Date post: | 20-Oct-2014 |
Category: |
Health & Medicine |
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ASIA,
Epicentre of Global
Medical Tourism –
SEIZE IT OR LOSE IT!
2nd Malaysia International Healthcare Travel Expo 2013 - 20 - 22 October 2013
WILSON TAN Asia Medical Travel Council (AMTRAC)
Introducing the Asia Medical Travel Council
the first formalised regional bloc in medical
tourism in the world
Outline of Presentation
Medical Tourism Today
Issues & Challenges Faced
Greater Opportunities
Increased Competition
What is AMTRAC?
AMTRAC Objectives & Activities
Conclusion
Medical Tourism Today
Traditional outbound countries - Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, the Middle East, UK and US.
Emerging outbound countries - Russia, Mongolia & Africa.
The value of this industry has been estimated to have grown to between US$ 60 - 100bn today. Who knows?
The United States has 49 million uninsured Americans.
Patients today are more open to travelling overseas to seek medical treatment.
Issues / challenges
Biggest issue – overcoming patient safety perception; horror stories of botched jobs keep popping up
Credibility of data from Asia – no independent verification
Focus on certification of process and not outcomes
Information on medical providers show credentials only. No data of actual cases handled, success & failures, infection rates and readmissions
Continuity of patient care post treatment - coordination with patients home physician
Danger of missed opportunities as other regions grow in sophistication in service levels & product offering
Greater Opportunities
US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”)– creates increased opportunities for outbound medical travel:-
sharp increase in health insurance costs to an unsustainable level due to waiver of
pre-existing conditions, extension of dependents’ age to 26 and increase in
“defensive” treatment
commercial insurance providers more open to viable alternatives offshore
Expect to see jump in US medical tourists in 2014 when the Individual Mandate
and Employer Mandate take effect - compulsory health insurance
Likelihood of large employers opting to cancel employer sponsored health
insurance and pay penalty – may seek overseas option
Long waiting times as US health system expected to be over-taxed with new
inclusion of 50 million previously uninsured Americans
Situation aggravated by baby boomers ageing –increased demand on system
Greater Opportunities
50,000 Canadians a year forego their insurance coverage and pay out of pocket for better and immediate treatment abroad
Increasing affluence in emerging markets like Russia, Mongolia and Africa – non Asian players wooing this market
Number of Russians actively seeking health treatment abroad rose to 47% in 2012 making it one of the fastest growing markets worldwide
Estimated more than 70,000 affluent Russians travel each year for medical treatment abroad spending in excess of US$1 billion annually
4 out of 10 fastest growing economies for 2013 are in Africa; resulting in growing affluence and growing pool of international patients
Increased Competition
Turkey’s healthcare standard is reputed to be equivalent to Europe’s with 46 JCI accredited hospitals – one of the highest number in the world outside of the US.
Dubai - new medical tourism initiative was announced in 2012 by Crown Prince of Dubai. Aggressive marketing, identifying gaps in services, building hospital capacity, and unifying medical tourism procedures; focus on serving people accompanying patients.
Increased Competition
Abu Dhabi - opening of Healthpoint, a 74-bed, German run multi-speciality hospital in Abu Dhabi. Cleveland Clinic, Rosewood Hotels & Four Seasons hotel opened luxury medical facility
Hungary is flagship EU medical tourism country focused on Western Europe patients; recognized for affordable, varied specialist treatment and spas.
Costa Rica/Panama/Mexico – have the advantage of proximity to US market and cultural affinity
What Is AMTRAC?
The world’s first ever formalized collaboration of national medical travel associations from Asian countries that promotes medical travel and tourism. Comprising of the top destination countries for medical tourism and travel in Asia.
INDIA Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commece and Industry (FICCI)
SINGAPORE Council for Medical Travel
Singapore (COMETS)
SOUTH KOREA Korea International Medical Association (KIMA) /
Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI)
THAILAND Thailand Medical Tourism Cluster
(TMTC)
MALAYSIA Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council
(MHTC)
open to include other Asian countries involved in medical travel
AMTRAC Objectives
• Create a regional bloc to promote medical tourism and raising visibility.
• Single platform for medical facilitators to learn, update and network with member service providers.
• Develop a higher degree of patient confidence and awareness in medical practitioners and facilities in the region; knock-on effect
• Forum to exchange views on topical issues facing the industry in Asia. For example, continuity of patient care.
• Combined regional effort in global industry research & strategic response to achieve global dominance
• Continuous - training courses & workshops for continuous professional advancement; region provides critical mass.
Attendees of the Preliminary AMTRAC Meeting
Seeking Guidance From Thought Leaders in Global Medical Tourism
Prof. Tawfik Khoja Director General, GCC Health Ministers’ Council
Keith Pollard Managing Director, Intuition Comm.
Prof. Sharon Kleefield Professor, Harvard Medical School
Ilan Geva Managing Director, Ilan Geva & Friends
Professor I. Glenn Cohen Assistant Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Victor Lazzaro Vice Chairman BridgeHealth Medical
Visit to Health Ministers Council in Saudi Arabia
AMTRAC Activities
• Work on areas of commonality
• Engage in aggressive international marketing as a regional bloc
• AMTRAC web portal in 6 languages
• Introduce professional reporting & validation of data collection by major surgical specialties
• Promote the adoption of internationally accepted standard medical and clinical terminologies such as SNOMED or Systematized Nomenclature Of Medicine Clinical Terms
• AMTRAC events seen as a major event on global medical tourism calendar
• Symposiums covering topical issues such as bioethics, malpractices and legal issues relating to medical tourism.
Conclusion
• Asia has done well over the past decade and likely to continue
• Industry expected to continue growing
• US represents huge potential untapped market
• Growing affluence create emerging markets – Russia, Mongolia, Africa
• Traditional source countries seek to improve domestic healthcare to stem the tide of outbound medical travel and indeed becoming the new destination for medical travel
• Asian leaders in medical travel must continually reinvent themselves to stay ahead of a rapidly changing environment
• Hope to see greater support for regional collaborative effort such as the Asia Medical Travel Council (AMTRAC)
• Asia has been the epicentre of medical travel. We must seize the moment to forge ahead as a bloc or lose this opportunity forever!
THANK YOU