Medical tourism now has a shape that vastly differs from the one it had 20 years ago. In the 90s of the XX century people were aiming for the US and Western Europe to get the best treatment, the goal was high-end medical services. Now, the price of medical services is the deciding factor. Costa Rica, Indonesia, Thailand, and Turkey are becoming the main medical tourism destinations for the most part due to that particular reason.
Source: grandviewresearch.com
In this blog installment, we will explore some things that shape medical tourism, try to dive deeper into studying the market size and explore the most frequent procedures and the most popular destinations for medical tourism.
After that, we’ll look deeper into technologies that influence medical tourism today.
As a tech company, Elinext has been a supplier of software development for our partners across the globe, including healthcare software. So it would be interesting for us to check out the potential of investments in software for medical tourism, and how tech shapes it.
Medical Tourism Market Overview
Research and markets estimated the global medical tourism market size is expected growth to USD 97.9 billion by 2030. Expected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is at 32.51% during the forecast period. The potential of the already established and functioning market is vividly seen in the image below:
Source: researchandmarkets.com
The most popular medical procedures people take tours for are dental, cardiovascular, orthopedic, and cosmetic treatments.
On most occasions, cosmetic surgeries, dental procedures, or, more or less aren’t covered by US and European companies, making citizens look for cheaper opportunities outside of their homelands.
Patients save treatment costs by going to places where such services are provided at lesser costs. Thailand, India, Malaysia, Turkey, and other countries become the main destinations for medical travelers.
$5,000 – $8,000-worth operation for breast augmentation in the US is $3,000 – $4,000 in Malaysia. IVF treatment will cost you $15,000-$20,000 in the States, while the price could be up 2.5 lower in Thailand. Patient arrivals in Asian countries increase due to price factors.
China has emerged as a key destination for travelers seeking stem cell therapies. Stem cell research is frowned upon and oftentimes banned in certain countries. That is why the Chinese market has the best opportunities to grow. It’s all about advertising and marketing when it comes to finding new clients. Medical tourism requires advertising exposure.
Esteemed and well-recognized hospitals enhance a country’s global standing. Also, medical tourism generates tons of revenue for developing economies. Increased government engagement is always helpful.
If we’re speaking about restraining factors of market growth: the COVID-19 pandemic did a heavy blow to medical tourism. As tourism in general was hit hard by traveling restrictions, you’d guess correctly if you presuppose.
The majority of people working in this sector faced economic losses. We’ll explore how tech helped with minimizing expenses.
Technologies that Shape Medical Tourism
The integration of technology in medical tourism is transforming the healthcare industry, allowing patients to receive high-quality care from anywhere in the world. With the growth of the market comes an increased demand for technology to facilitate the process and improve patient outcomes. Electronic Health records (EHRs), medical databanks, telemedicine, and Augmented Reality (AR) are just a few examples of the technologies being widely applied to medical tourism. Let’s take a closer look at how this tech is being applied.
Electronic Health Records (EHR)
EHRs are a crucial component of medical tourism. They provide healthcare professionals with access to a patient’s medical history, improve communication and coordination of care, and ensure continuity of care for medical tourists seeking follow-up treatment.
Digitization of healthcare records provides increased efficiency in understanding and interpreting patient data and enhances service quality and safety. If we’re speaking about medical tourism, the wide application is after the cloud-based EHR solutions. They help lower patient costs as case studies stack up similar medical problems.
There are also some extra benefits: identification of probable drug interactions, and storage of diagnostic test results.
Unfortunately, not all the EHR systems in the world are standardized, but some uniformity exists. That allows foreign medical facilities (by foreign we mean popular medical tourism destinations) to attract more medical tourists from countries with better economies.
Elinext can help your medical facility build a standardized, interoperable electronic health record (EHR) system that can be utilized to manage patient care across hospital systems and multiple countries.
Medical Databanks
When it comes to data, there’s a staggering amount of it in healthcare being generated every day.
