Study Of Medical Tourism: The Case For And Against
Medical tourism is to go under the
microscope in a major new study, led by an academic from the University
of York, which aims to assess its potential advantages and
disadvantages.
The study, which is funded by the
National Institute for Health Research, will examine the motives people
have for travelling across national boundaries to receive treatments
such as dental services, elective surgery for hip or joint replacement,
cosmetic surgery and fertility treatment.
Dr Neil Lunt, of the
York Management School, will head a team of researchers that includes
health economists, social scientists and clinicians who will research
four aspects of medical tourism.
They will spend 18 months studying:
- economic impact
- consumerism and patient decision-making
- quality, safety and risk
- industry development.
Medical tourism is currently mainly privately funded and the researchers will
seek to establish the amount people are paying for this healthcare and
its economic impact. They will also examine the potential savings for
the NHS that contracting out treatments to other countries might bring.
But
this will be linked to a review of potentially negative impacts on the
NHS, such as the need to ensure continuity of care for people who have
been treated abroad and the cost of treating complications.
The
research team will explore how patients make their decisions concerning
treatments and destinations, what information they use – such as
websites, friends, internet chat rooms – and how informed their choices
are. Patients will also be asked about their experiences of treatment
abroad.
Dr Lunt said: “We will advance knowledge of patient
treatment experience and how consumers think about choice, and how risk
and safety are managed at the consumer and organisational levels.
“Our
work will contribute towards understanding quality, administrative and
legal dimensions of medical tourism as well as unintended consequences.
The study will be of interest to those working within and making
decisions about the NHS, policy-makers, regulators, providers,
clinicians and consumer organisations as well as patients.”
The
research team includes Professor Stephen T Green of Sheffield Teaching
Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust; Dr Mark Exworthy of the School of
Management at Royal Holloway, University of London; Professor Russell
Mannion of the Health Services Management Centre at the University of
Birmingham and Professor Richard Smith, of the Department of Global
Health and Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine.
Source:
David Garner
University of York
source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
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