Thursday, November 25, 2010

Benefit of Medical Tourism

Medical tourism - the process of "leaving home" for treatments and care abroad or elsewhere- is an emerging phenomenon in the health care industry. Broadly speaking, medical tourism is the act of traveling to obtain medical care. As patients are exposed to greater financial burdens resulting from higher co-payments and price transparency efforts, they are likely to seek low cost treatments abroad. The safety and quality of care available in many offshore settings is no longer an issue. People who travel abroad look for safety, quality, and accreditation certification.

Benefits of Medical tourism: one of the main benefits of medical tourism is the massive potential for savings. Treatment in a foreign country is much more affordable than the patient's home country. The cost for the procedure in foreign countries is just 20 to 35% the cost of the same procedure that is offered in USA, UK, and European Union.

In USA sometimes the waiting period for the treatment can be months together, and those required treatment more urgently are benefitted with medical tourism.

Global standards of care and technological advancements in healthcare are rapidly improving all over the world, improved communication opportunities make it easier to find and contact medical centers overseas.

Another factor to consider is health insurance. People without health insurance, or with a limited insurance policy, are more likely to seek other options such as medical tourism. If the prices of healthcare services increase, the range of treatments and procedures that the health insurance policies cover decreases.

Accreditation is particularly important because it can give consumers and employers a level of confidence that the services provided are comparable to those available in the USA. The common accreditations are JCI, Trent, NCQA, ISO, ESQH, ISQUA, and Netherlands Institute for Accreditation of Hospitals. Many hospitals abroad have JCI Accreditations.

A side benefit of medical tourism is having the opportunity to travel to another country. For some medical tourists, especially those seeking dental care, cosmetic care or wellness treatments, they can enjoy the opportunity to travel overseas in addition to receiving less expensive healthcare.

Medical facilitators are companies that guide the use of medical tourism for patients and providers. Many patients find using facilitators to be more convenient and expedient than looking for a program on their own. Facilitators have experience in the medical tourism process and are able to address any concerns or questions that patients might have. They often provide assistance with logistics and travel arrangements. Patients may even be able to get lower rates from medical facilitators than directly from clinical programs abroad.

SurgeryPlanet is the most popular global medical tourism facilitator across the globe. Surgery Planet has high quality hospitals that have been accredited by JCI and other international and domestic hospital accredit ting authorities. For more information on SurgeryPlanet and its services, kindly log onto www.surgeryplanet.com or email your enquiry to info@surgeryPlanet.com

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