What is a Medical Tourism Facilitator?

Sometimes referred to as medical tourism agencies, or a medical travel facilitator, these are companies – (some are mom and pop operations) that, as their name suggests, act as facilitators or middlemen for medical tourism patients engaging in medical tourism.

Medical Tourism Facilitators have played an important role in promoting the growth of medical tourism, and for many medical tourism patients, represent their first face to face contact with the concept of medical tourism.

Over the last three or four years, thousands of these companies have popped up, most sporting names synonymous with health and travel. They function much like a travel agency, requesting and obtaining passports, booking flights, and arranging a medical tourism patient’s lodging, transportation and tours. The key difference, of course, is that they also serve as the liaison or mediator between you and the international hospital and doctor. In effect, it is the facilitator’s job to repackage the medical provider’s service offering, make it more appealing, and then guide you along the medical tourism process. For those trying to decide whether or not to use a facilitator, it is important to weigh both the advantages and disadvantages they provide.