Source: Treatment Abroad
March 24, 2011
Daniel Ordonez of Special Events USA, organizers of the Medical Tourism World Fair for consumers that will be held in New York in May, has put forward five medical tourism myths:
1. It is medical tourismWell, that is what it is often called but just like we say business travel and not business tourism, it is more about the provision of healthcare services across international boundaries than about sprinkling healthcare on vacations. So, medical tourism is really only a small part of medical travel. Incidentally, after that cosmetic surgery, your surgeon will tell you "no sun, no sea, no sand" so don't believe the brochures.
2. It is new and boomingIt is a growing business but not quite so new. Medical tourism had thousands of healthcare visitors in 2010, and stories of patients (even heads of states) travelling for medical care go back decades. As to the boom, guesstimates vary and credible statistics on medical travel are few. Hospitals routinely report hundreds of thousands of patients because they are not counting individual patients but separate episodes of care (once today, once tomorrow or even once to the consult, once to the lab, once to the pharmacy!). Many figures include the local expatriates and holiday/business travelers who fall sick, who are not medical tourists.
3. Patients are going to cheap low quality healthcareCheap it may be relative to some Western countries, but comparing healthcare quality is hard. Healthcare systems are so different and low costs in themselves do not mean low quality. The USA spends less than 4% of GDP on healthcare (Editor: This figure is substantially incorrect. The USA spends over 16% of GDP on healthcare) but has more JCI-accredited facilities than any other country. While the best healthcare in the world is undoubtedly in the USA, the average beats out the average in any other country. In any case, the world is now so flat that US facilities like Johns-Hopkins operate outside the USA as well.
4. Asian healthcare destinations threaten the facilities of the WestSounds logical, but consider the relative sizes of the economies. The USA alone has a two trillion dollar economy, while the entire annual foreign medical revenue from deliberate medical travellers to USA, Malaysia, Thailand and India barely exceeds one billion. How much can be siphoned away when supply is limited? The true danger in medical travel is not to the sending medical economies but to the receiving medical ecologies, as doctors are enticed away from public hospitals, prices escalate, foreign patients get preferential treatment and public healthcare systems become strained. Countries must pay attention to the public health implications of the medical travel industry, or risk hurting their own population and eventually their medical visitors as well. Globalization will happen. The risk for the overburdened payers in countries with expensive healthcare is that the early movers find the better quality healthcare for their insured/employees, and late adopters have nothing left.
5. There are many excellent healthcare destinations in the worldActually, there is not that many. Some countries have announced national programmes and many have marketed themselves as great destinations, but few really deliver. Too many patients had successful surgeries but bad experiences because of poor service, unsafe city streets, or heart-rending street urchin beggars. Beyond excellent, safe and trustworthy clinical services, affordable costs and good customer service, patients need a warm and non-threatening environment, cultural acceptance, ease of travel, safety for themselves and their families, and even opportunities for recreation and shopping for their travel companions. Few places in the world truly provide their patients the peace of mind when health really matters.
Also check: Medical Tourism World Fair
