Dental Care price gaps between Tucson and Sonoran, MX markets


I think it would be of great interest to research the price discrepancies of such dental care in the U.S. versus Sonora, Mexico market.  This research would focus on the service prices in the three distinct regions of Tucson, Nogales and Hermosillo.  The further distance and perceived unknown of interior Mexico may provide a barrier for many in Tucson to attempt dental care services.

I am interested in collecting primary data of pricing for various dental services in each of these markets, and analyzing the differences/similarities of the summary data.  I would also have an interest in creating a survey, collecting the response data and doing an analysis of local U.S. views on having dental work done in U.S vs. Sonora.  Also, exploring what price points might be attractive enough to have a patient make a trip to either Nogales or Hermosillo.  I would also attempt to frame the survey questions with certain wording similar to how the health care advertising industry frames its arguments in order to manipulate consumer purchasing of health care. 

Dental services achieved the highest acceleration (almost double) of spending from 2014, versus any other health care sector, with an increase of 4.2% from the previous year’s 2.4% growth.1  Research has linked treating periodontal disease with lower medical costs for diabetes and heart disease, among other conditions.2  An estimated 1.3 million Americans left the US for medical care in 2016; about 50 percent went to Mexico for dental procedures.  The total value of the global medical tourism market is expected to climb to over $32 billion by 2019.5  It would be interesting to conduct a statistical study and show how manipulation of the wording of questions in a survey will impact how a person views dental care in the foreign country of Mexico and how much it could potentially limit them to seek such care even at a significantly lower price.


1 https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/highlights.pdf

2 http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/06/473122240/californias-dental-safety-net-fails-most-clients-report-says

3 http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/10/27/499189286/seniors-teeth-need-dental-care-but-insurance-coverage-is-rare
 
4 http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/06/09/318212444/a-reason-to-smile-mexican-town-is-a-destination-for-dental-tourism

5 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/medical-tourism.htm

6 Kiviniemi, M. T., & Rothman, A. J. (2006). Selective Memory Biases in Individuals’ Memory for Health-Related Information and Behavior Recommendations. Psychology and Health, 21(2), 247-272.

7 Kolodinsky, J. M., & Narsana, R. T. (2003). Factors Influencing the Search for Information about Genetically Modified Food Products. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 27(3), 218-251.

8 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/jbtp    Journal of Business Theory and Practice     Vol. 1, No. 1; March 2013, 104.  Published by SCHOLINK CO., LTD
 

Comments

  1. Dr. Suzie WeisbandOctober 2, 2017 at 9:48 AM

    Couple of things. You can either make me an admin to your site, so I can help (settings, add author, spweisband@gmail.com), when I join, change author to admin. Or you can change it:
    1. Change your project blog - settings basic, change description
    2. Add links to your references by highlighting the link and clicking on "Link"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr. Suzie WeisbandOctober 25, 2017 at 6:28 PM

      Can you make me an admin to your account so I can fix it for you? Go to Design. Settings. Add author. Type in spweisband@gmail.com. Click add. When I join, change the author next to my name (in Settings) to admin.

      Thanks.

      Delete
  2. Dr. Suzie WeisbandOctober 2, 2017 at 9:50 AM

    I had a previous student work on this problem, as his dad was a dentist in Nogales. I'll see if I can find his blog, or previous submissions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownOctober 29, 2017 at 8:57 PM

    I cannot find where the Design, Settings location is for admin changes.

    ReplyDelete

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A pricing analysis was done on three local dental markets.  Two cities (Nogales & Hermosillo) are in the state of Sonora, Mexico, which is the state that borders Arizona just to the South.  The 3rd city city was Tucson, whose pricing can be seen as representative of the entire U.S. dental care market. The analysis was based on data that I collected for all 3 markets concerning five different dental procedures:  titanium implant, laser whitening, a root canal, a crown, and a veneer. I first wanted to physically see that the dental clinics in Mexico would meet the standards of most U.S. citizens.  I found 8 different dental clinics that seemed to fit U.S. customer standards in each of Nogales and Hermosillo.  Nogales pricing ranged at a 40 - 60% average discount from Tucson.  Hermosillo resulted in a 60 - 90% savings.  For example, 1 veneer in Tucson cost, on average, $1196, where in Hermosillo it only cost $136.  Such a difference can be explained by the custom lab work done
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