Medical Tourism Facilitator ~ The Critical Fourth Dimension
Dr. Prem Jagyasi, a renowned medical tourism consultant offers in-depth insight into the growing business of medical tourism facilitator, the expected role, opportunities and challenges present, along with guidance on essential requirements for success.
The robust growth currently witnessed by the medical tourism industry necessitates a sound support system that meticulously bridges the gap between the demands of consumers and the supplies of providers.
A medical tourism support system goes far beyond the obvious arrangements like travel, accommodation, medical services, pre & post-operative care and tourism activities. It needs to meticulously deliver impeccable services.
Why Patients Need A Support System
Consider this; a family based in Connecticut wants to get a coronary bypass done for their ailing grandfather. Great help is at hand, a great team of doctors, superbly appointed facilities, but there is just a minor issue of health insurance. The family scans the Internet and comes up with cheaper, but equally well equipped options. Contact is established with the medical provider; travel arrangements are afoot. The family surfs some more in an effort to combine some fun by way of sight-seeing Phew! That was going to be no easy task - visas, legalities, pickups and drop offs, in-country, and in-city travel arrangements. In small strides, through a fully functional team of hands-on professionals - bingo! All arrangements along with a set date with the most capable yet cost-effective service provider are accomplished almost effortlessly. This is the genesis of Medical Tourism Facilitator.
The Concept
The process of deciding on medical tourism is no doubt a challenging task for a medical traveler. It requires critical preparations such as identification of reliable providers, flawless travel arrangements, and an understanding of preoperative and postoperative arrangements, amongst many other steps involved in the planning.
Because of the complexity of this decision-making process, some medical travelers seek help from travel agents or international patient departments of the hospitals or concierge service providers. All these agencies could act as intermediaries, but none of them could offer flawless comprehensive medical tourism support services as a one-stop facilitator.
This lacuna at one level or the other, coupled with complex decision making gives birth to the concept of Medical Tourism Facilitator, which is an agency with the team of professionals equipped to offer a seamless combination of complicated arrangements within medical tourism.
The Role
Before I enunciate the role expected to be essayed by a Medical Tourism Facilitator, I would like to touch upon the concern shrouding the medical tourism industry.
Lack of government emanated legal issues has ensured that the sector has become an easy “Quick Start”. As a result, robust tribes of new facilitators are cropping on the eighth continent - The Internet - and are raising major concerns for the growth of medical tourism industry.
Dependence on Internet as a source of information has thrown the Medical Tourism industry against several hurdles due to the negative comments focused not on the benefits, but on the pitfalls. They are posted liberally on various blogs. Hence, the concept still remains largely unreliable or fraudulent.
The role of Medical tourism facilitators becomes extremely significant for the growth of medical tourism in wake of this growing criticism; after all they represent patients’ first face-to-face contact with the entire concept of medical tourism. Thus, it becomes vital that the facilitators put forth authorized and authentic meaning of Medical Tourism as not a mere tourism sojourn or medical trip, but a high quality medical treatment with a “Touch of Tourism”.
Integrated knowledge of medical services, tourism & travel facilitation and concierge services which form a three-dimensional support to the traveler is central to the business and a must have for any Medical Tourism Facilitator. So with such responsibilities resting on them, they play an important function of bridging the gap between industry players and the consumer.
The Growth Opportunities
Evidently, medical tourism is growing rapidly; it is gaining fame and widening the competition with more than 100 countries offering medical tourism, or entering this industry. It is rated as one of the world's fastest growing industries despite the current economic downturn. There exists an unchartered territory for a sound Medial Tourism Facilitator business to capture a significant share of total industry and emerge a definite winner.
The Essentials, A Must-Have Armory
Medical Tourism Facilitators, which are those companies acting as one stop enablers for medical tourism patients involved, should operate with three essential and some optional components to deliver the best experience.
Understanding of Medical Services
Like any other industry, Consumer is King and it is of utmost importance that the facilitator understands what travelers want and accordingly, what pitches to make to genuine providers. It is crucial to develop a sound patient-provider matrix. Since one can’t rely only on online information which tends to often mislead; facilitators therefore should act as reliable and sensitive consultants.
