Medical Tourism Facilitators
What is a Medical Tourism Facilitator?
Sometimes referred to as medical tourism agencies, or a medical travel facilitator, these are companies – (some are mom and pop operations) that, as their name suggests, act as facilitators or middlemen for medical tourism patients engaging in medical tourism.
Medical Tourism Facilitators have played an important role in promoting the growth of medical tourism, and for many medical tourism patients, represent their first face to face contact with the concept of medical tourism.
Over the last three or four years, thousands of these companies have popped up, most sporting names synonymous with health and travel. They function much like a travel agency, requesting and obtaining passports, booking flights, and arranging a medical tourism patient’s lodging, transportation and tours. The key difference, of course, is that they also serve as the liaison or mediator between you and the international hospital and doctor. In effect, it is the facilitator’s job to repackage the medical provider’s service offering, make it more appealing, and then guide you along the medical tourism process. For those trying to decide whether or not to use a facilitator, it is important to weigh both the advantages and disadvantages they provide.
What are the Advantages of using a Medical Tourism Facilitator?
One-stop Medical Tourism shopping: The convenience of being able to choose and access information about a variety of destinations, hospitals, procedures, and services. Users can come to a medical tourism facilitator’s website and request a price estimate for a particular procedure from several different hospitals or clinics, and then choose which provider better serves their needs and budget. In addition, once you have made a decision on where to travel, the medical tourism facilitator can usually take care of all your travel logistics such as flights, lodging, and transportation.
Established relationships with international providers: Medical Tourism Facilitators, at least in theory, have already done the groundwork to make sure your chosen hospital and doctor are accredited and safe to work with. The best case scenario is that they have visited your chosen hospital and already have a system in place to make your Medical Tourism Trip process is a smooth one.
Convenient transfer of medical information: Most medical tourism facilitators have a mechanism in place for quickly transferring your medical information including large files such as CT’s and MRI’s.
Language and culture barriers are usually not an issue: Contacting some international hospitals can be challenging due to time zone differences, language barriers, and cultural differences. As shown above, medical tourism facilitators already have the right contacts and a Medical Tourism Trip/medical tourism process in place with your international hospital. Additionally, as most medical tourism facilitators are located in North America, you will be dealing with people who speak your language and have a better understanding of the obstacles you face in order to get you from point A to point B.
What are the Disadvantages of using a Medical Tourism Facilitator?
Quality of service may vary greatly from one Medical Tourism Facilitator to another: Medical tourism facilitators come in all shapes and sizes, and, looking at their websites, it is difficult to accurately determine the real scope and quality of the services offered. As with most emerging industries, there will be a multitude of companies – some little more than one man operations, promising the world, without a regulatory entity making sure they deliver the goods. The internet only amplifies this problem as one website looks as good as another.
Bias towards certain hospitals and destinations: Obviouslymedical tourismfacilitators do not have the time or resources to visit every medical tourism destination or work with thirty different international hospitals. They must choose wisely from a limited number – always described as “the best”. Naturally, you will be directed to these hospitals and not others – even if they aren’t necessarily the best hospitals for your particular needs.
Having a third party increases the chance of miscommunication: Though perhaps not a big concern in most people’s minds,using an intermediary will always increase the risk of an error or misinformation occurring between both parties. Something as seemingly innocuous as mistaking kilos for pounds in a medical tourism patient’s weight information, could lead to the surgery being postponed or even cancelled. To reduce the likelihood of an error, make sure that any important information that is communicated over the phone is also sent in writing. Then double check with the medical tourism facilitator that all faxed or scanned documents are legible.
You may have to pay more: Medical tourism facilitators offer a lot of convenience but do need to make their money somewhere. This will usually come from a hospital commission, service charge (concierge fee), or both. One way or another, these fees do have a way of trickling down to the medical tourism patient no matter what the medical tourism facilitator or hospital may say.
Should I pay my medical tourism facilitator or the hospital for my medical tourism trip? This will depend on the policy of the hospital and facilitator. Some facilitators will request an advance deposit and ask that you pay the balance at the hospital. Others will have you pay the hospital directly.
How do I find a Medical Tourism Facilitator?
It is important to carefully select your medical tourism facilitator. There are quality medical tourism facilitators that have the experience, operations and knowledge to help connect you to top doctors and hospitals and assist you throughout the whole process. MedicalTourism.com highly advises to not just work with any medical tourism facilitator. Anyone can create a website today, and some medical tourism facilitators are emerging who have no experience and should not be involved with medical tourism patient care. There also have been reports of medical tourism facilitators stealing money from medical tourism patients and some facilitators who send medical tourism patients to hospitals that are not quality or doctors who provide bad outcomes.
