Medical Tourism

Are you looking to take your medical tourism marketing to the next level? Social media marketing is rapidly becoming one of the most effective ways to market your products and services. Basically, it is traditional networking on steroids, where you interact, often in real time, with potentially dozens or even hundreds of potential and current customers.

Medical tourism providers can adopt social media marketing as a additional tool for their marketing plans. It also contributes to build stronger relationships that show transparency and trust to your clients and colleagues.

Facebook and Twitter are just an example of the most popular social media networks used today. They are widely used by different types of businesses around the world, and the medical tourism industry is no exception. Hospitals, clinics and doctors are finally realizing the need to have a closer relationship with the market they need to target.

Although one might think of social marketing as simply setting up a Facebook page and Twitter account, it is much more than that. There are steps you need to take in order to be prepared to launch a social media marketing program. There should be someone in charge of updating the information so that it is fresh and relevant for your fans to maintain interest in your page. In Facebook, for example, you should interact with your followers, posting news, events or information that generates interest in your business.

Twitter provides a similar approach to Facebook in that you are trying to gain as many followers as possible, however, its  style is more focused on the individual and “what is happening right now.” In the same way you should try to deliver the best and freshest most relevant information possible, including news and updates of others you may be following. This way, people will see that you find their posts interesting and will start following you as a result.

These and other social networking options like Medical Tourism City, if well managed will give you a closer relationship and feedback from your current market of interest.

In spite of all the confusion and opinions regarding the recently passed health care bill, medical tourism stands strong and growing. There are multiple factors regarding this reform that contribute to the development and growth in the medical tourism industry.

Longer waiting times due to a combination of increased insured patient volume and a shortage of doctors will keep pushing patients toward international care. The increased bureaucracy and paperwork needed to resolve insurance and coverage issues will also be another factor that will encourage patients to look for better and faster medical care in foreign countries.

Whether the healthcare bill had passed or not, medical tourism will continue to grow up in a multimillion dollar industry, opening more opportunities to countries and patients around the world with better health care.

For this week’s blog, I thought I’d stay away from sweeping topics about medical tourism and deal with the nitty gritty of how to choose a medical provider that best fits your needs.

If you’ve done any research at all then you have no doubt been overwhelmed by the sheer number of medical providers – from all around the world, promoting their services as the best and cheapest.

So how do you go about choosing a hospital that is right for your needs?

1. Experience. Look for a facility/doctor that is performing high numbers of the procedure or treatment you desire. If you want spit roasted baby back ribs, don’t go to Madras Mahal’s Vegan Restaurant for dinner. By the same token if you need a heart bypass, then find a hospital that specializes in this procedure. Ask how many heart bypasses they perform each year, and their complication and mortality rates. Although there is no magic number, I would avoid facilities with a procedure volume of less than three digits. The experience of the hospital and surgeon is key to a successful procedure and therefore should be your number one priority.

2. Accreditation. Look for a facility that is accredited by a reputable organization such as the Joint Commission International. Although accreditation is not a guarantee that you will have a perfect procedure outcome, the higher the procedural standards and accountability mechanisms that are in place, the better your odds for a successful procedure. In the case of doctors, ask if they are licensed and request the name of the governing body that issues licensing. Most overseas doctors will require certification by a local government entity.

3. Value. Look carefully at the total cost of your procedure package including travel costs. If a price seems too good to be true, then make sure you request a written list of what the package includes. Be especially vigilant with regards to rehabilitation therapy (in the case of many orthopedic procedures), pre-operative exams, medication, transportation, and lodging. Any one of these elements can significantly increase the cost of your procedure. You must also be aware that you will be responsible for medical complications should they occur. If you are undergoing a high-risk procedure then it would be advisable to purchase complication insurance which is now available through a company called Seven Corners (http://www.sevencorners.com/travelers/?utm_id=O8N2FPTU).

4. Location. Medical tourism offers you the possibility to visit exotic locations all around the world. Remember, however, that you are traveling for medical reasons. If you are undergoing a surgical procedure, then distance should be a factor in your decision. You may receive an attractive quote from a great hospital but find you need to travel 24 hours on a plane to get there. In cases such as these it may be worthwhile to choose a location that is a little closer to home in order to save time and money (not to mention discomfort) on the flight.