Awareness of ethical medical procedures, medico-legal law and accreditation systems of the provider play an important role. Again, pre-and postoperative arrangements are of utmost importance. This requires that the Medical Tourism Facilitators have a basic understanding of the medical subject so that they can confidently explain their offered services with all the technical details, thereby providing better medical/healthcare experience.
Knowledge of Tourism & Travel Activities
Such comprehension should not be limited only to obvious activities such as travel booking, accommodation arrangements, tourism exposure guidance, but should include understanding of environmental, cultural, political, security, and community factors of the destination. Development of customized benefits with special need arrangements, interpreter provision and preparation of unexpected services in case of unsuccessful medical treatment are some of the critical points.
Concierge Services
A key component of wholesome experience for travelers deals with destination management by third party providers. These specialized professionals take care of a medical tourist’s entire trip right from pick up from airport to booking hotel accommodation; from a hospital consultation visit and surgery to assistance in the post-op check up; and finally delivering the patient back to the airport. Additionally a facilitator should be available for the traveler in case of any unexpected incident. Concierge Services must be well understood by the facilitator to provide that “door step” service experience to the medical tourist so that they do not face any trouble either in finding accommodation or the hospital or in reaching back to their countries.
Optional Components
Insurance Communications
If the medical traveler is traveling with an international insurance policy or through an employer, he/she may not be aware of any formalities required by providers and insurance companies. In such case, a facilitator should pre-arrange all necessary documentation to avoid any unnecessary delay in the treatment.
Expecting the Unexpected
Medical services are not without complication; even after complete preparation, things might go wrong, as in some cases they will. In such cases a facilitators should have arrangements for un-expected events which may include amongst others – long stay treatment, additional expenses, death related arrangements, etc. A medical tourism insurance policy could be helpful for traveler.
International Accreditation
The presence of International Certification for a medical facilitator helps them to be better prepared in the field of healthcare protocols - patient protocols, pre-operative and post-operative protocols, communication protocols and legal liabilities to protect organizations; in addition to receiving continuous education on latest trends in quality management practices. Accreditation, not only helps to improve the quality of service, it also creates confidence, trust and creates credibility for facilitator in the eyes of patients.
Placing the right processes and procedures in position can reduce the likelihood of errors and troubles happening with foreign patients, and it certainly increases the chances of positive outcomes.
Every accredited facilitator is a gain for Medical Tourism Industry, and should be truly recognized as intrinsic to its growth.
Knowledge Management
Medical tourism has a tremendous scope for involving ethical, cultural, and legal issues; the understanding of which can be gained with the aid of Knowledge Management Consultancy services by well known, recognized and reputed consultants.
One of the common ethical issues raised is the fact that a medical procedure at one destination might be deemed unethical at another destination. This is deepening the already existing inequalities in the health care system.
Further, cultural differences between the countries must be understood to prevent any misinterpretations and provide services as expected by the medical tourists in their own countries.
The legal system for medical malpractice is comparatively fairly limited in non-US countries. This is one of the major reasons for the lower medical care costs overseas. Such legal issues might be unappealing to the medical tourists as they do get adequate personal insurance coverage or cannot seek compensation under malpractice lawsuits. Even if they do, hospitals and/or doctors may not be able to pay the financial damages to a patient according to court due to their inappropriate insurance cover and/or medical indemnity. However, new insurance plans are now available that protect medical tourist if alleged medical malpractice occurs abroad.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a Medical Tourism Facilitator plays a vital dual role - first, in attracting medical tourists and second, in providing quality experience through medical, travel, concierge, insurance-facilitation services. Hence, medical tourism industry’s growth is largely influenced by this key player. Unfortunately, most of the Medical Tourism Facilitators mushrooming now leave more questions than answers and more problems than solutions.
I hope above points will help facilitators to establish benchmarks for improvement and raise the bar on the services so that they can provide that missing experience – Delightful Experience. As I always say – Let there be light, not just flight.
Dr. Prem Jagyasi is a Chartered Management, Healthcare Marketing and Medical Tourism Consultant. Providing high-profile consultancy services to Government Authorities and Private Healthcare organizations, he is noticeably leading medical tourism consultant. He also serves Medical Tourism Association, as an Honorary Chief Strategy Officer. He can be reached at Prem@Jagyasi.com | www.DrPrem.com | www.ExHealth.com
http://www.medicaltourismmag.com/detail.php?Req=283&issue=13
The robust growth currently witnessed by the medical tourism industry necessitates a sound support system that meticulously bridges the gap between the demands of consumers and the supplies of providers.
