householders hosting the Fly2Cosmetic parties will receive a complimentary hostess prize, such as a toaster, a coffee pot, or free Botox®.

Choice of destination

The intriguing aspect of Fly2Cosmetic’s offering is the way in which the choice of destination clinic will ultimately be decided. Prospective clients will be flown on charter flights using the latest in-flight, at-seat technology. According to Fly2Cosmetic’s Operations Director, April Connors, this is how it will work:
“Patients will board the Fly2Cosmetic party flight at their local airport. Let’s say we get a group of Essex girls on a charter flight from London Stansted. As the flight leaves the English coast, the girls will be given a further choice of destinations and prices through their in flight entertainment system. Participating clinics will be able to bid for patients in real time, adjusting pricing to generate patient throughput and fill unused theatre time and beds. The Fly2Cosmetic clients will be able to review the options and then vote on the final destination and choice of clinic. Based on the voting, the pilot will be informed and the flight will then be re-routed to the destination voted for by the clients. It’s the ultimate in patient choice and will be a great and fun way of helping our clients to select the clinic that’s right for them”

Legal complications?

Laprofilo Private Equity, the San Serriffe based investors in Fly2Cosmetic have an impressive track record in healthcare development, and have learned a great deal from their previous medical tourism initiatives. “Treatment Afloat”, their cruise ship based medical tourism venture was launched in 2011 from Lower Caisse, the southern island of the San Serriffe archipelago. However, Treatment Afloat’s surgeons have admitted that performing a “balanced” breast enlargement in the heaving Southern oceans was “never going to be easy”. The project was abandoned after UK clinical negligence specialists, Sue, Grabbitte and Runne, successfully pursued compensation for a British woman who signed up for breast enlargement as a 32B and ended up with one breast as a 36C and another as a 38DD. Vick Lorenzo from Sue, Grabbitte and Runne is highly critical of the new venture: “Patients will be contracting for surgery inflight whilst in international airspace. The contract involves a company based offshore, and surgeons and clinics in multiple destinations. Us lawyers will have a field day with this one.”

Certification system on the way

A raft of new certifications are on the cards to give credibility to this new model for medical tourism. The role of the Medical Tourism Hostess will be crucial to the success of the venture.
The initiative has been welcomed by Stefan Renato, Head of the San Serriffe Medical Tourism Association (SSMTA), formed back in 2012. According to Renato, “we’re already working on a certification programme for Fly2Cosmetic’s party hostesses. The new Medical Tourism Hostess Certification programme will demonstrate to patients that hostesses possess the knowledge they need to make decent commissions on patient bookings. We’ll be offering the certification via our new training app ($100 download) so that participants will be able to complete the course in a matter of minutes.”