These are very exciting times to be involved in the medical tourism industry. This industry has grown so significantly in the past few years it is really hard to comprehend. There are more hospitals and governments marketing their cities regions countries and medical services than ever before.
More Medical Tourism Facilitator companies have started and many country specific Medical Tourism Facilitator companies have been created to handle inbound Medical Tourism. Many countries around the world are now promoting themselves for healthcare services and those that aren't are in the process of implementing their plans to get into the international healthcare sector.
Insurance companies and employers around the world are more open minded than before about implementing medical tourism and allowing for global benefit plans within their health insurance program. New health insurers and employers have implemented Medical Tourism but they have been doing it very quietly and not broadcasting it.
Healthcare Reform in the US may be one of the most exciting trends so far for the medical tourism industry. Almost every insurance company employer and health insurance agent is under the belief that Healthcare Reform will significantly increase the cost of healthcare and health insurance in the US because Healthcare Reform did not reform &ldquocosts&rdquo.
In a recent survey almost one hundred percent of respondents in the US insurance industry felt that Healthcare Reform would have a positive impact on Medical Tourism and more Americans would travel overseas. Healthcare Reform in the US and Healthcare Reform and health insurance reform in other countries will be a large topic at this year's World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress 2010.
The 3rd Annual World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress this year will be bigger and better than ever. We are focused this year on bringing in as many buyers of healthcare as possible from employers insurance companies health insurance agents governments and Medical Tourism facilitators.
We allocated a huge budget this year to create a VIP Buyers Program that will cover certain expenses for up to 200 buyers of healthcare who may not have otherwise been able to afford to come to the conference. This is in addition to the already large number of healthcare buyers that are already planning on coming to the conference anyway!
We are very excited about the addition of our Global Health Insurance Expatriate Healthcare and Travel Insurance Conference we have added this year in2010 which will bring a new dimension to the conference and an even larger number of buyers.
Many insurance companies and employers are going multinational and now have employees or insured all over the world. These insurance companies and multinational employers are creating new insurance policies that are global and allow the insured to receive medical care anywhere in the world. This opens up a whole new market of patients traveling for medical care.
This year we are also organizing a Global Healthcare Reform Ministerial Summit which will focus on Healthcare Reform and health insurance reform occurring around the world and will bring together Ministers of Health and Healthcare Leaders to discuss problems hurdles and solutions in healthcare and health insurance reform occurring in countries around the world. This means we will have the highest quality and level of senior healthcare leaders from around the world in attendance in Los Angeles in September.
A significant practice to remember is that most business done in the medical tourism industry is through personal relationships and building trust and friendships. This can't be done through impersonal email or telephone conversations. People in the industry need to get out to the conference network and build the foundations of strong business and personal relationships in order to succeed in the future.
See you in September!
Jonathan
About the Author
Jonathan Edelheit is CEO of the Medical Tourism Association with a long history in the healthcare industry providing third party administration services for fully insured self-funded and mini-medical plans to large employers groups. He may be reached at Jon@medicaltourismassociation.com.
