Sunday, August 12, 2007
What is Medical Travel? | MedTripInfo
What is Medical Travel? | MedTripInfo: "International medical travel means leaving your home country to obtain medical or dental care. If you're new to the topic, you might be surprised to learn that some overseas facilities --even in countries that Americans and Europeans often think of as poor and backward-- can offer comparable standards of medical care to what you're used to in the United States or Western Europe. In addition, customer service levels can be much higher. It's not unusual to find surgeons who give you their cell phone number and encourage you to call, or to find one-on-one nursing and good food. Prices are lower, too. Often much lower, even figuring in the cost of travel. This is a key factor, especially for Americans. As of 2007, uninsured and underinsured patients make up the bulk of medical travelers from the United States. That may change as insurance companies revise their policies. Europeans sometimes have different motivations: leaving their home countries to avoid long waiting lists for treatment. The international medical travel field is still new, so you have to be careful. Gradually, concerns like accreditation and malpractice will be addressed. The Joint Commission International, an arm of US hospital accreditation agency JCAHO, already accredits more than 100 non-US facilities. Oh, and please don't call it 'medical tourism.' Medical treatment and recuperation is serious business ! "
okay, I know I asked about this in another entry of yours, but I dont know how this site works and if you get a message about having comments... so, Im posting it again. Please answer soon!
ReplyDelete-so, I have a question about the privacy;
if the patient has done a drug in the past and is worried about a blood test to search for diseases and such, do they have the right to confidentiality meaning, no one else can hear about it?
I just wanna ask , Why so should we not address it as medical tourism? Our country, the Philippines is promoting medical tourism and I believe we are succeeding in that purpose.
ReplyDeleteFor Juvy Lyn: We in the industry try to avoid the term "medical tourism," as it implies vacationing. While medical "tourism" was the buzz word of a few ago, the fact is that most procedures are not accompanied by leisure travel.
ReplyDeleteAs with business travel (you do not hear the term "business tourist"), medical travelers have a goal, and after they reach it, they usually want to return home to their families and a safe recuperation.
While I agree that for the less invasive treatments (e.g. health check-ups, light dentistry), a "fun 'n sun" approach is acceptable, the more complex, expensive procedures do not lend themselves to tourism in the traditional sense.