As anyone following this industry knows, medical tourism is evolving rapidly. Some of the biggest changes are:
1. Movement from an emphasis on “tourism” to “medical”, with some questioning whether the term “medical tourism”should be abandoned in favor of descriptors like “global and domestic healthcare facilitation or aggregation”
2. A shift from international travel to US domestic referral to an ever expanding base of “centers of excellence”
3. Domestic price and quality transparency leading to value comparisons
4. Global competition forcing US providers to lower their charges
5. An emphasis on regional referral networks rather than long distance networks
6. Increasing IT interconnectedness because of HITECH incentives in the US
7. Increasing telehealth and mobile health options
8. Industry consolidation and elimination of marginal players
9. Higher barriers to entry as companies develop difficult to build networks
10. Initial attempts at costing the true benefits of various business models.
BOTTOM LINE: Buckle your seats belts. We’re in for a rough ride.
