Search

There are several studies showing that a breakdown in the continuum of care occurs when a person crosses an international boundary for healthcare, such as migrants and medical tourists. This study attempted to measure the impact of a lack of standard continuity on the healthcare outcomes by comparing self-reported perceptions of health among a large population of people that traveled across borders. These travelers, without a discernible continuum of care, were surveyed before and after travel. A statistical analysis of self-reported perception data about general health before and after cross-border travel shows a significant decrease in overall health after cross-border travel. Despite some limitations, a moderate amount of the decline can be attributed to the breakdown of the continuum of care between providers on both sides of the border. The development of standards for cross-border healthcare could potentially improve the healthcare received by migrants and medical travelers.

This article makes a case for leveraging medical tourism (MT) from the perspective of improving healthcare access in developing countries. The expansion of MT at an unprecedented rate has given rise to a number of ethical concerns in both home and destination countries. Ethical debates in this field have transcended the realm of global public health and have emerged across various disciplines including development, social justice, legal, trade and policy studies. Much of the academic literature in these domains has categorically held MT responsible for commodification of healthcare, creating a duality in healthcare systems of developing countries and making healthcare inaccessible and unaffordable for the disadvantaged sections of the population. While all these claims normatively seem justified, this article asserts that despite the several ethical concerns that have been raised, MT may not necessarily exacerbate healthcare equity issues in developing countries. In fact, MT may benefit destination countries by creating a highly specialised private sector which may provide services not only to foreign patients but also to wealthier domestic patients. Voluntary opting-out of domestic patients from public healthcare will result in decongestion of public healthcare facilities, which in turn could be accessed to a greater extent by the underprivileged population at affordable cost. In addition to contributing to the limited academic literature on this particular aspect of MT, this article presents an alternate view to promote MT in developing countries from the perspective of addressing challenges related to healthcare access.

Medical tourism refers to visiting another country for medical care. The twentieth century witnessed the exorbitant price hike in medical treatment in the developed countries. Hospitality has proven its incredible potentials in most of the countries and its signature power in the modern era. Similarly, hospitality is capable to cure diseases with its magical flair of service in a hospital or treatment center. The study aims to determine the challenges of hospitality in medical tourism, improve key areas and build a strategic initiative to improve the performance of a country's medical tourism for the smooth visit of tourists. The researcher has framed research questions and distributed the questionnaires in 3 multi-specialty hospitals which are placed in the hubs of medical tourism in India. The data gathered of a hundred samples are analyzed and interpreted using a 5-point Likert scale. The need for improvements in the state, central policy, execution of in-house hospitality as well as distinct international lounges for patience and bystanders are needed. The study emphasizes the significance of a new medical tourism model and suggests a mechanism for implementing it. Keywords: Hospitality, Hospital, Diet, Medical Tourism, Visitor

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the conflict regulation of relations in the field of medical tourism in the European Union. The author analyzes the concept of «medical tourism» and other terms used to denote the phenomenon of travel of persons to foreign countries to receive medical services («cross-border healthcare», «medical tourism», «medical travel»). The article analyzes the regulation of the EU-member states and supra-national regulation of private law aspects in the field of medical tourism. In particular, the peculiarities of receiving medical care by citizens of the European Union, which are regulated with the Directive of the Euro-pean Council and the Parliament 2011/24 / EU on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare. The author concludes that the conflict regulation of medical tourism in the European Union is based on the general conflict rules on the conclusion and implementation of contracts in the field of services and insurance, as well as compensation for damage caused by improper performance of contracts or civil offenses (torts), resolving conflicts of jurisdiction, etc. Special conflict regulation of relations in the field of medical tourism in the European Union is not developed. At the same time, the author emphasizes the significant gaps in the conflict regulation of certain issues related to medical tourism, especially such debatable as cross-border surrogacy, organ transplantation, eutha-nasia and others. The author supports the view that for the countries of the European Union today in the context of medical tourism for the purpose of surrogacy in countries where such a procedure is legal, relevant today are issues of conflict regulation, such as determining the nationality of the child; recognition of paternity (origin of the child); recognition of birth certificates of a surrogate mother issued in other countries.

