In addition to coordinating health travel logistics and gathering medical records, medical tourism facilitators play the role of travel agent, appointment setter, concierge, hotel reservationist, tour operator, and hand-holder to clients seeking health services domestically and abroad. Addressing the issues that are likely to emerge as clients trav
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
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
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.
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
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.
A multidisciplinary international team examines the safety, ethics, and health implications of the emerging global market for health care, and the issues that arise when patients cross borders for medical procedures they cannot afford or access at home, from liposuction to kidney transplants. Risks and Challenges in Medical Tourism: Understanding the Global Market for Health Services provides an in-depth, comprehensive assessment of the benefits and risks when health care becomes a global commodity. The collection includes contributions from leading scholars in law and public policy, medicine and public health, bioethics, anthropology, health geography, and economics. This timely and informative handbook looks at medical tourism from the perspective of some of the major regions that send and receive medical tourists, including the United States, the European Union, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Contributors examine how government agencies, medical tourism companies, international hospital chains, and other organizations promote medical tourism and the globalization of health care. The topics explored include the legal remedies available to medical tourists when procedures go awry; potential consequences when patients cross borders for medical procedures that are illegal in their home countries; the relationship of medical tourism to international spread of infectious disease; and the lack of adequate transnational policies and regulations governing the global market for health services.
Changes within the travel industry, such as globalization, consumerism, and advancements in technology, have transformed travel agencies into highly competitive businesses. To remain successful, new business approaches and models must be created in the global tourism and hospitality industry. Travel companies continue to expand their businesses in different countries and seek to collaborate with international entrepreneurs, developing the need for cross-cultural strategies and policies. As travel agencies flourish, identifying these business practices is necessary for these organizations to obtain a competitive management model at the global level. The Handbook of Research on International Travel Agency and Tour Operation Management gathers the latest methodologies, tools, models, and theories regarding tourism development and sustainability into one comprehensive reference source in order to promote, manage, and maximize the profitability potential of travel agencies and tour operation services. Featuring research on topics such as e-marketing, medical tourism, and online travel, this book provides travel agents, managers, industry professionals, researchers, academics, and students with the necessary resources to effectively develop and implement organizational strategies and models.
Can your employer require you to travel to India for a hip replacement as a condition of insurance coverage? If injury results, can you sue the doctor, hospital or insurer for medical malpractice in the country where you live? Can a country prohibit its citizens from helping a relative travel to Switzerland for assisted suicide? What about travel for abortion? In Patients with Passports, I. Glenn Cohen tackles these important questions, and provides the first comprehensive legal and ethical analysis of medical tourism. Medical tourism is a growing multi-billion dollar industry involving millions of patients who travel abroad each year to get health care. Some seek legitimate services like hip replacements and travel to avoid queues, save money, or because their insurer has given them an incentive to do so. Others seek to circumvent prohibitions on accessing services at home and go abroad to receive abortions, assisted suicide, commercial surrogacy, or experimental stem cell treatments. In this book, author I. Glenn Cohen focuses on patients traveling for cardiac bypass and other legal services to places like India, Thailand, and Mexico, and analyzes issues of quality of care, disease transmission, liability, private and public health insurance, and the effects of this trade on foreign health care systems. He goes on to examine medical tourism for services illegal in the patient's home country, such as organ purchase, abortion, assisted suicide, fertility services, and experimental stem cell treatments. Here, Cohen examines issues such as extraterritorial criminalization, exploitation, immigration, and the protection of children. Through compelling narratives, expert data, and industry explanations Patients with Passports enables the reader to connect with the most prevalent legal and ethical issues facing medical tourism today.