A medical tourism support system goes far beyond the obvious arrangements like travel, accommodation, medical services, pre & post-operative care and tourism activities. It needs to meticulously deliver impeccable services.
Why Patients Need A Support System
Consider this; a family based in Connecticut wants to get a coronary bypass done for their ailing grandfather. Great help is at hand, a great team of doctors, superbly appointed facilities, but there is just a minor issue of health insurance. The family scans the Internet and comes up with cheaper, but equally well equipped options. Contact is established with the medical provider; travel arrangements are afoot. The family surfs some more in an effort to combine some fun by way of sight-seeing Phew! That was going to be no easy task - visas, legalities, pickups and drop offs, in-country, and in-city travel arrangements. In small strides, through a fully functional team of hands-on professionals - bingo! All arrangements along with a set date with the most capable yet cost-effective service provider are accomplished almost effortlessly. This is the genesis of Medical Tourism Facilitator.
The Concept
The process of deciding on medical tourism is no doubt a challenging task for a medical traveler. It requires critical preparations such as identification of reliable providers, flawless travel arrangements, and an understanding of preoperative and postoperative arrangements, amongst many other steps involved in the planning.
Because of the complexity of this decision-making process, some medical travelers seek help from travel agents or international patient departments of the hospitals or concierge service providers. All these agencies could act as intermediaries, but none of them could offer flawless comprehensive medical tourism support services as a one-stop facilitator.
This lacuna at one level or the other, coupled with complex decision making gives birth to the concept of Medical Tourism Facilitator, which is an agency with the team of professionals equipped to offer a seamless combination of complicated arrangements within medical tourism.
The Role
Before I enunciate the role expected to be essayed by a Medical Tourism Facilitator, I would like to touch upon the concern shrouding the medical tourism industry.
Lack of government emanated legal issues has ensured that the sector has become an easy “Quick Start”. As a result, robust tribes of new facilitators are cropping on the eighth continent - The Internet - and are raising major concerns for the growth of medical tourism industry.
Dependence on Internet as a source of information has thrown the Medical Tourism industry against several hurdles due to the negative comments focused not on the benefits, but on the pitfalls. They are posted liberally on various blogs. Hence, the concept still remains largely unreliable or fraudulent.
The role of Medical tourism facilitators becomes extremely significant for the growth of medical tourism in wake of this growing criticism; after all they represent patients’ first face-to-face contact with the entire concept of medical tourism. Thus, it becomes vital that the facilitators put forth authorized and authentic meaning of Medical Tourism as not a mere tourism sojourn or medical trip, but a high quality medical treatment with a “Touch of Tourism”.
Integrated knowledge of medical services, tourism & travel facilitation and concierge services which form a three-dimensional support to the traveler is central to the business and a must have for any Medical Tourism Facilitator. So with such responsibilities resting on them, they play an important function of bridging the gap between industry players and the consumer.
The Growth Opportunities
Evidently, medical tourism is growing rapidly; it is gaining fame and widening the competition with more than 100 countries offering medical tourism, or entering this industry. It is rated as one of the world's fastest growing industries despite the current economic downturn. There exists an unchartered territory for a sound Medial Tourism Facilitator business to capture a significant share of total industry and emerge a definite winner.
The Essentials, A Must-Have Armory
Medical Tourism Facilitators, which are those companies acting as one stop enablers for medical tourism patients involved, should operate with three essential and some optional components to deliver the best experience.
Understanding of Medical Services
Like any other industry, Consumer is King and it is of utmost importance that the facilitator understands what travelers want and accordingly, what pitches to make to genuine providers. It is crucial to develop a sound patient-provider matrix. Since one can’t rely only on online information which tends to often mislead; facilitators therefore should act as reliable and sensitive consultants.
Awareness of ethical medical procedures, medico-legal law and accreditation systems of the provider play an important role. Again, pre-and postoperative arrangements are of utmost importance. This requires that the Medical Tourism Facilitators have a basic understanding of the medical subject so that they can confidently explain their offered services with all the technical details, thereby providing better medical/healthcare experience.