The article discusses the directions of marketing in the field of healthcare, the essence of medical marketing, analyzes the distinctive features of marketing of medical tourism in older age. Based on the data from the literature and the results of our own research, the article concludes that marketing in medical tourism in the Russian Federation is in its infancy, a purposeful and consistent work is required to develop this area.

Given the rapid growth of the medical tourism industry worldwide, competition among different countries to increase market share has risen sharply. The success of this industry largely depends on t...

PurposeThis study examines the prominence and congruence or “fit” between corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and medical tourism providers (MTPs). In doing so, this study seeks to understand the forms of CSR commonly used in the marketing of health-care services by international MTPs.Design/methodology/approachExploratory quantitative content analysis methods are used to examine CSR communication provided by MTPs. Descriptive statistics and analyses of variance are used to analyze the data.FindingsResults show that 22% of MTP websites provided CSR information. There was a high degree of congruence or “fit” between the MTPs and the CSR. Furthermore, each MTP averaged between three and six CSR engagements demonstrating a commitment to not only the practice of CSR but also the stakeholders and communities who benefit.Research limitations/implicationsThis analysis focused on organizational websites and did not examine CSR communications delivered through alternative media channels (e.g. digital platforms, promotional brochures, print advertising, etc.).Practical implicationsThis study adds to the CSR framework in the medical tourism context by discovering what forms of CSR are commonly used in the marketing and promotion of international health services and further analyzes the strategic communication techniques used to deliver these messages.Social implicationsCSR is argued to have direct impacts on employee satisfaction, investor relations and consumer behavior; therefore, current findings may contribute to the development of measurement tools for empirical studies that test relationships between the persuasiveness of CSR messages on the attitudes of medical tourists.Originality/valueResearch inquiries into the CSR strategic communication practices help to identify strengths and opportunities, while informing reputation management and relationship-building practices.

Introduction: Considering the significant position of medical tourism industry in global economy as well as Iran’s capabilities in this industry, the present research was conducted so as to compile the determinants of medical tourism development and present its respective strategies taking the approach of health village expansion and integrated service provision in Health Region No. 9 (Razavi Khorasan province). Methodology: This research was conducted by combining the qualitative and quantitative techniques. Data collection was done by content analysis followed by an interview and a survey administered to a number of key experts. Data were analyzed by MAXQDA-18, Expert Choice11 and Excel software and SOWT, fuzzy DEMATEL and AHP techniques. Findings: In this study, a framework of indexes was compiled and evaluated selected from different aspects taking the approach of service integration and destination competitiveness in the form of health villages. In the next phase, the status quo of Mashhad was categorized into 38 internal and 31 external factors to be prioritized. In the end, considering the identified factors and their interrelationships, the most important strategies were extracted and prioritized. Conclusions: To create a sustainable competitive market and attract more medical tourists, revealed that the respective authorities need to pay due attention to this issue proportionate to the indexes and strategies envisaged in the compilation, designing and implementation of policies and plans related to Mashhad’s medical tourism development in moving towards the creation of competitive advantage in an integrated way and promotion of medical tourism by focusing on the prioritization performed for the healthcare system.

