Handbook On Medical Tourism And Patient Mobility

The growth of international travel for purposes of medical treatment has been accompanied by increased academic research and analysis. This Handbook explores the emergence of medical travel and patient mobility and the implications for patients and hea

Medical Tourism John Connell Although it may seem a recent phenomenon, tourism has long been associated with improved health, resulting in a boom of spas, yoga and rejuvenation treatments. Medical tourism is a more recent example of niche tourism, with increasing numbers of people travelling abroad in search of cosmetic enhancement and solutions to various serious medical conditions, often through surgery. This book looks at the background and rise of both health and medical tourism, alongside its global expansion and growing complexity, and examines how medical tourism benefits but also challenges local healthcare providers, and contributes to regional economies and the tourism industry. It offers a unique overview of an emerging component of the tourist industry that is a distinct and controversial element of health provision. The book also provides insights into current topics such as global health and ethics, making this an essential resource for researchers and students of medical tourism and healthcare.

Medical and health tourism is a significant area of growth in the export of medical, health and tourism services. Although spas and improved well-being have long been part of the tourist experience, health tourism now includes travel for medical purposes ranging from cosmetic and dental surgery through to transplants and infertility treatment. Many countries including China, Cuba, Hungary, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore actively promote and compete for the medical tourist dollar, while many developed countries also provide niche private services. However, the field of medical tourism is increasingly being subject to scrutiny and debate, particularly as a result of concerns over regulatory, ethical and wider health issues. Drawing on a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives, this book is one of the first to critically address the substantial political, philosophical and ethical issues that arise out of the transnational practices of medical tourism. Through a series of chapters the book engages with key issues such as the role of regulatory and policy structures in influencing medical and health tourism related mobilities. These issues are investigated by considering range of developing and developed countries, medical systems and health economic perspectives. The book adopts a multi-layered perspective to not only investigate the business and marketing practices of medical and health tourism but places these within a broader framework of contemporary globalisation, policy and practice. By doing so it opens up debate of the ethical space in which medical and health tourism operates as well as reinforce the wide ranging perspectives that exist on the subject in both the public and academic imagination. This significant contribution will be of interest to students, academics in tourism and medical policy, trade and economic development fields.

This book examines the drivers of inbound medical tourism in Germany. In light of growing international trade of medical services, it provides a quantitative analysis of the determinants of international patients’ choice of destination. It develops coherent definitions of medical tourism and medical travel, and presents multiple unique data sets to identify inbound medical travelers in Germany. Further, it introduces an empirical modeling framework for investigating and quantifying the drivers and effects of a patient's choice of destination at the national, hospital and individual level. A particular focus of the analysis lies on cultural proximity and personal networks as key channels to convey trust in a destination’s service. In addition, real consideration sets of international patients are presented. The findings presented are embedded in a global context and will help inform future empirical investigations and modeling.

The phenomenon of transnational health care has grown rapidly over recent years and this book provides a comprehensive landscape of diverse research communities' attempts to capture its implications for existing bodies of knowledge in selected aspects of medicine, medical ethics, health policy and management, and tourism studies.

From exotic spa treatments to euthanasia, this book examines the background and social context of medical tourism—the practice of traveling for health care. This work also documents how this industry is reshaping the face of medicine worldwide for individuals, local communities, and national health care systems. Medical Tourism: A Reference Handbook provides an accessible overview of the state of medical tourism, written from a balanced, unbiased perspective. The authors provide relevant social context for this controversial topic, discussing the state of extremely limited research data on medical tourism; the ethical issues involved, such as traveling to have a black-market organ transplanted; and the significant impact of medical tourism on health care systems—that of the United States, and those of the destination countries. The book highlights many contemporary problems, controversies, and implications of medical tourism both for individuals and health care systems, and presents thought-provoking potential solutions. The topic of medical tourism is also addressed against the backdrop of current healthcare reforms in the United States. Readers can reference a wealth of additional material on medical tourism, ranging from original documents to extensive directories of selected organizations and resources.

Explaining how to develop a patient-centered medical tourism program, the Handbook of Medical Tourism Development is the ideal guide for any hospital, clinic, hotel, spa, or ancillary facility wishing to become a medical tourism provider. From high-cost surgery, transplants, diagnostics, and preventive wellness checkups, to medical and wellness spa retreats, patient follow up, and outcomes measurement, this book covers the gamut of related issues. Details the elements necessary for a successful system Addresses contracting issues likely to arise Includes access to additional resources on the book’s website Maria K. Todd prepares readers to build the medical tourism service line, integrate physicians and other service providers, develop a safe and effective quality and patient-centered infrastructure, document processes and workflows, determine pricing, evaluate reimbursement contracts, and measure outcomes. She offers useful nuts-and-bolts guidance on confidentiality, documentation, quality and safety, hospital accreditation schemes, revenue implications, and contracting. Sharing time-tested insights, the book will help readers avoid common pitfalls when working with U.S. and international health insurance companies, case managers, professional facilitators, and multinational employers. Read a recent a href="http://www.prlog.org/11757451-medical-tourism-expert-breaks-down-step-by-step-medical-tourism-program-development-for-providers.html " press release about the Handbook of Medical Tourism Program Development: http://www.prlog.org/11757451-medical-tourism-expert-breaks-down-step-by-step-medical-tourism-program-development-for-providers.html

The Routledge Handbook of Health Tourism provides a comprehensive and cutting-edge overview of the philosophical, conceptual and managerial issues in the field of health tourism with contributions from more than 30 expert academics and practitioners from around the world. Terms that are used frequently when defining health tourism, such as wellbeing, wellness, holistic, medical and spiritual, are analysed and explored, as is the role that health and health tourism play in quality-of-life enhancement, wellbeing, life satisfaction and happiness. An overview is provided of health tourism facilities such as thermal waters, spas, retreats and wellness hotels and the various challenges inherent in managing these profitably and sustainably. Typologies are given not only of subsectors of health tourism and related activities but also of destinations, such as natural landscapes, historic townscapes or individual resources or attractions around which whole infrastructures have been developed. Attention is paid to some of the lifestyle changes that are taking place in societies which influence consumer behaviour, motivations and demand for health tourism, including government policies, regulations and ethical considerations. This significant volume offers the reader a comprehensive synthesis of this field, conveying the latest thinking and research. The text is international in focus, encouraging dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and areas of study and will be an invaluable resource for all those with an interest in health tourism.