Lack of information prior to medical tourism visits is a significant issue in meeting the expectations of patients. A global portal with doctor rating systems plausibly can bridge this gap. Doctor rating comparisons can help to reduce the information asymmetry in medical tourism. This study proposes a set of standards for doctor rating criteria for a medical tourism portal. A model has been dev...

BACKGROUND Medical tourists are defined as individuals who intentionally travel from their home province/country to receive medical care. Minimal literature exists on the cost of postoperative care and complications for medical tourists. The costs associated with these patients were reviewed. METHODS Between February 2009 and June 2013, 62 patients were determined to be medical tourists. Pati...

BACKGROUND Role of information source, perceived benefits and risks, and destination image has significantly been examined in travel and tourism literature; however, in medical tourism it is yet to be examined thoroughly. The concept discussed in this article is drawn form well established models in tourism literature. METHODS The purpose of this research was to identify the source of informa...

Dr. Milstein is the chief physician at Mercer Health and Benefits and medical director of the Pacific Business Group on Health — both in San Francisco. Dr. Smith is the president and chief executive officer of the California HealthCare Foundation, Oakland, CA. Wachter RM. The “dis-location” of U.S. medicine — the implications of medical outsourcing. N Engl J Med 2006;354:661-5. The globalizatio...

TO THE EDITOR—We read with great interest the article by Chen et al in Clinical Infectious Diseases on 15 December 2013 [1] and would like to bring some additional points to the readers’ attention. Chen et al report an increase in numbers of medical tourists from developed countries traveling overseas to obtain more affordable medical procedures and highlight the risk of unusual resistant hospi...

BACKGROUND Medical tourism is a global health practice where patients travel abroad to receive health care. Voluntourism is a practice where physicians travel abroad to deliver health care. Both of these practices often entail travel from high income to low and middle income countries and both have been associated with possible negative impacts. In this paper, we explore the social responsibili...

Introduction: In the globalizing world; the concept of medical tourism comes to the fore with the increase in travel freedoms between countries, easier transportation facilities, and the increased quality of healthcare services in different countries. This study aims to examine the barriers to developing medical tourism and prioritize the factors to give an insight on where to ...

International travel for the purpose of receiving medical care is increasing. We report a case of disseminated mycobacterial infection after fetal stem cell infusion.

BACKGROUND Medical tourism is the practice of traveling across international boundaries in order to access medical care. Residents of low-to-middle income countries with strained or inadequate health systems have long traveled to other countries in order to access procedures not available in their home countries and to take advantage of higher quality care elsewhere. In Mongolia, for example, r...