هدفت الدراسة الى بحث العلاقة بین رأس المال الفکری والتمیز المؤسسى بوزارة السیاحة إدارة السیاحة العلاجیة، واستکشاف علاقة راس المال الفکرى من حیث مکون راس المال التنظیمی ومکون الابتکار والابداع بالتمیز المؤسسى، وهدفت الدراسة الى الإجابة على تساؤل یتعلق بما علاقة راس المال الفکرى بالتمیز المؤسسى فی إدارة السیاحة العلاجیة بوزارة السیاحة المصریة؟ وضعت الباحثة ثلاث فرضیات هی: لا توجد علاقة ذات دلالة إحصائیة بین راس المال الفکرى من حیث مکون راس المال البشرى والتمیز المؤسسى فی إدارة السیاحة العلاجیة بوزارة السیاحة المصریة، لا توجد علاقة ذات دلالة إحصائیة بین راس المال الفکرى من حیث مکون راس المال التنظیمی والتمیز المؤسسى فی إدارة السیاحة العلاجیة بوزارة السیاحة المصریة، لا توجد علاقة ذات دلالة إحصائیة بین راس المال الفکرى من حیث مکون الابتکار والابداع والتمیز المؤسسى فی إدارة السیاحة العلاجیة بوزارة السیاحة المصریة. تبین من النتائج وجود علاقة ارتباطیة وتأثیریة من جانب راس المال الفکرى من حیث المکون التنظیمى والابتکاری کما اتضح من الدراسة ان واقع راس المال بمکوناته المتعلقة بالعناصر التنظیمیة والعناصر الابتکاریة یسهم فی اکتمال المنظومة المؤسسیة التی توفر ابعاد وبیئة مناسبة لتحقیق التمیز بإدارة السیاحة العلاجیة، واتضح جوهریة العلاقات الإحصائیة للفرضیات البحثیة الثلاثة وصحة تاثیر راس المال التنظیمى وراس المال البشرى وراس المال الفکرى على الأداء المؤسسى المتمیز فی إدارة السیاحة العلاجیة. اوصت الدراسة برسم خطة للموارد البشریة وممارستها من منطلق أسس راس المال الفکرى التنظیمى والابتکاری، ان تقوم إدارة السیاحة العلاجیة فی وزارة السیاحة بتطبیق نظام تکریم مادی ومعنوی للأفراد الذین یسهمون بأدائهم الوظیفی بأفکار تضیف قیمة ملموسة للأنشطة وتعزز من العائد على إدارة السیاحة العلاجیة، تطویر الهیکل التنظیمى لإدارة السیاحة العلاجیة وفق معاییر راس المال الفکرى من حیث توفیر بیئة للابتکار والابداع، من خلال تعدیل تصمیم الهیکل والاختصاصات الهیکلیة، ان یعاد النظر فی بطاقات الوصف الوظیفى وتطویرها بحیث تسهم فی وضع معاییر للأداء والمهام المنوط بها لهم بشکل منسجم مع معاییر راس المال الفکری التنظیمی والابتکاری، وضع مقاییس للتمیز المؤسسی بإدارة السیاحة العلاجیة من منطلق مواصفات راس المال الفکرى والتنظیمی والابتکاری. The study aimed to examine the relationship between intellectual capital and institutional excellence in the Ministry of Tourism, Department of Therapeutic Tourism, and explore the relationship of intellectual capital in terms of organizational capital component and innovation and creativity component of institutional excellence. Medical tourism in the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism? The researcher developed three hypotheses: There is no statistically significant relationship between the intellectual capital in terms of human capital component and institutional excellence in the Department of Medical Tourism in the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, There is no statistically significant relationship between intellectual capital in terms of organizational capital component and institutional excellence in the Department of Medical Tourism in the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, There is no statistically significant relationship between the intellectual capital in terms of the component of innovation, creativity and institutional excellence in the management of medical tourism in the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. The results show that there is a correlation and influence on the part of the intellectual capital in terms of the organizational and innovative component. The study also revealed that the reality of capital with its components related to the organizational and innovative elements contributes to the completion of the institutional system that provides appropriate dimensions and environment to achieve excellence in the management of medical tourism. The statistical relations of the three research hypotheses and the impact of organizational capital, human capital and intellectual capital on the distinguished institutional performance in the management of medical tourism were demonstrated. The study recommended drawing up a plan for human resources and practicing it from the basis of organizational and innovative intellectual capital, The Medical Tourism Administration in the Ministry of Tourism should implement a system of material and moral recognition for individuals who contribute their performance to ideas that add tangible value to activities and enhance the return on medical tourism management, Develop the organizational structure of the management of medical tourism in accordance with the standards of intellectual capital in terms of providing an environment for innovation and creativity.

