Medical tourism is not medical travel
Medical travel is a phrase very much preferred over medical tourism by health care leaders, hospital executives, doctors and other medical professionals. Most have reluctantly accepted the term medical tourism but many continue to dislike it because they feel it trivializes the process of getting and giving treatment and care. Medical travel is the process by which a consumer (a patient) gets treatment for a medical condition. Treatment is nearly always invasive. It includes dental implants, fertility treatments, alternative or experimental procedures, addiction treatment, Lasik eye surgery, cancer therapies, as well as major surgery procedures. Many medical travel patients, or medical travelers, require admission to hospital, whether for ambulatory care and a stay of less than 24 hours, or for inpatient care and overnight stay. Most require light or general anesthesia, administered by a licensed medical professional. Most, if not all, must make their medical travel plans in advance. Seldom does one pop into a hospital or clinic casually for an invasive treatment. Indeed, those who do choose to have an invasive procedure on a whim may be putting themselves in harm’s way and the facility or doctor who takes them may be negligent.
Characteristics of the medical traveler
Medical travelers have 3 common characteristics:
• They are not resident in the destination country
• They travel from home to a different country for care
• The cultural or social environment and/or language of the medical destination may be different or strange
They are traveling international patients.
A medical travel journey is distinguished by the following:
• Advance planning
• Exchange of medical records and medical history
• Pre-surgery instructions that may need to be followed prior to reaching the medical destination
• A procedure that is invasive and/or requires general or twilight anesthesia; or is a major non-invasive treatment (chemotherapy, radiation therapy, etc.)
• Consideration about the kind of accommodations that will be needed post-surgery
• Recovery care management
• Care planning and follow-up upon returning home
• Possible additional, unexpected medical attention
This last item is very important. The medical traveler may acquire an infection, get a complication, or have a bad outcome, likely needing further medical attention. The medical traveler may be required to return to the original place of treatment, or may be able to receive treatment at home. Treatment at home may depend on how medical travel is perceived by the treating doctor at home.