Publication Date

2016

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Medical tourism, Health services, Central America, Caribbean

Abstract

Background

Many governments and health care providers worldwide are enthusiastic to develop medical tourism as a service export. Despite the popularity of this policy uptake, there is relatively little known about the specific local factors prospectively motivating and informing development of this sector.

Objective

To identify common social, economic, and health system factors shaping the development of medical tourism in three Central American and Caribbean countries and their health equity implications.

Design

In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted in Mexico, Guatemala, and Barbados with 150 health system stakeholders. Participants were recruited from private and public sectors working in various fields: trade and economic development, health services delivery, training and administration, and civil society. Transcribed interviews were coded using qualitative data management software, and thematic analysis was used to identify cross-cutting issues regarding the drivers and inhibitors of medical tourism development.

Results

Four common drivers of medical tourism development were identified: 1) unused capacity in existing private hospitals, 2) international portability of health insurance, vis-a-vis international hospital accreditation, 3) internationally trained physicians as both marketable assets and industry entrepreneurs, and 4) promotion of medical tourism by public export development corporations. Three common inhibitors for the development of the sector were also identified: 1) the high expense of market entry, 2) poor sector-wide planning, and 3) structural socio-economic issues such as insecurity or relatively high business costs and financial risks.

Conclusion

There are shared factors shaping the development of medical tourism in Central America and the Caribbean that help explain why it is being pursued by many hospitals and governments in the region. Development of the sector is primarily being driven by public investment promotion agencies and the private health sector seeking economic benefits with limited consideration and planning for the health equity concerns medical tourism raises.

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights Holder

Rory Johnston, Valorie A. Crooks, Alejandro Cerón, Ronald Labonté, Jeremy Snyder, Emanuel O. Núñez, Walter G. Flores

Provenance

Received from author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

11 pgs

File Size

717 KB

Publication Title

Global Health Action

Volume

9

First Page

1

Last Page

10

ISSN

1654-9716

Comments

Original publication available at:

Johnston, R., Crooks, V. A., Cerón, A., Labonté, R., Snyder, J., Núñez, E.O., & Flores, W.G. (2016). Providers’ perspectives on inbound medical tourism in Central America and the Caribbean: factors driving and inhibiting sector development and their health equity implications. Global Health Action, 9(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v9.32760

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