Medical tourism has been seriously affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that has become a huge threat to global economy. In mitigating this issue, attention needs to be given to the online promotional message strategy to boost medical tourism. However, there is a scarcity of work on medical tourism promotional discourse from the textual function perspective despite the considerable number of studies in other types of discourse. This study, therefore, aims to examine and compare the promotional discourse message strategies in Malaysia and Thailand’s private hospital websites. The analysis was based on Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) perspective, using Halliday & Matthiessen’s model of textual analysis (2004) and Danes’ classification of thematic patterns (1974). A total of six webpages with three webpages of one Malaysian website and one Thai website were analysed in relation to theme type and thematic progression. The findings show that texts derived from the hospital websites in Malaysia and Thailand display similarities and differences pertaining to how the texts are organised in relation to their theme types and thematic patterns. Both websites from Malaysia and Thailand combined objectivity with subjectivity in choosing their themes and thematic progression since they have a preference for unmarked themes in combination with marked theme to inform and persuade readers. However, the Prince Court Medical Centre (PCMC, Malaysia) website was direct and cohesive with its short texts and use of textual themes, while the message in Samitivej Hospital (SH, Thailand) website was more indirect, less compact, and less cohesive as the texts were rather lengthy and interspersed with interpersonal themes. The findings can be a guide for copywriters, website designers or medical tourism stakeholders to be aware of meaning-making strategies in promoting medical websites for medical tourism purpose. Keywords: Textual Analysis; Theme and Thematic Progression; Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL); online promotional discourse; Medical Tourism

Based on the results of analyze the Thai national medical tourism product’s positioning on Russia market to offer the principal guidelines for development the marketing strategy of Thai medical services at Russia markets. The article is based on the data of a Russian 2020 survey, at the same time, it tracks the dynamic trend of consumer preferences since 2017. Identified key principles of health tourism commercialization in Thailand under the conditions when this tourism sector needs to be reformatted due to post-Covid conditions, assessed the efficiency of Thai medical tourism promotion on Russian-speaking markets. Recommendations for the modernization of Thailand health tourism product in terms of its constituent services, marketing, infrastructure and investment support, pricing, promotion, taking into account current trends in the global and Russian tourism markets are given. © 2020 Editura Universitatii din Oradea. All rights reserved.

Health tourism has hundreds of years of history, most notably in visitors traveling to thermal baths. Medical tourism, a type of health tourism, has rapidly expanded in the last quarter century by patients travelling abroad to health centers for medical treatment. Because of lack of records in ancient times, the history of tourism for actual medical treatment is unknown. In Ottoman archives, medical treatment consent forms of patients were officially documented. We analyzed these existing records to identify foreign citizens who came to the Ottoman Empire for medical treatment. In our screening of Konya Şer'iye registration records, we found medical consent forms for three non-Ottoman foreign citizens. All three patients had the same medical illness and came to Konya for medical treatment. Therefore we emphasized that those patients searched for the name of doctor who was an authority on that illness. This study indicates that medical tourism may have occurred well before the 20th century.

Medical tourism is increasing quickly since it contributes to both the health and tourism sectors. The use of big social data has been effective in the development of medical tourism as a huge amount of data is produced and shared by travelers about the services through different social media platforms. Indeed, communicative information and knowledge can be mined from a large amount of information provided by travelers about medical tourism services. It is important to analyze such data to understand the customers' satisfaction level and their demands. Although several studies have been conducted to find the factors influencing customer satisfaction in medical tourism, there is a lack of studies about big social data and online behavioral analysis of medical travelers. In addition, the analysis of customers' online reviews is fairly unexplored by machine learning techniques in the context of medical tourism. Hence, this research aims to fill this gap and develop a new method to reveal travelers' choice preferences and satisfaction with medical tourism services through the analysis of the online review. Text mining and ontology approaches are used in the proposed method. The method can mine data from medical tourism websites, discover the satisfaction dimensions, and reveal the satisfaction level of medical tourists through textual reviews. We rely on the demographic information of medical tourists and ontological semantic filtering approaches to better detect the travelers’ preferences in medical tourism websites. The proposed method is evaluated through the numerical and textual reviews obtained from medical tourism websites. The results of data analysis showed that the proposed method is effective for big data analysis in the medical tourism context and may help medical tourism organizers to improve their medical tourism services to obtain a high level of medical travelers' satisfaction.

