Could Medical Tourism be a Catalyst for Global Interoperability Success?

To say that one has state-of-the-art healthcare not found anywhere else in the world, while handing over a clipboard of admission paperwork to fill out just isn’t going to cut it.

Medical tourism is all the buzz.

With an estimated market size of USD 38.5 – 55 billion, countries are scrambling to attract patients from around the world to their healthcare destinations, promising to provide state-of-the art care at an affordable price.

Wouldn’t it be nice then, if medical tourism providers could also guarantee the continuity of care that interoperability touts?

Increasingly, this will be the foot-stomping demand of medical tourists who pack themselves up to fly across the globe in search of the best care in the best settings. And the destinations that can find a way to implement health IT systems that support such interfacing will be best poised to attract these picky, sometimes elite consumers, with an added-value statement of “We already know you” to their marketing campaigns.

In sluggish implementation environments, this may be difficult to do. But in places where agility and open-mindedness lead the business charge, healthcare providers there will find the best success in keeping their medical tourists happy.

Medical tourism strong in the GCC

In places like the GCC—where leapfrogging trends hold the potential to propel the region ahead of more established health IT systems, we may see some of the best efforts yet in terms of truly functional interoperability.

Here, innovation abounds, some powerful healthcare companies have set up shop, and medical tourism efforts are leading the charge—like Dubai’s recently unveiled medical tourism strategy to attract 500,000 tourists annually by the year 2020.

With a goal to provide state-of-the-art care according to international quality standards, there are 114 hospitals in the GCC holding Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation—with 51 of those in the UAE and 52 in Saudi Arabia. Much of this has to do with the medical tourism priority in this region.

That’s why I was surprised not to see any of the GCC countries listed in Patients Beyond Borders’ top destinations, or any of its hospitals listed among the world’s top ten.

But I got my Aha! moment when I came across the news that the Medical Quality Travel Alliance recently launched the first International Medical Tourism Certification for health and wellness providers and businesses around the world. The first recipient of certification? Saudi German Hospital Dubai—receiving its award in January 2014. Yep, I knew the GCC would definitely be in the mix.

In making the top destinations list, Patients Beyond Borders says the following factors are considered to be key:

• The degree of government and private sector investment in healthcare infrastructure
• The ability to show commitment to international accreditation, quality, and transparent outcomes
• The flow of international patients
• The amount of cost savings available
• The political transparency and social stability of the region
• An excellent tourism infrastructure
• A sustained reputation for clinical excellence
• The availability of internationally-trained, experienced medical staff
• A history of healthcare innovation and achievement
• The successful adoption of best practices and state-of-the-art medical technology

Those last two may be key components of the medical tourism interoperability push. As health IT vendors continue their global reach, the potential for interoperability to move across international borders could be at the heart of what makes medical tourism soar.

Putting patients in the center?

The stated goal of interoperability has always been various iterations of putting patients at the center. But the failings are everywhere, as proprietary interests—both on the vendor and provider sides—have trumped the priority for patient ownership.

But in the medical tourism industry, we’re dealing with a different type of patient—one who will demand top-notch care coordination as an integral part of the quality care they receive.

To say that one has state-of-the-art healthcare not found anywhere else in the world, while handing over a clipboard of admission paperwork to fill out just isn’t going to cut it.

Meeting the continuity of care needs within the medical tourism industry moves the functionality of interoperability up a level—out of the trenches of organizational bureaucracies, to a more global view of caring for one patient across borderless settings.

It’s why IHE International is important, so there will be a common set of global standards to provide collaboration and optimal coordination of care that serves the patient, instead of just the involved healthcare organization or vendor.

And why the upcoming IHE World Summit, Building Bridges to Better Health: Health IT Standards & Interoperability in a Global Context, will be an important event for interoperability’s world stage.

Safe, secure and functional interoperability on a global scale may be the biggest key yet to the success of medical tourism efforts around the world. Conversely, it may be this very movement which catalyzes interoperability improvement efforts and propels them forward.

With the right players in place, ruled by a spirit of collaboration that puts patient needs first, the sky could actually be the limit. We may even see the evolution of a healthcare community that moves beyond borders into a global unit of cohesiveness that achieves more on a world scale than any one country could manage alone.