Knowledge of Tourism & Travel Activities
Such comprehension should not be limited only to obvious activities such as travel booking, accommodation arrangements, tourism exposure guidance, but should include understanding of environmental, cultural, political, security, and community factors of the destination. Development of customized benefits with special need arrangements, interpreter provision and preparation of unexpected services in case of unsuccessful medical treatment are some of the critical points.
Concierge Services
A key component of wholesome experience for travelers deals with destination management by third party providers. These specialized professionals take care of a medical tourist’s entire trip right from pick up from airport to booking hotel accommodation; from a hospital consultation visit and surgery to assistance in the post-op check up; and finally delivering the patient back to the airport. Additionally a facilitator should be available for the traveler in case of any unexpected incident. Concierge Services must be well understood by the facilitator to provide that “door step” service experience to the medical tourist so that they do not face any trouble either in finding accommodation or the hospital or in reaching back to their countries.
Optional Components
Insurance Communications
If the medical traveler is traveling with an international insurance policy or through an employer, he/she may not be aware of any formalities required by providers and insurance companies. In such case, a facilitator should pre-arrange all necessary documentation to avoid any unnecessary delay in the treatment.
Expecting the Unexpected
Medical services are not without complication; even after complete preparation, things might go wrong, as in some cases they will. In such cases a facilitators should have arrangements for un-expected events which may include amongst others – long stay treatment, additional expenses, death related arrangements, etc. A medical tourism insurance policy could be helpful for traveler.
International Accreditation
The presence of International Certification for a medical facilitator helps them to be better prepared in the field of healthcare protocols - patient protocols, pre-operative and post-operative protocols, communication protocols and legal liabilities to protect organizations; in addition to receiving continuous education on latest trends in quality management practices. Accreditation, not only helps to improve the quality of service, it also creates confidence, trust and creates credibility for facilitator in the eyes of patients.
Placing the right processes and procedures in position can reduce the likelihood of errors and troubles happening with foreign patients, and it certainly increases the chances of positive outcomes.
Every accredited facilitator is a gain for Medical Tourism Industry, and should be truly recognized as intrinsic to its growth.
Knowledge Management
Medical tourism has a tremendous scope for involving ethical, cultural, and legal issues; the understanding of which can be gained with the aid of Knowledge Management Consultancy services by well known, recognized and reputed consultants.
One of the common ethical issues raised is the fact that a medical procedure at one destination might be deemed unethical at another destination. This is deepening the already existing inequalities in the health care system.
Further, cultural differences between the countries must be understood to prevent any misinterpretations and provide services as expected by the medical tourists in their own countries.
The legal system for medical malpractice is comparatively fairly limited in non-US countries. This is one of the major reasons for the lower medical care costs overseas. Such legal issues might be unappealing to the medical tourists as they do get adequate personal insurance coverage or cannot seek compensation under malpractice lawsuits. Even if they do, hospitals and/or doctors may not be able to pay the financial damages to a patient according to court due to their inappropriate insurance cover and/or medical indemnity. However, new insurance plans are now available that protect medical tourist if alleged medical malpractice occurs abroad.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a Medical Tourism Facilitator plays a vital dual role - first, in attracting medical tourists and second, in providing quality experience through medical, travel, concierge, insurance-facilitation services. Hence, medical tourism industry’s growth is largely influenced by this key player. Unfortunately, most of the Medical Tourism Facilitators mushrooming now leave more questions than answers and more problems than solutions.
I hope above points will help facilitators to establish benchmarks for improvement and raise the bar on the services so that they can provide that missing experience – Delightful Experience. As I always say – Let there be light, not just flight.
Dr. Prem Jagyasi is a Chartered Management, Healthcare Marketing and Medical Tourism Consultant. Providing high-profile consultancy services to Government Authorities and Private Healthcare organizations, he is noticeably leading medical tourism consultant. He also serves Medical Tourism Association, as an Honorary Chief Strategy Officer. He can be reached at Prem@Jagyasi.com | www.DrPrem.com | www.ExHealth.com
http://www.medicaltourismmag.com/detail.php?Req=283&issue=13
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Roshan Shah on -
Excellent Writeup Dr. Jagyasi.
