Israel ranks high as a medical tourism destination
In an international survey of places to go for care, Israeli hospitals are among the best
October 26, 2014,
2 |
Israel ranks as one of the
world’s best places for foreigners to get medical care, according to an
authoritative annual report. The Medical Tourism Index (MTI) ranks
Israel highest in a survey of 25 of the most popular destinations for
medical tourism for care, services, and best patient experiences and
third overall as the best place for non-Israelis to get medical care.
It’s
clearly a compliment, but some warn that medical tourists might
be taking up beds and care that would otherwise go to Israelis.
Traditionally, “medical tourists” have been
residents of less developed countries seeking treatment in the US or
Europe that was unavailable in their countries. That has changed — much
of the medical tourism “traffic” is now in the opposite direction, from
developed countries to places where similar procedures are available
more cheaply. The 2013 report of the Medical Tourism Association (MTA)
shows that nearly 80% of demand for medical travel is driven by cost
savings, and almost 76% of patients who have or would be interested in
medical travel are Americans. As many as 1.6 million Americans traveled
abroad for medical treatment in 2021, the organization said, reflecting
the high cost of health care in the US.
Most went to India and Latin America (Mexico,
Brazil, and Argentina) for treatment, but according to the MTI, which is
issued every year by the International Healthcare Research Center
(IHRC), there are better medical tourism destinations out there. The top
overall places for medical care – based on level and quality of care,
price, convenience, services, and tourism possibilities — under the
assumption being that many patients will combine care with a vacation–
were Canada, the UK, Israel, Singapore, and Costa Rica. The rankings
included 25 of the most popular medical tourism destinations, based on
the number of tourists, how many organizations were involved in
arranging tours, the amount of web outreach hospitals and doctors did to
potential patients, and other factors.
Most of the roughly 50,000 medical tourists
who come to Israel annually are not from the US, rather from Russia and
other Eastern European countries, but at least a few thousand are from
the US as well. According to medical tourism expert Stuart Katz, many of
them come to Israel for orthopedic procedures, where the cost is about
half their price in the US. “Of course, patients just can’t get back on a
plane when the procedure is over. They need to take a few weeks to rest
and recuperate. But even with the cost of a hotel for that period,
along with the airfare, patients can still save between 25% and 35% on
the cost of equivalent care in the US,” he said.
According to data collected by the Health
Ministry, Israel’s total income from medical tourism – including money
spent at hospitals, hotels, and other expenses – reached $140 million in
2012. According to the International Medical Travel Journal, Israel’s
public hospitals took in NIS 291 million (about $80 million) from
medical tourism that year, with NIS 130 million of that going to Sheba
Hospital in Ramat Gan, and NIS 108 million taken in by Hadassah
University Hospital in Jerusalem.
“Medical tourism is a very sensitive issue for
Israel’s health system. Every medical tourist admitted raises the
question of whether that person is taking the place of an Israeli
patient, particularly given that the hospitals are very overcrowded and
the wait for treatment is long,” the publication said, adding that “no
authority in Israel has full data on medical tourism. The Health
Ministry has only partial data that includes the state hospitals’
revenue. It does not know how many patients are treated, or in which
departments. Many public and private hospitals have refused to provide
any revenue figures or numbers (of patients).”
Read more: Israel ranks high as a medical tourism destination | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-ranks-as-a-top-medical-tourism-destination/#ixzz3O9oYHrAp
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