The Lap(-Chole) of Luxury?

As "10 Best" lists go, the names are familiar. Taken alphabetically, Brigham and Woman's Hospital in Boston comes first, and Cedars-Sinai Health System in Los Angeles is followed by the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. Other familiar names include Johns Hopkins and New York's Mount Sinai Hospital. But this isn't a list based on survival, cure, or medical innovation, it's Forbes magazine's list of the 10 best luxury hospitals in the United States – places where the rich and famous (or at least the rich) can maintain their lifestyles while away from home.

Luxury at Home

With every third party payer, public and private, trying to squeeze healthcare providers, hospitals have been looking for ways to balance the budget. And offering a bit of luxury to those willing and able to pay has been a helpful addition to the cash flow.

Methodist Hospital in Houston offers suites at up to $1,325 a night, but that includes the Ralph Lauren sheets. Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, charges only an extra $250 a night, but that includes a French chef and a wine cellar. At Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC, you get extra security, 300 thread count sheets, and your meals served by waiters in tuxedos.

In January 2004, Howard University Hospital opened a new pavilion complete with fine wood furnishings and matching floors, sleek handrails, marble bathrooms, and various sculptures and paintings. Patients are also offered additional amenities such as top-of-the-line bed and bath linens, robes, and slippers.

Even so, the United States lags behind other nations in providing amenities.

Luxury Abroad

France, which according to a United Nations survey has the most efficient system for providing healthcare, may also have the greatest levels of luxury for all patients, not just the wealthy few. According to one report, hospitals in the Bordeaux region all have the air of fine hotels, with private suites and a wonderfully attentive staff. It goes without saying that a French chef is provided.

Marbella Hospital, in Spain, notes that "International stars and personalities from politics, sport and culture are our frequent guests, who appreciate the discretion and anonymity…" Besides the usual amenities, Marbella offers fresh flowers delivered to your room every day.

In a demonstration of the international nature of money, the HELIOS Hospital Group Middle East is opening the German Sports Medical Center in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The center will combine a world class center for sports medicine with the sort of accommodations that a professional athlete with a sneaker endorsement contract has come to expect.

But for sheer luxury, the place to go is Asia. Singapore, with Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth Hospitals, was the pioneer in ultra-luxurious accommodations, offering rooms that look more like those in a five-star hotel than a hospital. In 2003 and 2004, Mount Elizabeth and Gleneagles Hospitals won the Superbrands award, an accolade that measures market dominance, longevity, goodwill, customer loyalty, and overall market acceptance. (The rate of nosocomial infections doesn't enter into the judging criteria.) More recently, the Raffles Hotel Group has branched out to form the Raffles Medical Group, apparently on the theory that if you can manage a luxury hotel that provides cooking classes and a health spa, then including cataract surgery and a craniotomy are minor additions.

While Singapore pioneered the luxury hospital, Thailand and Malaysia are playing catch-up at a fast rate. Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok offers luxury suites that not only look like deluxe hotel accommodations, but feature room service that offers the option of Thai, Chinese, and Western menus, or McDonald's and Starbucks. Where American hospitals have been buying up community hospitals in order to get a steady flow of patient transfers, Thai hospitals team up with travel agents to offer tours of ancient temples to go with executive check-ups and cancer screening. Singapore may still have a slight edge in medical care, but Thailand has taken the lead in hospital gift shops.

Don't Forget Fido

But rich people aren't the only beneficiaries of the new wave of luxury healthcare – there's a new trend towards luxury accommodations for the pets of those who can afford the very best. The East Lake Veterinary Hospital in Dallas, Texas, is one of many veterinary centers that offers luxury suites with choice of diet, recreation, and selected television or DVD programming (presumably the DVD is put on if there's nothing suitable on Animal Planet). For a small fee, you can even get a suite with a webcam, so that you can check up on your pet anywhere there's an internet connection.

It's true – money can't buy health – but all over the world, hospitals are proving that money can pay for a very comfortable way to be sick.

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