Check out this reflection on Doctor Michael Janssen’s incredible trip to Tianjin, China to visit a growing privately–funded hospital!

Recently, Center for Spine and Orthopedics’ very own spine surgeon, Dr. Michael Janssen, had the opportunity to travel to Tianjin, China to visit with a few colleagues and experience a newly–built, incredible 1,800 bed hospital that was funded entirely by private investments. This state-of-the-art facility took around 3 years to complete at a cost of about $800 million USD, and received no additional support from the government.

This premier hospital in Tianjin includes VIP private suites for patients for only $2k USD per overnight stay. The overnight cost includes a private chef, board/room, and a roof top garden. Most patients tend to stay for average of 4 to 6 days for what would be routine outpatient procedures. The clinic is open everyday with no holiday closures. Doctors work 7 days a week, each seeing around 100 patients per day, and nurses work 6 days a week.

Patients are offered the convenience to make appointments online or by “we chat” to get evaluated by one of the hospital’s top doctors. There are 200+ surgeries performed per day throughout 60 operating rooms that the hospital has available. It is a state of the art, 100% paperless facility that is complete with an entirely automated pharmacy, and a top notch nursing staff. The services this hospital provides are in such high-demand that Dr. Janssen witnessed patients literally camping out in the lobby, all in hopes of getting a 5–minute evaluation with a doctor.

Each year, they receive about 400 applications from spine surgeons to work at this state-of-the-art health center, and typically only 2 are accepted per year based on exceptional credentials. During Doctor Janssen’s trip to Tianjin, he was offered a highly coveted a job as a spine surgeon to accent their international degenerative disc disease spine center! Janssen stated that, “the opportunity to work here is clearly a unique one, and they are growing everyday with great staff and young, energetic team members.”

Doctor Janssen and his friend and colleague, Professor Chen, have worked together in AOSpine for over 15 years. Chen is now the chief of Orthopedics at this amazing hospital.

Over the past 18 years, China has seen major growth in the healthcare industry, and with this hospital in Tianjin, the doctors and nurses continue to help the industry flourish. “The transitions I have seen from my past 18 years of travel to China is simply incredible,” stated Janssen on the growth he’s witnessed in China.