That said, investors are still clinging to the promise of big returns fueled by patients losing their health benefits because of high unemployment, the aging population requiring more units of care and exploding costs of healthcare. If you think the medical travel industry is set to explode, there are some areas of investment to consider:

Foreign Healthcare infrastructure

Foreign Travel and hospitality infrastructure

Tools and support companies

Supporting global healthcare insurance and travel products

Firms in the medical travel supply chain

Expatriate retirement health cities and communities

Like other industry sectors, gold, for example, you can invest in the product itself, the people who create the product, or investments that pools risks, like mutual funds or exchange traded funds.

Look for companies in markets where the supply of care does not meet the demands of a growing middle class, that provide products and services delivering low, cost high volume care, and that provide platforms and infrastructure designed to reduce transaction costs for billing and collecting and value-based information.

Chihuahua Cathedral

MedVoy visits the Chihuahua Medical Cluster

The Chihuahua Medical Cluster in Chihuahua Mexico (less than a two hour flight from Houston), is a collaboration of the government, business, and medical community to provide high-quality medical care and to become a global leader in international healthcare.

With a strong colonial heritage, Chihuahua has a legacy of three centuries of hospitals and plans are already underway for additional hospitals. Meetings with Chihuahua Mayor Alvaro Guillermo Madero MuÒoz and Secretary of Tourism, Minister Hector Valles also unveiled plans for future tourism initiatives – a highlight being a Swiss-made tram being installed in Copper Canyon later this spring. Copper Canyon, a group of canyons twice as deep and five times longer than the Grand Canyon, is an unspoiled gem with breathtaking scenery.

For more photos of hospitals and Copper Canyon, please click here.

CIMA Hospital Chihuahua

CIMA Hospital is an international partnership of US and Mexican investors and the 150 physicians who practice at CIMA. Already ISO 9000 certified, CIMA Hospital is undergoing the JCI accreditation process, to be completed in June 2010.

Executive Wellness Screenings utilize GE Millennium MG Nuclear Imaging Environment (GENIE), which provides an intuitive user interface that goes well beyond the nuclear stress test. The General Health Council recently awarded CIMA Chihuahua the most important recognition in Mexico – recertification as a high-specialty hospital – and the Mexican Association of Private Hospitals has also recognized it as a Hospital of Excellence. Other specialties are: Bariatrics, Plastic Surgery, Cardiology, Angiology, Endoscopies, Orthopedics, Angioplasty, Lung and Heart Transplants.

Oncology Center of Chihuahua

Part of the CIMA Hospital Center, Oncology Center of Chihuahua is a brand-new, holistic, state-of-the-art cancer treatment center that is part of an international collaboration with Southwest Oncology Center of Scottsdale, Arizona.

The only TomoTherapy machine in Latin America, at a cost of $2.8M USD, fuses CT, MRI, and PET Scan simulations for contouring and allows for the most precise angles to be used, which can pinpoint tumors previously thought untreatable. With an on-site psychologist, nutritionist and private suites, treatment options include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

Clinica Cumbres

Clinica Cumbres, an American-designed Ambulatory Surgery Center, was built in cooperation with the JCI to follow the current US trend where 70% of clinics are for outpatient care. Clinica Cumbres has been JCI accredited since its inception in 2008, providing multi-year transparency, 100% electronic files and the ability to work with insurance providers.

With private rooms and an English-speaking staff, the average stay is six hours and patients are monitored every ten minutes. Specialties include: Angiology, Anesthesiology, Angiology, General Surgery and Gastroenterology, Plastic Surgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Otolaryngology, Pathology and Urology.