Healthcare Treatment Innovation, Medical Tourism, and Hospital Business Strategy for Global Markets

Abstract

The United States is facing a growing crisis in the form of increasing medical care costs for both the insured and uninsured. One innovative strategy to address increasing costs is the use of medical tourism. Medical tourism is defined by the OECD as “the practice of travelling to another country to obtain medical treatment.” It has become an increasingly popular option as it offers patients the ability to access treatment outside of their home country, often at a lower cost. This chapter will provide a brief overview of medical tourism, its current and potential applications, and potential challenges and benefits associated with it as an innovative approach to address the healthcare crisis of high medical costs in some specific areas of treatment.