by Denise

Individuals around the world can now access superlative healthcare without fearing bankruptcy. Europeans and inhabitants of Russia and Southeast Asia are flocking to superlative healthcare facilities in Turkey, Croatia, India, and Thailand and Singapore for cutting edge technology and effective treatments for a variety of illness and disease processes by compassionate, certified and accredited surgeons, medical staff, and facilities focused on the medical needs and comfort of international travelers.

According to the Medical Tourism Association, the next decade will bring an explosion in international healthcare capabilities and options, with over 16,000,000 Americans alone are expected to travel to foreign destinations for their medical care. An equal number of individuals from other countries around the world are also expected to travel to regional or international destinations as well.

Cost perspectives in this new era of medical tourism offer affordable yet world-class treatments and procedures to individuals in a variety of medical fields, including orthopedics, obesity and weight loss, cosmetic dentistry, cosmetic and plastic surgical procedures, cardiac care, and stem cell research.

The Asian Medical tourism industry is expected to reach nearly $10 billion by 2013 and health tourism in Mexico, Central America and South America is not far behind. Countries in Central Europe are seeing the enormous benefit of providing world class medical facilities, procedures and travel packages to international travelers, among them Croatia, the Ukraine, and Turkey.

PlacidWay, a medical tourism portal based in Denver, Colorado, provides a timely and respected source of medical travel information regarding treatments, procedures, facilities and surgeons abroad to offer international patients and travelers the best options when it comes to their medical care and health and wellness options.

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Posted in Cosmetic Surgery Abroad, Croatian Medical Tourism, Health Tourism, Medical Tourism, Medical Tourism Turkey, Obesity | Bariatric Surgery Abroad, Orthopedics Surgery Abroad, South America Medical Tourism, Stem Cell Therapy | No Comments »

by Denise

The 2009 World Medical Tourism and Global Health Conference of 2009 begins on Monday, October 26, 2009. The conference is designed to bring together healthcare providers, insurance companies, and medical personnel from around the world to discuss the growing trends in international medical and global health care and tourism. Taking place in Los Angeles, California, healthcare providers from around the world, including South America, Asia, Africa, Central Europe and the Middle East will join to discuss how to market services to international employers, patients and insurance companies.

Over 1.5 million Americans alone are expected to annually travel overseas for healthcare services in the coming years, with expenditures in the billions of dollars. Many south African nation citizens travel to locations in Southeast Asia including India, Thailand and Malaysia for quality healthcare, while Western, Central European and American travelers visit medical facilities in Middle Eastern and Central European countries such as Jordan, Croatia, and Albania for affordable, high class and timely procedures, treatments and operations.

Workshops, conferences, and networking benefit healthcare providers around the world, focusing on quality service, enhanced patient experience, and benefits of international healthcare, information regarding relevant and current case studies in the fields of technology, stem cell development and research, orthopedics, cardiac care, substance abuse and more.

Speakers at the conference will include Ministry Of Health as well as International Relations and Health Affairs Directors, Executive Hospital Board Council members, Ministers of Financial Services and health, Health Insurance representatives, speakers from the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, Board Of Trustee members from the American Medical Association, the Medical Tourism Association, and more.

Tags: Africa, Albania, American Medical Association, asia, California, cardiac care, central Europe, croatia, Executive Hospital Board Council members, global health, global health care, Global Health Conference, global health tourism, Health Affairs directios, health conference 2009, healthcare, healthcare providers, healthcare services, India, international health care, international medical care, International Relations, jordan, Los Angeles, Malaysia, medical, medical facilities, Medical Tourism, Medical Tourism Association, middle east, Ministry of Health, orthopedics, overseas medical care, patient experience, quality healthcare, quality service, south america, Southeast Asia, stem cell, stem cell research, substance abuse, thailand, World Medical Tourism
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by Denise

Medical tourism is here to stay, but people everywhere demand high standards and quality of care, as they should. When it comes to accreditation and certification of health care experience, the Medical Tourism Association, a fairly new global healthcare service organization new to the U.S. but growing exponentially, verifies a certain number of answers when it comes to specific questions regarding such experience. For example, here is a sampling of just a few of the issues any facility will need to answer on the certification application for 2009-2010:

·         Company’s health care experience

·         Facility or applicant has a medical advisor on staff

·         Languages spoken

·         Applicant defines which services are outsourced on their website

·         Applicant able to comply with HIPAA or privacy laws of other states, provinces or countries

·         Provide evidence of quality commitment

·         Names of all hospitals or clinics where surgical procedures are performed

·         Applicant inspected all surgical facilities to where patients are sent

·         Describes acceptable standards of patient “handling” from initial contact to final follow-up

·         Ease of travel arrangements, adequate travel packages, flight assistance and guides available for patients upon arrival to medical tourism destination

·         Proof that applicant has not had complaints or suits filed against them by patients, surgeons, hospitals or by embassies

Additional information for certification involves a searchable history of certification in other organizations and associations as well as contact information. Medical tourism must provide excellent, experienced healthcare providers for global travelers. The MTA (Medical Tourism Association) is on the right track to providing such assurance.

Tags: certification, certification guidelines, health care, health care experience, healthcare providers, HIPAA, Medical Tourism, Medical Tourism Association, medical tourism destination, MTA
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by Denise

No matter where you’re from, you want to be able to trust your physician or surgeon. The Medical Tourism Association, an international nonprofit organization based in the United States, has created a certification process for international medical providers listing services, facilities and surgeons around the world. As the first international nonprofit association, the Medical Tourism Association has created a program to specifically certify international providers to identify and establish best practices.

