In 2015, medical tourism – a component of healthcare tourism – generated between U.S. $60 and U.S. $70 billion. Within five years, it is very likely that health tourism will generate at least twice these revenues.
The transformation of healthcare globally is opening the floodgates for healthcare tourism. Medical tourism is where people travel to another country to receive medical treatment. For example, people would travel from less developed countries to receive superior medical care in more developed countries. However, many people are now traveling throughout the world to receive less expensive medical care.
Health tourism is more encompassing. Aside from medical tourism, it refers to people traveling to other countries for preventive and rehabilitative care. In fact, all forms of proactive and reactive healthcare including wellness initiatives are part of health tourism.
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There are a number of significant drivers of heath tourism. One of these drivers is cost. The ability to receive comparable treatments at lower costs motivates some people to travel. Another key driver is that it is sometimes necessary to travel in order to obtain state-of-the-art medical treatments.
“The best healthcare solution to a particular problem is often not found in your local medical center or health system and I suspect that challenge will probably get worse before it gets better. In the USA, because virtually all hospital revenues come from third party reimbursement, it is ultimately the third party – the insurer or Medicare – that decides what care most people are going to get. Informed people with serious medical problems look globally for treatments that are superior to what they can get at home under Medicare and they are willing to pay for it privately.” explains Daniel Carlin, M.D., founder and CEO of WorldClinic, a global telemedical practice caring for global families and recognized pioneer in comprehensive longevity planning. “Unfortunately, this strategy is ultimately still off the mark. Their optimal goal should not be to access the best high tech care but rather to never experience a serious medical problem like a heart attack or cancer. Today this is done by creating a plan that combines your personal risk with ongoing active prevention to mitigate that risk. Today, we are going all the way down into an individual’s genome to learn where their inherited risk for illness might lie and then overlaying their acquired risk from their lifestyle choices to create a full spectrum plan to prevent serious illness. I suspect that this approach will be adopted by many people with the means and insight to see realize its inherent value. “
What is evident is that a substantial number of medical institutions and practices are looking to capitalize on the coming boom in health tourism. Those healthcare facilities and firms that can deliver exceptional care and top of the line service can potentially excel in this environment. However, with respect to attracting the rich and super-rich, what is also necessary is for these medical institutions and practices to create advocates who are usually professionals outside the field of medicine on whom the wealthy rely for services and referrals.