Question

Medical tourism is becoming increasingly popular, and it is important to understand why consumers might seek medical care outside of their home countries. Consider Maria, a 68-year-old female who lives in the United States. Her doctor has recommended a hip replacement, but because it is not life-threatening she is put on a wait list for surgery. Medical tourism is an alternative for Maria, but she has never even considered the possibility of traveling to another country to seek medical care. How might you market medical tourism to patients like Maria? For this Discussion, you examine benefits and barriers to medical tourism and recommend marketing strategies for consumers.

To prepare:

• Identify benefits of and barriers to medical tourism. Reflect on reasons consumers may or may not seek medical care outside of their home country.
• Consider marketing strategies to help consumers overcome potential barriers.

Answer 1

Benefits of medical tourism :-

a. It can be said that the cost of a surgery is high in U.S. and that exact surgery can cost much lesser in foreign countries.

b. There are many insurance company who would take the responsibility of travel and accommodation allowances which can be quite benefitting.

c. Beside the medical treatment, the patient and it's companions can travel a bit in foreign countries in a very low cost.

d. Many countries have qualified and skilled surgeons like that of U.S.

e. U.S. is famous for it's cutting edge technology and special care in the healthcare sector so many patients outside of U.S. comes in United States to seek satisfied treatment.

Barriers of medical tourism :-

a. There is always a possibility of getting bad treatment and care in foreign countries and that thinking may fear the patients.

b. There is a high chance of blood clot in the body after a surgery so sometimes doctors recommend not to travel for few days.

c. Language barrier is quite common as it is important to understand the medical staffs for treatment.

d. Every country has their own food so it is needed to take precaution as patients may react to sensible things.

Reasons of medical care outside the home country :-

One of the reasons is that it help patients to get different environment and this way they can be able to fresh up their minds and be optimistic. There is always a chance to get attractive medical treatment as well as talented specialist with skills in foreign countries.

Overcome the potential barriers of medical tourism :-

a. It is important to choose the right kind of destination as per the needs of the patient for the treatment.

b. Seeking help from the medical tourism agents when a patient faces language or cultural barrier is recommended.

c. Before going to a foreign country it is important to get a proper knowledge of their system so to do a smooth communication.

Hope this helps :)