PlacidWay, a medical tourism resource and information portal-based in Denver, Colorado encourages established and potential clients to always check the credentialing, training, and accreditation of physicians and facilities in international and foreign destinations throughout Asia, South America, South Africa and Europe.

The medical tourism certification program requires that potential applicants pass certain qualifications before acceptance into the Medical Tourism Association and prior to receiving certification. Medical tourism is a growing industry and the MTA takes its job of researching and accrediting facilities very seriously. Before certification applicants must answer hundreds of questions including but not limited to:

·         How many patients are seen on a monthly basis

·         How many years applicants have been in business

·         Does the applicant along to any medical society or association

·         Verification of organization located in services

·         Applicant is compliant with HIPAA or specific country privacy laws

·         Applicant is verified facility providers are accredited and certified in country of origin

The Medical Tourism Association promotes and encourages transparency in the medical tourism industry. Adequate and experienced medical care is expected from everyone, regardless of origin. Medical tourism is growing in popularity. Make sure your doctor, surgeon or procedure is safe, trained, experienced and effective in best practices and standards.

 

Tags: accrediation of physicians, accreditation, asia, certification, credentialing, europe, HIPAA, international medical providers, Medical Tourism, Medical Tourism Association, medical tourism certification program, medical tourism industry, MTA, PlacidWay, south africa, south america, training, transparency in the medical tourism indistry
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by Denise

Medical tourism, also known as the health and wellness industry, is receiving more interest these days, not only from Americans dealing with a faltering economy, but from individuals around the world seeking affordable and quality healthcare. Whether those individuals are from Nigeria, the Middle East, Turkey, Australia or the United States, quality medical care and accessible healthcare facilities are on everyone’s minds.

The Medical Tourism Association, a nonprofit organization, is among the first in the medical tourism industry to promote standards and guidelines for quality of care around the world. The Medical Tourism Association (MTA) offers consumers from around the world the opportunity to become accredited and certified members of the Association, but in order to do so they must be evaluated and certified as providers of excellent quality healthcare. The certification process defined by the Medical Tourism Association is a thorough, extensively detailed and stringent process that takes between 3 to 4 months for a facility to complete. Quality of care is essential to the medical tourism industry, and offers consumers the peace of mind that comes with knowing a facility is well staffed, educated, expertly trained and experienced in a number of procedures, including but not limited to obesity weight loss procedures, cardiac care, cancer treatments, orthopedic surgeries in orthopedic procedures and more.

Facilities certified and having completed accreditation guidelines by the Medical Tourism Association reduce potential of risks and errors, establish and promote patient rights, adhere to religious or cultural requirements for international travelers, set facilities and physicians apart from competitors and promote interaction with domestic and international insurance companies, to name a few.

The future of healthcare is in medical tourism, and the Medical Tourism Association is making sure that consumers can feel comfortable and confident regarding their medical care, regardless of destination.

Tags: Australia, cancer treatments, cardiac care, health and wellness, health and wellness industry, healthcare facilities, international insurance companies, Medical Tourism, Medical Tourism Association, medical tourism industry, middle east, MRA, Nigeria, obesity weight loss procedures, orthopedic procedures, orthopedic surgeries, patient rights, quality healthcare, quality medical care, quality of care, quality standards for medical tourism, turkey, United States
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by Denise

This year, after a brief interruption of the World Medical Tourism in Global Health Congress in Monterrey, Mexico, canceled because of concerns regarding in the outbreak of swine flu, the second annual World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress will meet in Los Angeles, California in late October 2009.

The World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress is a gathering of individuals in the healthcare field and health and wellness tourism industry hosted by the Medical Tourism Association. The second annual conference has plenty on their agenda, including defining and addressing the needs of international patients, marketing and promotion of foreign medical destinations to domestic and international insurance companies, enhancing hospital and clinic contracts, and ensuring the implementation of medical tourism options into United States-based health insurance plans, among many others.

Focus of the 2009 World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress offers reliable and up-to-date information regarding the effectiveness and quality of healthcare in international destinations as well as the availability of such care for international consumer and ex-pat patients. Offering solutions, destinations and hospitals for consumers as well as providing guidelines regarding patient perspective, accreditation, and quality issues will be discussed at this gathering of participants in the health care and health and wellness industry from around the world, including representatives attending from Latin American destinations such as Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica and Brazil, to growing medical tourism destinations in Europe including the Ukraine, Poland, Croatia and Turkey as well as familiar healthcare providers in Asia in locations such as Singapore, Thailand and India.

Procedures and methodologies in orthopedic, cardiac, obesity and cancer treatments are offered by international providers for a fraction of the cost of the same procedures in the U.S., Great Britain and Canada.

 

Tags: 2009 World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress, accreditation, Argentina, asia, Brazil, cancer treatments, costa rica, croatia, europe, global health, global health congress, health and wellness, health and wellness industry, health insurance plans, healthcare, healthcare conference, India, international destinations, Latin American destinations, Medical Tourism, Medical Tourism Association, Mexico, obesity, orthoipedic, poland, quality of healthcare, Singapore, thailand, turkey, Ukraine, World Medical Tourism and Global health Congress
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