Medical tourism had notable growth in the past few years, and it is understood that one of the most prevalent types of medical tourism is dental tourism. This study aims to select the most suitable city for investment in dental tourism. Five dimensions and nineteen criteria associated with dental tourism have been specified, and the DEMATEL-based ANP (DANP) is used to determine the interrelation of criteria and compute their weights. Then, the VIKOR is used to evaluate the suitability of different cities for investment in dental tourism and determine the potential areas of the selected cities that need enhancement. A case study is conducted to present the applicability of the suggested model. The results indicate that the dental facilities and service is the most critical dimension, and reputation of hospital/facility and doctors, dental clinics with certification/accreditation scheme are the most important criteria for analysing the suitability of potential locations.

This paper accentuates the need for quality assurance and standardization norms for hospital administration which is the need of the hour. Lack of effective administration practices in the hospital and hospitality sector necessitate the need for a total quality management approach in the Healthcare Sector. Application of quality control systems is a vital aspect that hospitals in South India cannot disregard. It would lead the South in a new direction by ensuring quality and enhancing customer satisfaction. Hence, this paper makes an attempt to understand the hospital management practices in South India effectively. The research addresses Medical Tourism as a ‘cost effective’ private medical care initiative in collaboration with the tourism industry for patients needing surgical and other forms of specialised treatment. This process is being facilitated by the corporate sector involved in medical care as well as the tourism industry – both private and public. There is also a constant effort taken by corporate hospitals to support medical tourism to its fullest potential. India today has copious opportunities to compete with other developed nations and building a quality health care system of its own.

Medical Tourism in India has emerged as one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry despite the global economic downturn. High cost of treatments in the developed counties, particularly the USA and UK, have been forcing patients from such regions to look for alternative and cost-effective destinations to get their treatments done. The Indian medical tourism industry is presently at a nascent stage, but has enormous potential for future growth and development. As a significant component of the colossal medical tourism, Dental Tourism is emerging in the Third World countries, especially in India. Dental tourists are mainly generated from developed countries such as USA and European countries as theya re looking for developing countries to get their dental treatment coupled with participating in tourism activities. The lower cost of treatment and availability are the most significant reasons for choosing developing countries as dental tourism destinations. Dental tourism forms 10 percent of the total Indian medical tourism which is projected to grow at 30 percent to Rs 9,500 crore by 2015. India produces over 18,000 dentists annually from 238 dental colleges. The country has around 1,500 oral and maxillofacial surgeons. A few studies were carried out on various problems faced by the dental tourism industry in India. The dental tourist’s perception towards Indian dental tourism industry and their satisfaction level after getting treatment are a few concerns. This research paper is prepared based on primary and secondary data collected from various sources. The primary data have been collected from dentists, staff and dental tourists from two famous internationally recognised dental hospitals located in Bangalore, Karnataka.

The present study aims to derive the role of the government in developing Malaysian medical tourism. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analysed thematically using Atlas.ti version 8. The study derived four main challenges facing private hospitals and healthcare facilitators, which are regulatory burden, scarcity of health professionals, poor collaboration with state government and low cooperation from other agencies. These challenges then drew the government’s role accordingly. Hence, this article strongly calls for regular dialogues between government agencies, private hospitals and healthcare facilitators to ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page about developing the industry. Keywords: Medical Tourism, Private Hospitals, Healthcare Facilitators, Government eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI4.2912