"Medical tourism has a tremendous scope for involving ethical, cultural, and legal issues; the understanding of which can be gained with the aid of Knowledge Management Consultancy services by well known, recognized and reputed consultants.
One of the common ethical issues raised is the fact that a medical procedure at one destination might be deemed unethical at another destination. This is deepening the already existing inequalities in the health care system."
This is so very important!. Facilitator must be trained and provided with legal/ethical/cultural know hows of every country and various treatments so that he can offer best viable packages to the patients. We have a pre-qualification process in Kosansh for every Facilitator Registration and we know the knowledge gap is HUGE.
While the industry and growth is exploding, only those facilitators who will invest in spending "HOURS and HOURS" of learning about various destinations, intricacies, legal viability of a particular surgery in a country, etc will succeed.
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Permalink Reply by Dr Prem on -
Roshan, I truly believe that facilitators will make a huge diffrence to the growth of industry, only if they follow propoer protocols. thanks for sharing your views. Prem
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Permalink Reply by Jack Schafer on -
Thank you... sincerely.
This is the most comprehensive synopsis of the role of the Medical Tourism Facilitator that I have ever digested, and I am one. It has taken my company over a year to become active and competent, and do it right. Over that time, the market has flooded with those trying to capture a quick profit in an exploding industry, playing around with people lives. Are they perhaps the same folks that show up after a disaster with hammers and saws in hand, to shake down those who have already lost everything ?
It's easy to blame those who impose the problem, but the only remedy comes from actively finding a solution. Those of us who are reputable, are members of associations that should be fostering these efforts, however that's just not happening. There is no real established criteria for anyone wishing to call themselves a facilitator to become an MTA members as one, and be as “validated” as those of us trying to do it right. Seven Facilitators in the world, spent money and responded to well over a hundred pages of questions detailing protocols and procedures, so that we could stand out as MTA Certified Facilitators - atleast SOME designation... Those applications have been in for well over 8 months so far. Thus, the 7 of us who tried to position ourselves as being actually qualified in this field have been shown about as much priority as the certification program itself.
I’m one of the biggest fans of the MTA, and they are mine as well, and I even insist that providers that I do business with become members. They are GREAT representatives of the Industry in general, but this is an issue that needs to be handled directly by those who are able to single out the Facilitators importance in this industry, and act on that… and that is the facilitators themselves. We NEED our own association, maybe under the MTA – maybe not, but true Facilitators need our own accreditation standards, and the long term success of the industry needs us to have those as well.
When those who know how to do Medical Tourism “right”, are put out of business by those who are prostituting the industry, everyone loses… and I’m not sure anyone gets that !
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Lloyd on -
Dr Jagyasi –
Thank you for the thoughtful summary of the role of the medical tourism facilitator. The legal issues are indeed wide open but thoughtful planning for the most important issues can resolve a lot of headaches for the facilitator, the patient, and the overseas physicians.
One of the challenges for facilitators is to settle the expectations of the patient/customer as to exactly the scope of the services being provided. This is a new industry and patient/customers ought to be counseled as to exactly what they are purchasing from a facilitator. It’s my experience that many lawsuits (here, as elsewhere) can be avoided if businesses and customers take the time to understand exactly the relationship being entered into. This requires both a carefully written contract defining the services, of course, but it also requires a frank conversation with potential customers.
This is especially important for medical tourism facilitators. In medicine, lawsuits are unavoidable. Not all bad results arise from malpractice, of course, and this does not mean that medical tourism providers will be held liable for the acts of overseas physicians. But given the jurisdictional limits of US courts, it is not always possible (or even likely) that a physician outside the United States will be subject to US jurisdiction for a malpractice action (and even if a US court has jurisdiction and a lawsuit is successful, a US plaintiff is unlikely to collect against a foreign physician). If an unhappy patient finds that he cannot sue the physician or hospital, he may look elsewhere.
Given that the medical procedure and early recovery is done overseas, medical facilitators may be the only party subject to the jurisdiction of US courts. It may be meritless case or a reasonable case for which the facilitator still bears no responsibility at all, but even dismissing a frivolous lawsuit is expensive and time-consuming. Until legal precedent is better settled in this industry, it is something medical facilitators need to be aware of to protect their own businesses.
