Medical Tourism Industry Matures Into Three-Stage Business Model
A new study reveals how countries—from the US to India—are systematically developing medical tourism through coordinated stages: first attracting travelers, then signing formal care-sharing agreements, and finally creating integrated patient management systems. The findings suggest the $100+ billion medical tourism sector is shifting from ad-hoc arrangements toward professionalized infrastructure that could reshape global healthcare markets.
Originaltitel: Care, Cure and Travel: Towards a symbiosis of medical treatment and tourism?
<p>A growing number of patients seek medical care outside their country of residence. More mobile populations that seek access to information about international medical treatment alternatives have influenced a booming medical tourism industry. The countries engaged in medical tourism are ranging from countries with high cost of medical care like the USA and Japan to medium cost countries, like Singapore and Germany to low cost countries like India and Poland. Engaging in medical tourism by attracting patients internationally involves a process of internationalization of healthcare. Countries have commonly gone through different stages in their approach to medical tourism which has matured the industry. A first stage in the internationalization is encouraging regular travelers to consider treatment options in a destination. A second stage involves the signing of agreements with healthcare systems in countries that can remit patients abroad. A third stage is to develop an integrated organization taking patients all needs before, during and after treatment into consideration. Our study is based on more than 80 in-depth interviews as well as secondary data from countries in Europe, Asia and North America. Much lower medical treatment prices in many Asian and Latin American countries act as driving forces for medical tourism attracting Western medical tourists to seek treatment in those countries.</p>