PurposeThe novel coronavirus has not only caused significant illness and loss of life, it has caused major disruption at local, national and global levels. While the healthcare industry is experiencing growth during the pandemic, disruption to travel has affected medical tourism. This article considers the short-term factors affecting medical tourism and how they could be mitigated by incorporating technological advances to secure long-term growth.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines data provided by the Indian government as well as from non-government sources available in the public domain to review the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on medical tourism. The authors also examine data on technological advances in the healthcare industry that could help to reduce the impact of the pandemic.FindingsThis study’s findings show that while in-person services have been seriously impacted in the short term, technological adaptation of medical services to facilitate remote medical consultation has significantly increased. This has enlarged the business opportunities available to hospitals and general practitioners, and it could be leveraged to enhance medical tourism.Originality/valueThe article provides an analysis of the impact of the pandemic on medical tourism and how technology could be used to overcome short-term negative impacts and support longer-term development.

Liver transplant has been shown to significantly improve mortality and quality of life in various liver diseases such as acute liver failure, end-stage liver disease, and liver cancer. While the organ transplant demand is continuing to rise, the organ donation supply remains unmatched. The organ shortage, high cost, and long waiting lists have stimulated a desire for routes that may be unethical. This process which is named transplant tourism is the term used to describe traveling to another country to purchase an organ for transplant. Liver transplant tourism has been associated with post-transplant complications and higher mortality compared to a domestic liver transplant. Improper pre-and post-transplant infectious screening, inadequate opportunistic infection prophylaxis, and loss to follow-up were noted in patients who travel abroad for a liver transplant. It is crucial to understand the risk of transplant tourism to prevent morbidity and mortality.

PurposeThis concluding article summarizes the main findings in response to the theme issue strategic question: How are hospitality and tourism businesses in India responding to the COVID-19 pandemic?Design/methodology/approachThe conclusion identifies some contemporary and relevant areas for development in the post-pandemic era. To summarize, this paper draws out the key findings of the theme issue articles and presents the main recommendations for industry action.FindingsThis conclusion highlights emerging issues for Indian hospitality and tourism businesses and includes specific recommendations for industry professionals, policymakers and other stakeholders in relation to strategies that could be adopted to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.Practical implicationsGiven the wide impact of the pandemic across industries, this issue will be of interest to practitioners, higher education leaders, policymakers and other stakeholders as it draws on industry-focused research to explore the challenges and possible solutions to current and pending challenges. This issue also provides insights for further collaborative research.Originality/valueThis article provides insights from practitioners and academics relating to the current and on-going impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and developmental steps that the hospitality and tourism industry in India is taking in response.

PurposeThe coronavirus pandemic has triggered a paradigm shift in all businesses, and given the restrictions that followed, hospitality and tourism has been significantly affected. This article identifies some emerging issues and trends in hospitality and tourism businesses related to this, and in so doing, it introduces the theme issue.Design/methodology/approachThe article draws on recent reports and articles and on several rounds of discussion between academics, practitioners and other stakeholders to identify the issues arising, which are then explored in the articles featured in this theme issue.FindingsThe study findings reveal that the pandemic response has prompted advances in technology, profit management, training, service blueprinting and online education, coupled with industry integration, sustainability practices, housekeeping services, medical tourism and virtual tourism among others.Originality/valueThe theme issue sought to address the real-life issues that are impacting hospitality and tourism in India and some of the wider implications. This exploratory work is based on inputs from industry professionals, policymakers and other stakeholders in relation to the emerging issues and the formulation of strategies to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on hospitality and tourism businesses in India.

Background A growing body of evidence indicates that breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is associated with the use of certain breast implants. Regional variations have been reported, and a genetic susceptibility has also been suggested. However, large variations in the ability to correctly diagnose BIA-ALCL and to further report and register cases exist between countries and may in part explain variations in the demography. Material and Methods A survey was conducted by The European Association of Societies of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery E(A)SAPS and sent to 48 European countries. The primary aim was to identify the total number of confirmed cases of and deaths from BIA-ALCL in each country during four consecutive measurements over a two-year period. Results An increase in BIA-ALCL cases during four repeated measurements from a total of 305 in April 2019 to 434 in November 2020 was reported by 23 of the 33 responding countries. A nearly 100-fold variation in the number of cases per million inhabitants was noted, where Netherlands had the highest rate (4.12) followed by Finland (1.99). Countries with the lowest reported rates were Austria (0.078), Romania (0.052) and Turkey (0.048). Conclusion The current study displays a notable variation ßin the number of confirmed BIA-ALCL cases across Europe, even for countries with established breast implant registers. Variations in diagnosis and reporting systems may explain the differences, but the influence of genetic variations and the prevalence of high-risk implants cannot be excluded. Incomplete sales data along with medical tourism preclude an absolute risk assessment. Level of Evidence IV This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