Of course, a frank analysis of what a facilitator is and is not providing has other benefits, including a better understanding of what supplemental insurance products may be appropriate for the patient/customer, a better understanding of how to price the risks involved, and an ability to communicate more clearly with the patient/customer about the scope of the services being provided.
Best,
-Andrew Lloyd
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Permalink Reply by Dr Prem on
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Agree on point that lawsuit could be avoided for facilitators. Hence, medical tourism facilitators can develop better services within the legal framework by just following few simple protocols. Regards, Prem
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Permalink Reply by Cherie Bright on -
Your article is well written and covers so many important issues. Your points are greatly appreciated. I also appreciate the legal points discussed by Andrew Lloyd. To avoid legal problems and confusion, there needs to be understanding between the parties. Having such understanding in writing is extremely important. Prevention should be what we all strive for. It's not only a major financial issue but creates a lot of stress on all of the parties. There is no substitution for clear meaningful communication.
I also believe that clear language contracts are very important. When terms are used that are not understood you do not have a meeting of the minds and are more likely to have problems. Although complex legal issues may be hard to define in plain language, whenever possible I believe it should be done. Contracts should be clear, concise and understandable for the benefit of all parties.
This is in no way an attempt to give legal advice as I am not an attorney but anyone in business needs to be able to ask the right questions so they can be addressed by the legal community. Clarity of language becomes even more important when working in multi language situations and is greatly complicated by cross border considerations.
One is not only dealing with law where they run their business but also need to consult with a professional on law where the patient is from and where the services are rendered. Your business is likely to be working under various potentially conflicting laws. A choice of what law governs the transaction can be crucial in alleviating paying for attorneys and potential litigation in multiple jurisdictions. If a jurisdiction is not determined by contract, a lot of time and money can be wasted on jurisdictional issues alone. Any confusion that can be avoided needs to be.
The facilitator is also dealing with more than one contract in most cases. Jurisdictional issues have to be looked at and considered. Attorneys that are accustomed to dealing in one jurisdiction may overlook important issues when dealing with cross border contracts. By using an attorney that is familiar with these issues, you can save your business a lot of money and potentially avoid a lot of future unnecessary litigation cost.
I worked for many years as an international tax consultant. I would like to mention that in addition to dealing with multi jurisdictional legal issues, we are also dealing with multi jurisdictional tax issues. The issues are sometimes covered under tax treaty law. In jurisdictions however not covered by dual tax treaties the issue can become far more complicated and one can be subjected to taxation in more than one jurisdiction. This can have a major affect on profitability. Most CPA's are not trained in this specialized area and those that are usually only deal with mega corporations. It is important to consider these issues. Facilitators working in many countries further complicate these issues. It is often best to network with each other and not try to handle working in too many different countries.
Cherie Bright
International Travel Services Inc
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Permalink Reply by Ahmet Genc on -
It is very well covered article by Dr Jagyasi and thanks for the great contributions by Andrew Lloyd on legal points and Cherie Bright on taxation issues.
These are some of the critical points to discuss and address one by one for the healthy growth of medical tourism accross the borders.
I strongly agree on the Dr. Prem`s comments in regarding to the importance of the medical tourism facilitatorship. The strength of a chain is its weakest link. And our weakest link is medical tourism facilitators and their competencies.
Well, certification is one of the solutions, yet does not cease the problem.
As Cherie Bright suggested, it is better to establish a network with each other to overcome the bottlenecks and to secure the healthy growth.
There is an absolute need to get acquaintance with each other for networking. Background, related work experience, education and core competencies for medical tourism, objectives are just a few of the necessary items I think.
-Ahmet Genc
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Permalink Reply by Nasir Mahmood on -
Respected Dr.Prem, Hope you are keeping well. I read your article and found you much knowledgeable.it was really impressive that how close you understand the importance of Facilitators and regarding this your suggestions are excellent .
Your article is instrumental for those who yet not understand importance of Facilitators. I would appriciat your one of suggestion that we should have certified Facilitators and criteria which you mentioned is absolutely right but at the time of emplementation of this idea little more things can be added with consultation of other masters like you.
Further more i would say the first step you have taken, let you finish it and dont forget me if i can do anything regarding this particular task.
Very Best Regards, Nasir Mahmood (Samars International Pakistan) samars_butt@yahoo.com
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