What is Medical Tourism - Medical Travel

Medical travel, often described as "Medical Tourism" refers to the practice of traveling to other parts of the country or abroad with an aim to receive necessary or desired medical treatments or procedures. The term medical tourism was introduced by travel agencies promoting the concept of medical vacations, but the concept of medical travel is not new and has a long history dating back thousands of years.

What Types of Care Can I Travel For?

Traveling for medical treatment offers virtually every type of healthcare including executive physicals, orthopedics, dental works, psychiatry, fertility treatments, alternative treatments and even burial services. People choose to travel for health inside as well as outside their home country for many reasons, most often to reduce the expenses for certain treatments/procedures. Many medical procedures in the United States and other developed countries are not covered by medical insurance which means that patients need to pay for them one way or the other. For that reason many people travel to foreign countries because the costs of the treatment/procedure and the travel expenses are often significantly lower than the price their would pay for treatment/procedure alone in their home country.

Another reason for the rapidly increasing popularity of medical travel and medical tourism are long waiting lists for certain medical procedures, while many people travel both inside and outside their home country to receive the best quality treatment or procedure available. On the other hand, some people choose medical tourism to combine the desired medical procedure or treatment and vacations. One of the best examples is dental tourism which is often combined with vacation at attractive tourist destinations.

Foreign-Patient Hospital Care.

Find a hospital that caters to foreign-patients.  Do they have an international patient department and programs to assist English-speaking patients?  

The reality is that many busy hospitals see foreign patients as value-added business.  They won’t say no to the business, but they won’t go out of their way to get it.  That can result in a less-than-desirable foreign-patient experience.  Read more about choosing a hospital ...

How Does a Medical Tourism Trip Work?

Individuals interested in medical tourism usually contact a medical tourism provider who typically requires a medical report, personal doctor's opinion, medical history, the nature of the health issue and some other information. The provider then explains the patient his/her options about the choice of healthcare facilities, destinations, duration of stay, accommodation and other aspects of medical trip according to the advice of a certified medical doctor or consultant. At the chosen destination, the patient is provided with a “guide” who takes care for all the patient's needs both medical and non-medical during the entire stay. After the treatment is completed, the patient either returns home or stays in the chosen destination for few days depending on the type of treatment and personal preferences.

What are the Risks of Traveling for Healthcare?

Medical tourism, especially traveling long distances poses certain risks which should be taken into account before departure. Many conventional medical practitioners are very critical about traveling for health purposes due to a risk of potentially unsatisfactory safety measures and poor quality procedures, lack of follow-up care and a possibility of potentially serious complications and side effects. Medical tourism also carries certain risks that are often overlooked such as various local infectious diseases which virtually do not exists in the patient's home country. In addition, traveling to long distances can increase the risk of complications because it usually requires long flights which are known to increase the risk of blood clot formation. On the other hand, most risks factors associated with medical tourism can be avoided if contacting a reputed medical tourism provider and doing some research on one own.

Resources

• Wikipedia - Medical Tourism
• The Ultimate Guide to Medical Tourism: 50+ Resources
• Medical Tourism: Everybody’s Guide to Affordable World-Class Medical Travel - US News and World Report
• Medical Tourism - Time Magazine
• Books:
  • How to Plan a Safe Medical Tourism Trip