The medical tourism numbers game... Part 2
Back in May 2008, I blogged on “McKinsey and the medical tourism numbers game..." and commented on their strange way of counting (or not counting) medical tourism numbers. Given the latest study on medical tourism numbers, “New study numbers US medical tourists in thousands not millions”, reported in IMTJ, I thought it was time once again to address the thorny issue of....how many medical tourists are there?
Defining the medical tourist
Before you can begin to count medical tourists, you have to be very clear about what it is you are counting. This is one of the greatest areas of confusion in the business sector.
So, what is a medical tourist?
In my view, a medical tourist is someone who travels outside of their own country for surgery or elective treatment of a medical condition. If we apply this narrow definition, we DO NOT include:
- dental tourists
- cosmetic surgery tourists
- spa and wellness travellers
- "accidental" medical tourists (business travellers and holiday makers who fall ill while abroad and are admitted to hospital)
- expatriates who access healthcare in a foreign country.
Read the full article at IMTJ: Go to "The medical tourism numbers game... Part 2".
1 comment:
In italy if we talk about of medical touris we talk about dental tourists at 99% so network of low cost dentist like http://www.amicodentista.com are grow up, but if we talk of surgery the people travel only from south to north in hopes of receiving better care!
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