Local Accreditation in Outpatient Care as an Alternative to Attract Foreign Patients to Colombian Medical Travel: A Case Study in the City of Barranquilla

This article analyzes the contribution of the accreditation in outpatient care of the Colombian Institute of Technical Standards and Certification in the perception of satisfaction of patients treated in the city of Barranquilla (Colombia). Two groups of 67 participants underwent outpatient procedures at an accredited and non-accredited clinic. A quasi-experimental design based on a pre-test, post-test, and a focus group was applied to both groups. A t-test and a Tau Kendall correlation coefficient were applied. It was found that the patients treated in the accredited clinic were more satisfied in the time of consultation received, follow-up care, and the communication between them with their physicians and nurses. It was also found that each group had different preferences in the care received. This study contributes to knowing more about Colombian medical travel from case studies.

Do Patients Residing in Provincial Areas Transport and Spend More on Cancer Treatment in Korea?

Background: With the increasing burden of cancer worldwide, a need exists to investigate patterns of healthcare utilization and costs. This study aimed to investigate whether the area of residence is associated with the likelihood of a patient receiving treatment at an institution located outside their residing region. This study also analyzed whether medical travel was related to levels of healthcare utilization and costs. Methods: This study used the 2007 to 2015 National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data. The residing area was categorized into capital area, metropolitan cities, and provincial area. Healthcare utilization was measured based on days of care and costs based on direct, covered medical costs. Chi-square test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to investigate the general characteristics of the study population. The relationship between the dependent and independent variables were analyzed using the generalized estimating equation (GEE) model. Results: Of the 64,505 participants included in this study, 19,975 (31.0%) visited medical institutions located outside their residing area. Compared to individuals residing in the capital area, those living in provincial regions (OR 2.202, 95% CI 2.068–2.344) were more likely to visit medical institutions outside their residing area. Healthcare costs were higher in individuals receiving treatment at hospitals located elsewhere (RR 1.054, 95% CI 1.017–1.093). Conclusion: Cancer patients residing in provincial areas were likely to visit institutions located outside their residing area for treatment. Medical travel was associated with higher levels of spent healthcare costs. Policies should focus on preventing possible related regional cancer disparity and promoting optimal configuration of cancer services.

Different Roles of Telehealth and Telemedicine on Medical Tourism: An Empirical Study from Azerbaijan

With the rapid progress in mobile healthcare and Internet medicine, the impact of telehealth and telemedicine on the satisfaction of patients and their willingness to travel has become a focus of the academic research community. This study analyses the differences between telehealth and telemedicine and their role in medical tourism. We examine how the information quality and communication quality of telehealth and telemedicine influence patient satisfaction, and their effects on patients’ willingness to undertake medical travel and on their medical travel behaviours. We conducted an empirical study on the use of telehealth and telemedicine and on medical travel behaviour in Azerbaijan using a survey for data collection. A total of 500 results were collected and analysed using SmartPLS 3.0. Results show that (1) the communication quality and information quality of telehealth and telemedicine and their effects on satisfaction have significantly positive influences on willingness to undertake medical travel; (2) the psychological expectations of value and cost (perceived value and perceived cost) have a positive influence on medical travel; and (3) willingness to participate in medical travel positively influences medical travel behaviour. Moreover, results of this study have implications for research on, and the practice of, using telehealth and telemedicine as they relate to medical tourism. This research may help improve knowledge about telehealth and telemedicine and understand the differences between them in detail. This empirical research model may also be useful for researchers from other countries who wish to measure medical travel behaviour.

Different Peoples, Different Inebriations: The Recognition of Different Cultures of Intoxication in Early Modern English Medicine

In early modern Europe, the global dimensions of the drug trade and the introduction of new substances contributed to the development of new cultures of intoxication. This process was particularly evident in England, where a new intoxication culture emerged from the recognition of how different substances produced similar reactions. Medical travel literature provides a critical source for examining alternative methods of drug consumption in the non-Western world in this period: culturally embedded practices like Turkish opium eating or Native American tobacco smoking became significant benchmarks for comparing with Western habits of alcohol consumption. This article argues that the early modern Western medical community relied on comparisons of intoxication in other contexts in an effort to describe its own culturally embedded practices of alcohol intoxication.

Health and Wellness–Related Travel: A Scoping Study of the Literature in 2010-2018

Health and wellness–related travel, also known as medical tourism, is a topical phenomenon with a wide range of effects in both local and transnational contexts. This scoping study examines the literature on this phenomenon from the perspective of travelers. The literature search was conducted using three databases (EBSCOhost, Web of Science, and SCOPUS) and covered the period from 2010 to 2018. The results show that the literature is divided into two academic fields: social sciences and tourism. Travel from the Global North to the Global South still dominates the field of medical travel research, and studies on South-to-South or intra-regional travel are underrepresented. There is a need for a more in-depth qualitative understanding of travelers’ lived experiences and for studies with more advanced quantitative methods and longitudinal research designs. We call for more interdisciplinary and theoretical approaches to health and wellness–related travel and propose a conceptual model that considers travelers’ intent (medical/wellness) and status (patient/tourist).

Digital Health Innovation Enhancing Patient Experience in Medical Travel

Digital health technological innovations are disrupting every sector of the economy, including medical travel/tourism. Global patients as medical tourists are using patient-centric digital health technologies, enhancing patient/medical tourists experience and making it more transparent and engaging with healthcare providers and medical tourists. Digital communication tools such as e-mail, online appointments, smartphones, instant messaging applications, social media tools, user-generated content by online patient communities, tele-medicine, tele-radiology, my-Health records, Skype consultation, WhatsApp, health video, electronic health records, health data analytics tools, and artificial intelligence-enabled health technologies enhance the medical travel decision-making process, reduce cost, improve patient care and transparency of communication, and engage the relationship between the patient and the healthcare provider with positive outcomes, medical tourist experience, and empowerment.