Friday, August 24, 2007

The globalisation of healthcare services

The globalisation of healthcare services There are many factors for the growth of so-called medical tourism, which is really simply the globalization of health care services. These factors depend somewhat on the countries being considered, but they include: the rapid development of very high quality health care professionals and facilities in low wage countries in the past decade; the extremely high costs associated with medical, dental, and surgical procedures in the U.S.; and the relatively long waits for some types of care in the U.K., Canada, and other nations with nationalized health payment schemes. I think you’d also have to add the globalization of information technology, such as the World Wide Web, and the attractiveness of many of the destination countries in terms of their cultures and vacation offering. The world is becoming
flat, as Thomas Friedman says, and this applies even to some health care products and services.

1 comment:

  1. Another factor is the increasing specialisation of medical services and the costs of developing specialised skills within individual clinics.

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