One of the major barriers to expansion of medical tourism on a mass scale is the willingness of doctors to participate in the process. There are several things getting in the way:
1. With a shortage of physicians in the US, doctors are busy enough. The are eager to shift their payor mixes from low reimbursment to higher paying patients, but , with the exception of doctors starting practice, they don’t need more patients that might be a headache.
2. Doctors are used to a doctor-to-doctor referral model, not a patient- to- facilitator to institution model. They will continue to push back until there is a comfortable global healthcare referral platform.
3. Doctors are suspect about the value offered by facilitators. Unless they see a tangible return on investment, they are unlikely to engage intermediaries who they see as non-medical professional trying to skim revenue from an industry that is overhyped.
Medical travel is in the early stages of its life cycle. One of the tipping points will be when providers have confidence in the system and the business model.
Arlen D Meyers, MD, MBA
www.medvoy.com
www.careconnectix.com