Use the above four elements as a guide for weighing the pros and cons of the various hospitals and destinations you are considering. Then create a “short list” of your top picks. You may also want to enlist the help of a “medical tourism facilitator”. These are companies that will do much of the work for you. They have relationships with hospitals and doctors and have the know-how to quickly arrange every detail of your medical trip.

So what are you waiting for? Now’s the time to take the first step towards your medical tourism experience!

Medical Tourism Guy

With the current economic crises sending shudders around the globe, one might think that medical tourism would be seriously ill. The travel industry in general has been affected so it seems logical that medical tourism would suffer as well. Surprisingly though, many of the hospitals and medical tourism facilitators I have spoken to tell me the opposite is true. Patients are still traveling to overseas hospitals in search of affordable medical care.

So even amid this dire financial crisis it seems that medical tourism is alive and in some cases even more robust than before.

At first this news kind of puzzled me, but then when I got down and mulled it over a bit I saw that it actually makes some sense. If I’m uninsured and my knee is scraping bone on bone, then a tighter financial situation is probably more likely to push me in the direction of medical tourism for a solution to my problem.

That being said, the current economic climate is much too fluid for one to assume that medical tourism is thriving in all its shapes and sizes. After all we are dealing with a multi-legged creature with tentacles representing a host of sub-species such as cosmetic procedures, alternative medicine, and core procedures such as cardiology, orthopedics, and spine among others.

There is little doubt that some of these procedures – and/or the destinations that cater to them are being affected. I would assume as well (and I must assume as there is little hard data available at this time) that patients seeking plastic surgery and other elective (non-urgent) procedures will be more likely to put off their surgeries until times get better.

Conjectures aside, corporate America is now turning a friendly eye towards medical tourism after several years of seeming indifference. In fact, barely a week goes by that you don’t hear news of a large insurance carrier or self-funded employer that is expressing interest in offering overseas health care options to its members or employees. You can bet that much of this interest is due in no small part to the current economic crisis.

Does this look like a sickly industry struggling to stay alive? On the contrary, these hard times seem to have invigorated an already growing industry and I would wager that she will be around for the long haul.

Medical Tourism Guy

Quick! What jumps out at you when you hear the phrase “medical tourism”?

Is it a couple of bandaged faced baby boomers at a posh tropical resort?

Yikes! I doubt you’d want to meet them in a dark alley!

Maybe your mind conjures up terrifying images of overseas surgeries gone horribly wrong…

Some readers may be getting alarmed here…(I promise this is a G-rated blog).

Perhaps you are drawing a blank…”Medical what?”, you say, unsure if what I’m referring to is akin to a vacation package sold to doctors.

Don’t feel bad if you feel a little intimidated about medical tourism. It’s probably not your fault.

Over the past five years medical tourism has grown at an exponential rate, even while flying low under the radar. Sure, there have been occasional blips that have popped up in the mainstream media, usually isolated cases cherry picked to highlight the “dangers” of medical tourism (as if complications or incidents of malpractice do not occur in the U.S.). Add to this the fact that most people associate it to cheap plastic surgery procedures and it’s no wonder then that the average American has very little real knowledge, or even a distorted picture about medical tourism.

So what is the real deal on medical tourism? Not long ago someone said to me: “Medical tourism”…umm isn’t that where you like…travel to a developing nation to get your face lifted or your tummy tucked?”

It is indeed. However this is a narrow view that refers to a single slice of a very large pizza pie.

My own definition (and I think it covers the whole pie) is this: Medical tourism is the act of traveling outside your neighborhood for healthcare alternatives that address your perceived needs.

Notwithstanding the fact that more and more people are traveling abroad for cheaper medical care, the truth of the matter is you don’t need to fly halfway across the globe to engage in medical tourism (if you live in Kansas and you travel to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, this is medical tourism). You don’t even have to do it to save money. Some people are looking for higher quality; others for a better value; and still others may not have a choice (where the needed medical care is not available at home). Heck, you don’t necessarily have to be a tourist, though at some level you are a tourist and will act like a tourist whenever you leave your area of residence.

Definitions side, medical tourism is growing by the day as our healthcare system simply fails to address the needs of a large majority of our population. You might be surprised to know that in 2007 an estimated 750,000 Americans traveled abroad for surgery, and this number is only expected to increase as medical tourism becomes more mainstream.

So the next time someone says to you “Medical what?” Look them straight in the eye…give them the facts…and let them know that medical tourism is not the strange monster they may have thought it was.

Medical Tourism Guy