Governments are working on creating digital healthcare databases that would help hospitals (and other medical facilities) access information on a real-time basis from a global data set.
Potentially, doctors can view the information on their smartphones through encrypted data on the cloud and advise patients on the spot. Tech nowadays allows leading medical tourism markets to have dedicated web portals or mobile/desktop apps to list healthcare providers, book the venue for the procedures, travel, and other stuff.
Governments across leading medical tourism markets have set up dedicated portals and apps to highlight services, list healthcare providers and facilitators, and assist in booking travel and lodging, among other things.
There are international forums, such as World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress and the Asia Medical Tourism Congress, with an increased focus on their advanced technological offerings.
Ideally, the entire ecosystem is being developed to ensure that inbound tourism and superior technology resonate with medical tourists.
Government and hospital portals are highlighting the availability of travel options, cheaper treatment costs, tariff options, and preparatory aspects required before visiting the country to ease the journey of inbound medical patients.
You can find apps for medical tourists in Thailand (MedTourism), Korea (MediApp), and other countries across the world.
Thailand’s MedTourism is an application that serves as an extension of the website run by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Potential medical tourists can use the app to get info on medical providers, specialists, medical treatments, specific services, check-ups, and possible destinations.
MediApp Korea is a mobile application released by the Medical Tourism Promotion Center of the Korea Tourism Organization. It is a little more advanced, as it provides the user with a full picture of Korea’s medical tourism industry. You can even book a ready-made tour.
MediApp Korea provides users with an extensive list of clinics, and medical planners. Also, it is integrated with all the major social networks.
Telemedicine
Telemedicine involves the use of telecommunications technology to provide medical services remotely. The most simple application of it in medical tourism is when you’re willing to ask for a second opinion from a doctor outside of your country Just received a diagnosis and treatment plan without having to travel. This technology is very time and costs consuming.
Telemedicine can (in theory and practice) reduce treatment times, and give patients a set of options for their future medical travel destination.
Let’s take Apollo Telehealth Services as an example. Run by the chain of hospitals in India, the project includes telemedicine centers and telehealth camps where patients can be observed for remote monitoring. They claim 15% of their annual revenue is generated this way. Some services exist all over the world: from southern Thailand to the state of Mississippi.
The medical center in the latter developed a telemedicine pilot program that used remote video visits. Patients who were part of a program had connected devices to check their vitals. If something was alarming, physicians contacted their patients immediately.
Medical adherence grew to 96% (used to be 60%), and nine new cases of diabetic retinopathy were detected that would’ve been missed if not for the program. This is a real demonstration of telehealth benefits and its effectiveness worldwide.
AI chatbot
Cutting-edge technology in AI helps to simplify the management of medical tourism providers. There is high competition in the market for AI bots for medical tourism.
Pre-trip Planning
By utilizing a chatbot, patients can plan their medical tourism trips in detail. The chatbot can provide information on medical procedures, treatments, and facilities in different locations after the analysis of medical records and insurance policies.
Appointment Scheduling
The chatbot can also help patients schedule appointments with medical professionals and coordinate with medical facilities to ensure seamless arrangements. Also, it can help patients with timely notifications, so they wouldn’t miss their appointments.
Analytics and Reporting
The chatbot can also help patients schedule appointments with medical professionals and coordinate with medical facilities to ensure seamless arrangements.
Conclusion
The medical tourism industry is growing due to the adoption of the tech. EHR, telemedicine, and medical databanks are just a few of the countless examples of it. With the help of tech, healthcare becomes more accessible and affordable, which makes medical tourism more attractive to patients seeking high-quality medical care at lower costs.
Our mission is to help healthcare providers and medical tourism facilitators take advantage of the market opportunities by developing custom software solutions. Elinext can help implement EHR systems, develop telemedicine platforms, or build medical databanks that meet specific needs. If you want to learn more about how Elinext can help your organization, get in touch with our team of healthcare IT experts today.