Objective:To describe medical tourism among a subset of US residents; identify possible indicators for medical tourism.Methods:The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collaborated with 11 states and territories to ask 6 questions about medical tourism, using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Data collected from January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016, included whether respondents traveled internationally for preplanned care, travel reasons and destinations, procedures received, and occurrence and treatment of complications. A descriptive analysis of demographics, socioeconomic status and health access variables was performed, and a regression model with a log-link function and Poisson distribution was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) for medical tourism.Results:Of 93,492 respondents, 517 (0.55%) traveled internationally during the previous year for care. Mexico was the most common destination (41% of trips). Dentistry accounted for 55% of treatments. Complications from care received abroad were reported by 5% of medical tourists; 67% sought care upon returning to the United States. The prevalence of medical tourism was 1.32% (95% CI, 1.00–1.64). The prevalence of medical tourism was higher in Hispanics and non-whites (PR, 3.97; 95% CI, 2.48–6.32) and higher among those without current health insurance (PR, 2.70; 95% CI, 1.69–4.34).Conclusions:This is the largest collection of population-based surveillance data describing medical tourism among US residents from multiple states and territories. Understanding the demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with medical tourism can inform evidence-based recommendations for travelers and clinicians who may advise or care for these individuals before, during, or after travel.

This article explores on how to win satisfaction and loyalty of customers travelling beyond national borders to avail services. The study investigates the effect of customer relationship management (CRM) practices on satisfaction and loyalty of international patients travelling to Indian hospitals. Given the challenges faced by the corporate hospitals in context to international patients, this article identified and discussed the relationship between CRM, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The study is based on a cross-sectional analytic study design, wherein primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale from 419 respondents and processed through descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling using SPSS AMOS 20*. ‘Trust’ as a driver of CRM was found to be the most important predictor of satisfaction and loyalty, thus strategies around this element shall guide the corporate hospitals in establishing India as a medical tourism hub and having a competitive edge.

Medical tourism is a rapidly growing industry on a global scale. There is a growing tendency for citizens of more developed countries to seek medical services in developing countries. This is connected not only with the pricing policy, which is more loyal, but also with the insurance system, with the presence of waiting lists, with the legislative framework, and religion. The high level of service delivery and the competitiveness of the state is the result of an effective state policy. The article gives the definition of the concept, the terminology of medical tourism, considers the types and directions of medical tourism development, the legislative framework of Ukraine for the provision of certain types of medical services. Risks and negative sides, problems faced by tourists, global challenges of the industry and prospects for overcoming them are considered.

A significant number of studies have assessed the impact of medical tourism from economic, technological and social perspectives. Few studies, however, have explored the development of the medical tourism sector from a sustainability perspective. This research brings a sustainability lens to medical tourism by extending Hart and Milstein’s framework (2003) for creating sustainable business value to advance the development of sustainable medical tourism facilities. To inform the analysis, the study conducted nine semi-structured interviews with members of the Jordan Medical Tourism Network (JMTN). Interview results confirmed the primary factors that motivate medical tourists, and characteristics of a sustainable medical tourism facility. The research provides insights on how sustainability is a driver of medical tourists’ decisions and a core aspect to be managed. The study also provides direction to advance sustainable medical tourism facilities in Jordan with replicability in other jurisdictions. The research proposes a path for medical tourism facilities to play further roles in their contribution to sustainable development by introducing a framework that aims to integrate four business strategies for establishing sustainable value through the integration of stakeholders’ interests and environmental practices.