Dr. Geoffrey Sher says he's responsible for the births of atleast 17,000 babies around the world, though he hasn't had totravel very far to make that happen.

About 85 percent of his clients have journeyed from out of stateor overseas for his in vitro services, while about 3,000 peoplevisit his website each day, perhaps planning their own pilgrimageof sorts for artificial insemination, genetic testing or eggfreezing.

So where is this fertility treatment mecca, where hopefulcouples must settle in for half a month to commit to a long stringof consultations and treatments?

It's a city not associated as often with medicine as it is withluck.

Las Vegas is seeing patients from around the world flock to thecity for spinal care, cancer treatments, research of Alzheimer'sand Parkinson's diseases, obesity surgeries and cosmeticprocedures—so much so that the city has recently made medicaltourism one of its top priorities.

While slots or cabarets might not be at the forefront of one'smind when planning a time-consuming and costly medical procedure,doctors and city officials say Sin City is ripe for internationalrecognition as a health hub.

“Las Vegas is an attractive place—there is easy entertainment,it is a relatively inexpensive destination, and it's just a funcity for people to stay for two weeks, especially when for instancewhat we do does not incapacitate them,” says Dr. Sher. “They can goout and play and enjoy themselves, rather than sitting in a hotelroom worrying or waiting. In these fields of niche care, boutiquemedical centers can offer unique services, and in a funenvironment.”

Perhaps the best sign that Las Vegas is being taken seriously bythe medical community is the fact that it will host the WorldMedical Tourism and Global Health care Conference in November. Theevent, to be held at Caesars Palace and hosted by the MedicalTourism Association, will bring together about 2,000 medicaldirectors, doctors and decision makers to brainstorm on topicsincluding communication with global health insurers, ortransparency in total pricing for overseas patients.

“We saw Las Vegas as a good place to hold the event this year asmedical tourism there is growing hugely at the moment, and thereseems to be opportunity there for it to expand,” says JeanRodriguez, marketing and engagement coordinator for theassociation, which is based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

So will what happens in Vegas, stay in Vegas?

A Big Economic Driver

When Carolyn Goodman was elected mayor in 2011, she pushed formedical tourism in her first two state of the city addresses,promising that it could become one of the city's biggest economicdrivers in a bid to revive the city's image and to diversify itsindustry.

While Las Vegas has always been a destination for cosmeticsurgery, Goodman saw the state-of-the-art Cleveland Clinic Lou RuvoCenter for Brain Health, which opened in 2009, as an anchor for thecity's serious credentials for top-tier medical tourism.

A medical wellness and tourism manager was appointed to the LasVegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which also put out a176-page Health and Wellness Destination Guide with a list oftreatment centers and details for how much visitors should plan tospend on their trip (about $2,400 in addition to theirprocedure).

“People are initially surprised because historically Las Vegashas not promoted itself as a destination for health and wellness,”says Cheryl Smith, hired last year to look at ways to blend healthcare with the city's $45 billion tourism industry.

The LVCVA partnered last year with the Las Vegas SpaAssociation, and with Las Vegas HEALS, formerly known as theSouthern Nevada Medical Industry Coalition, a nonprofitorganization with more than 600 health care professionals.

Doug Geinzer, the chief executive of HEALS, says it will takesome time before Las Vegas is seen as a medical hub. But it doeshave a few things on its side, including the fact that its grasp onhospitality is difficult to match.

“We have the top hospitality universities in the world, and whatwe can learn from that, we hope we can deliver topatients—exceptional customer service, something that Las Vegas hasalways excelled at,” Geinzer says. “We hope we could develop areputation for delivering that same kind of expertise in the healthcare space. We firmly understand that we're not going to be atransplant capital of the world, but we do have core competenciesin areas such as bariatrics and brain health, and with 41 millionannual visitors we have the capacity in terms of rooms,entertainment, dining or shopping.”

Geinzer says local experts are working together to determine howbest to take advantage of the high concentration of spas on TheStrip, which in total can see up to 1,000 patients an hour andoffer a diverse menu of therapy treatments ranging from Turkish toIndian to Brazilian.

“How can doctors collaborate with those therapists—for example,orthopedics?” he says. “They're looking at bundled payment modelsand how that can be applied to other areas of expertise.”

Battling skin cancer for the past two decades himself, Geinzersays there is also a great advantage to having a fully exposed bodyfor an hour during a massage. A dermatologist could be on hand tooffer preventative checks.

Promoting prevention

In fact, Las Vegas could be a base for preventative healthmeasures for fast-moving businessmen who travel often and havelittle time to make such appointments back home. Holding 22,000conventions just last year, “we could easily take advantage ofthose folks regularly coming to Las Vegas once or twice a year forannual check-ups, scheduled around their meetings,” Geinzersays.

There are doubters, however. Jim Rogers, former chancellor ofthe Nevada System of Higher Education, has been one of theindustry's biggest critics.

“There is a very serious question about the quality of practiceof medicine in this city or part of the state, whether doctors areworking together, and why the medical school is 40 years behind itscounterparts in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico,” he says. “There isno cohesion in the medical community, and in fact there is thebackstabbing and handling of competitors that is so very common inthis town.”

The University of Nevada School of Medicine only graduates 50students a year, 45 of which leave the state because it has nosufficient residency programs for doctors, Rogers says.

“Until they get their act together, medical care is not going toimprove here,” he says. “And if people think that all they have todo is provide entertainment or things to do instead of sitting inthe waiting room, I'm not sure that is the right attitude to takewhen it comes to quality of care.”

Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang, an expert in prostate, kidney, bladderand testicular cancers, disagrees, saying that in the 10 years thathe has been practicing in the state he has seen support from thecity and from other medical professionals.

He says people will travel to Nevada for care for severalreasons. In his case, patients often come for the sought-afterCyberknife technology he uses for treating cancer. But he believesit is also a place that is accessible to people with modest meansor constrictive insurance plans.

“Not everyone can afford to go to the spas or spend thousands atthe casinos, but flights are affordable and plentiful, there's lotsof choice for hotel, the airport is close and it's easy to getaround,” Vogelzang says. “For advanced cancer patients thetreatments are frequent, and toxic. These patients don't mindhaving a comfortable experience.

“At the same time, when it comes to medical care, of coursepeople love their home doctors and prefer to stay in theirhometowns. Why would they leave for medical care? They don't havethe expertise, that's really the reason.”

Dr. Vogelzang, who is now in private practice, says he left hisbase in Chicago to run the Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevadawith promise that it would soon become a destination cancercenter.

“That was always part of the plan, but we did not have thefunding to keep it alive,” he says. “But that does not blunt theidea. We have world-class surgeons and experts here who have cometogether, who have created a medical community here.”

Having published 450 papers on cancer research, he has seenpatients from around the world. But does he believe Las Vegas willbecome more renowned for its operation tables than for its pokertables?

“Las Vegas is always going to be Las Vegas, it's never going tobecome Houston or New York,” he says. “There will always be thataura of gambling or relaxation, but, there are good reasons to comefor medical care, and people can then relax and not feel likethey're going to an out-of-the-way joint. But are we better thanUCLA or University of Colorado? Of course not. We're in the sameleague at some levels, and not at other levels.”