Patients are always on the search for the best doctors and medical services globally. This creates pressure and an incentive for medical institutions, motivating them to improve the quality of their services and ensure that their medical staff are highly qualified and fit the consumer’s demands. IMTEC 2013 – taking place for the first time on 22-23 March at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco – will host the most advanced players and thinkers in this context to learn and discuss the most recent developments in the medical travel market. IMTEC is organised by Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions, the organisers of the world’s second largest healthcare exhibition ‘Arab Health’, in strategic cooperation with the European Medical Travel Conference (EMTC).

According to Dr. Uwe Klein, Chairman of IMTEC, “The main challenge and objective in the current market is to create an environment where the consumer is educated in his/her rights and entitlements in cross-border healthcare. This will result in an increase in demand for medical travel. The growing dominance of social media is outperforming structured and traditional systems of communication. This will change the way brands, beliefs, information and knowledge is transferred around the globe. This development also affects medical tourism and the way in which customers are reached and convinced.

IMTEC 2013 will host discussions on how the advanced use of social media and health packaging makes it possible to offer easier access to wellness, cosmetic surgery and other convenient health solutions in a consumer friendly way.

Medical tourism will profit from the development of social media as long the service providers become more active in this area. Tactical marketing on platforms such as Facebook, mobile applications and bonus or points systems will open many windows of opportunities for service providers willing to invest time and effort into this new way of communication. Relying on a classic marketing strategy without taking into account the constant and ever changing presence on the web can be risky.

“The issue here is how to help customers to discern truth from fake?” says Dr. Klein. “It is the responsibility of service providers to make these ways of accessing solutions reliable, trustful and of high quality to the patient.”

Key speakers at IMTEC 2013 include Ms. Laila Al Jassmi, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy Sector, Dubai Health Authority (DHA), UAE; Dr. Paolo Giordano, Managing Director, European Union of Private Hospitals (UEHP), France; Josef Woodman, President, Patients Beyond Borders, USA; Dr. William Ruschhaupt, Chairman Global Health Center, Cleveland Clinic, USA; Ruben Toral, Founder and Director, Medeguide, Thailand; and Isabel de la Mata, Principal Adviser, SANCO – Heath & Consumers, European Commission, Luxembourg.

The speaker faculty comprises of the many of people who are actively shaping the face of medical travel. IMTEC is the only balanced, non-political, neutral and open platform serving the global medical travel community. 

For more information about The International Medical Travel Exhibition and Conference (IMTEC) 2013 visit www.medicaltravelexhibition.com

Whereas a “Medical Tourism Facilitator” is usually a professional organization, run by professionals with a back ground in healthcare, with a panel of experienced physicians and surgeons who are able to read and analyze reports, talk to the patient’s physician and then decide which facility will be best for a particular ailment. The Medical Tourism Facilitator would have binding agreements with internationally accredited hospitals they deal with to provide medical services on par with international standards, the credentials and experience of the surgeons are verified, the standards of the hospitals checked and verified. The Medical Tourism Facilitator receives all medical reports, consults with the panel of surgeons and doctors, and decides which facility fits the needs of the patient.
This portal aims to be professional medical tourism facilitator. Full article is available on:

http://www.medicaltourismmag.com/blog/2011/05/the-difference-between-a-%E2%80%9Cbroker%E2%80%9D-and-a-%E2%80%9Cmedical-tourism-facilitator/

Finland has high quality healthcare services, but their importance as an export product has been marginal. Expansion of profit-driven healthcare for foreigners has been hampered by the small market in Finland, the increase in demand from Finns, and by language problems. “One big obstacle has been language,” says Eero Toiviainen, director of Finpro’s Finland Care program, which aims to bring paying Russian patients to Finland. He adds that the problem has largely been remedied, as more healthcare providers add Russian language skills to their repertoire.

The Finland Care program’s mission to internationalize private sector health care in Finland is aimed primarily at Russia. A Finpro report found that more than 100,000 Russians travel abroad for health care each year, but only around one percent of them came to Finland. Recent interest in the export possibilities of Finnish health care has brought new players into the sector. New firms have been founded specifically to offer travel arrangements. One of these is the health service broker Nordic Clinic, which was founded to develop health tourism to Finland. The firm already owns one health care hotel in Helsinki.

”It is now predicted that over the next ten years the Russian health care market will grow,” says Nordic Clinic Managing Director Tero Silvola. ”Private markets can grow up to three-fold from the current level. In the market in question there is not a great deal of trust in the quality of health services, and a large part of that demand will turn to the Nordic countries.” The Orton hospital has brought foreign patients to Finland since the mid-90s. The overwhelming majority of its patients come from Russia. The number of Russian users has already risen steeply in the last few years.

”In the last three years the number has grown around 60-70 percent each year,” said Orton Managing Director Juha Aarvala. ”At this moment the impact is around 5-10 percent of our turnover. The need and potential is noticeably bigger than what we have at this moment realized.”

Source of article: http://yle.fi/uutiset/russians_flock_to_finland_for_health_care_services/6400080

An interesting approach has been published on IMTJ (read more). Medical tourism in Poland lacks of appropriate centralized business model and marketing strategy. A need of ready-made service emerges from today’s perspective. Local certifications will not guarantee required level of medical tourists support and their comfort as well as self-confidence. The game is about playing, branding and scoring.

Seems that important factor is to establish cooperation between healthcare facilities and representatives of the tourism sector. Common goal is not only focus on getting traffic, acquiring medical tourists but also to share experiences, focus on joint projects, trainings and conferences.

Quality of medical tourism and medical travel healthcare services including spa and wellness will definitely be the aim of future. The priority is to use funds in comprehensive innovative way.

Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency organizes a 3 day study tour within the project “Promotion of Polish medical tourism”of polish Ministry of Economy. This tour is aimed at the foreign companies, representing tourism medical sector from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway,  Russia, UK, USA. Invitation of 2 representatives from each country is planned. The event is planned for December 10-13, 2012.

We are looking for foreign companies like: insurance companies, governmental health departments, tour agents, business organizations and trade associations, responsible for patients treated abroad. We expect the participants to be English-speaking. During the visit we will organize the meetings with Polish medical tourism companies, participating in our project, that represent: hospitals, SPAs, clinics, health resorts, hotels and tour agents, etc.

The main goal of the visit is to show a high level of Polish medical services for foreign patients, but also to establish business contacts that directly contribute to an increase in the inflow of foreign patients to Poland. The visit aims to familiarize the customers with high quality service and support for patients and the practical aspects of traveling to Poland.

For more information please see attachement or contact the Agency: www.paiz.gov.pl