As healthcare spending in the U.S. continues to rise, employers are increasingly turning to direct contracting with Centers of Excellence (COE’s) in order to lower healthcare costs and provide competitive insurance benefits to employees
As travel is slowly returning to normal, medical travelers have new expectations from a medical tourist destination - these patients now not only seek quality and affordability of medical care but also a medical travel destination that has put in place adequate measures to safeguard their health, given the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contracting healthcare to Centers of Excellence is not a new model, employers have been leveraging these programs to provide quality healthcare at lower costs to their employees. However, with the economic downturn and pent-up demand for healthcare triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the paradigm of health will shift toward this model - more self-funded employers will adopt this healthcare plan to minimize healthcare spendings while optimizing clinical outcomes for their employees
Cleveland Clinic has been awarded “Accreditation with Excellence” for its medical travel services by Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) for a second consecutive term.
The last one-and-a-half years have forced many individuals to reexamine their health and lifestyle choices, and this shift will influence medical travel decisions in the post-COVID-19 era. Here are the top three pull factors that will drive medical tourism success in the new normal:
The coronavirus pandemic has induced a shift in healthcare needs that wlll disrupt the medical tourism ecosystem. New strategies are therefore needed to meet the new metrics of success in medical tourism
The Medical Tourism Magazine sat down recently with Dr. Andrea Maggioni, a Pediatrician and Director of Global Health at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital (formerly Miami Children's Hospital) to discuss his experience building the global medical travel program for Nicklaus Children's Hospital and how the program has become a major player in the industry. Dr. Maggioni also shares insights into the value of the Global Healthcare Accreditation for the global healthcare program and how it has fostered trust and credibility.
The rules are gradually changing for medical travel, and as the industry stages a comeback after the dark years of the pandemic, medical programs that have a third-party validation of their policies, procedures, and processes will see a greater long-term sustainable growth in medical travel, as medical travelers have now experienced a paradigm shift in what they consider to be “health.” Stakeholders must keep adapting to these changes and position themselves to be key players in the industry or lose out to those who do.
Trust is the new metric for the new normal of medical travel. If a health buyer or payer does not entrust their overall health - mental, physical, and emotional - to your hands during the entire care continuum, they will not be scheduling that flight to your destination
In this interview with the Medical Tourism Magazine recently, Juan Luis Giraldo, MD, Medical Director of Inser Group, one of the leading fertility treatment providers in Latin America, speaks about how the company is expanding its frontiers and driving growth in fertility travel.
In this interview, Dr. Ariel Ortiz, Medical Director of the Center, discusses his contributions to the field of bariatric surgery, the rise of bariatric surgery services for international patients, and how accreditation has set the center’s medical tourism program apart and built trust with local patients and medical tourists from around the world.
Expect in the future an increasing number of patients to look for accreditation or certification as the determinant in selecting a medical travel agent. Certification assures patients that a facilitator has been vetted by a globally recognized third-party accreditor, affirming that the facilitator has the required protocols, processes, and staff training to deliver a safe and high-quality treatment journey and experience.
Patient experience is essential for every point of the care continuum, from departure to discharge; patients want a seamless medical journey as well as quality medical treatment and a relaxing post-treatment recovery period. Meeting patients at these touch points is a key to unlocking success in the medical tourism industry. GHA has a team of global experts and healthcare leaders to redirect organizations and businesses to meet patients’ needs effectively.
With the Certified Medical Travel Professional program, become a highly valuable and recognized expert in the industry, providing relevant and exceptional solutions for medical tourists at each touchpoint of the medical travel patient care journey. To register for the CMTP certification, click here.
To tap into the ever growing medical tourism market, destinations need to leverage key elements that are crucial for building a sustainable medical tourism destination, including government support, public-private partnerships, tourism planning, human resources training, accreditation and certification, and marketing and promotion.
Medical tourism, Medical travel, Medical Tourism Training, Medical Travel Training, consumer education, Global Healthcare Accreditation, Certified Medical Travel Professionals, training, accreditation. Discover the exciting resurgence of the medical tourism industry through the eyes of the founder of the Medical Tourism Association. With innovative players entering the market and fresh strategies, the pandemic has provided an opportunity for positive change and growth. The MTA is heavily investing in consumer education and awareness, while the Medical Tourism Moonshot initiative aims to eliminate barriers hindering sector success. Join the first American healthcare conference focused on medical tourism adoption by self-funded employers and payers in May and invest in training and accreditation for optimal business outcomes. Don't miss out on the tremendous opportunities the future of medical tourism holds. Contact Jonathan Edelheit to learn more.
As Medical travel continues to grow globally, Accreditation will be a key differentiating factor, as creating “Trust” between the consumer and provider is becoming a defining factor differentiating the most successful hospitals from those struggling to grow their programs. Trust will become an even more important factor as the media picks up stories of bad patient experiences in Mexico, Turkey and other destinations, where consumers have chosen the wrong facilitators, hospitals or doctors and have a bad or less desirable outcome then they expected.
