Health Traveler
Definite Guide to Medical Tourism

Medical Tourism

Medical Tourism Introduction

Medical tourism is the act of traveling to other coutries to obtain medical, dental or cosmetic care. Medical tourism is a new term but thousands of years old act. People have been traveling across the continents in search of cures for any imaginable illnesses and making therapeutic trips for health wellness. In ancient Greece, pilgrims and patients came from all over the Mediterranean to the sanctuary of the healing god, Asklepios at Epidaurus, and from the 18th century wealthy Europeans have been traveling to spas from Germany to the Nile. In recent years, medical tourism is becoming more popular with patients seeking treatment for health and well-being purposes abroad.

Medical Tourism is also known as Medical Travel, Health Tourism, Surgical Tourism, Health Travel, Treatment Abroad, Surgeries Abroad, Medical Outsourcing.

Why Medical Tourism

If you can get your ailing heart cured or get your flat-nose fixed at home, why bother to travel across the globe for medical treatment? Patients seeking treatment abroad are motivated to do so by various reasons. Many are attracted by the low cost factor or they are simply dissatisfied with the existing medical care in their home country. Frustrated by the long waiting times, inadequate medical care and exorbitant medical expenses, many go abroad in search of medical care. The steep medical costs in America have contributed to many Americans flying to other countries in search of cheaper alternatives. According to the Census Bureau, as many as 46.6 million uninsured Americans are not able to afford the costly medical care, many will jump at the opportunity of getting treatment abroad at a fraction of the price at home.

Medical Tourism Concerns

Though many are eager to be the right pieces in the puzzle, many are still struggling to get the right fit. There are a number of concerns and risk factors for patients getting treatment much less seeking them abroad. Some concerns for patients include a consistent quality of care, lack of extensive dialog between the patient and the doctor, lack of post-op follow up, cultural differences and difficulty in obtaining sufficient insurance coverage. In order to mitigate the risk, its essential that the patient works with a well reputed facilitators.

Medical Tourism Accreditation

The qualifications of the doctors are important but as U.S. board certification requires specialist training to be undertaken in the U.S. and not anywhere else, there would be relatively few doctors in the world having American board certified qualifications compared to the number of overall physicians. Membership and fellowship of the Royal Colleges in the United Kingdom are the main specialist qualifications for much of the Commonwealth countries in the world such as Singapore which is a major medical travel destination. Accreditation with Joint Commission International (the international arm of the Joint Commission) is the usual ‘mark of quality’ for hospitals outside the United States but there are many other accrediting bodies such as Trent Accreditation Scheme in the United Kingdom.

Medical Tourism Savings

The medical savings for unilateral hip replacement are 86.5% and 83.5% in India and Costa Rica, respectively. The calculated savings are actually quite close to the commonly cited number of 90%. But American patients are not particularly interested in medical savings. They really want to know what their total savings will be since this is what truly affects them. For this analysis of hip replacement, the total cost savings are 75% for both India and Costa Rica, as compared to what a patient would really pay in the United States, presuming reasonable efforts to get a discounted price.

Quality & Care of Service

The safety and quality of care available in many offshore settings is no longer an issue. Organizations including the Joint Commission International (JCI) and others such as ISQUA, TRENT, ISO are accrediting these facilities.Receiving safe and quality care is the primary issue for consumers considering outbound medical tourism as a treatment option.