THIS WEEK IN MEDICAL TRAVEL TODAY
Volume 3, Issue 24

by Amanda Haar, Editor

Greetings,

The potential impact of health care reform is top of mind for many in the medical travel industry.  Given the heightened interest and concern, Medical Travel Today decided to pull together a roundtable discussion featuring a number of key thought leaders representing different sectors of the industry. Over the next three issues we will be presenting the discussion to readers and invite you to share your comments and concerns as well.

We're also pleased to present an opening SPOTLIGHT interview with David Boucher of Companion Global Healthcare in which he discusses the company's latest dental offerings and employer response to them.

We also have news of new alliances, acquisitions, and partnerships that reflect how the industry is evolving to meet consumer demand for services and access to information.

As always, we welcome your comments, story ideas, and press releases.

Amanda Haar, Editor
ahaar@cpronline.com

SPOTLIGHT: David Boucher

David Boucher, president, Companion Global Healthcare

Medical Travel Today (MTT): Let's begin with your new relationship with Companion Life. What drove that? Was it an insurance need or a desire on Companion Global Healthcare's part?

David Boucher (DB): Companion Life Insurance actually goes back to 1971 and now is licensed in 45 states and the District of Columbia, and they've had an insured dental program for several years. Thanks to all the coverage medical travel has received in the past few years, they recognized the value in international dental care.  Now even though we're sister companies, they weren't required to offer our services. But as they did their research on the value of international care and then what we offered in terms of a network, well, they put two and two together and here we are.

MTT: This is the first insurer you've partnered with. Are you pursuing others?

DB: Our agreement with Companion Life is not exclusive so we're certainly open to others. We have had a conversation with at least one other dental insurer but until now they've not expressed an interest. I think that once they see the international model in action and working, we'll see some additional interest.

MTT: I see that your current dental destinations are all based in Costa Rica. What's the reason for that?

DB: Companion Global Dental picked San Jose, Costa Rica, as the exclusive locale. That came about as we were in the city visiting hospitals and decided to do a bit of due diligence on dental facilities.

I think the thing that struck us most on that visit was that all of the patients we saw in all the locations were from the United States.

We spoke to them and learned that the primary motivating factor for traveling to Costa Rica was that they didn't have a dental product and they needed $10 to 15K worth of work done. They went to San Jose to save money. Typically they pay 40 to 70 percent less by traveling.

All the clinics have English-speaking staff members, utilize the latest in technology, and have years of experience in treating U.S. patients. There was no learning curve to overcome.

Plus, they offer ground transportation to and from the airport, the reception areas are aesthetically pleasing and appointed with plasma televisions, etc. It's truly a first-class experience and the patients appreciate it. In fact many of them now only come to Costa Rica for dental care, no matter how minor the procedure.

MTT: What has the response to the new offering been thus far?

DB: It's a bit hard to tell as the relationship literally just went into effect.  This week the staff began doing outreach and explaining what the value is.  However, employer groups are interested in having the conversation.  That's a very good sign.

MTT: Why do you suppose employers are now jumping on board to offer a medical travel benefit?  What's changed or has it just been a matter of learning about this?
 
DB: You're right. They are jumping on board. The number of calls we're getting is up for sure.  As for why, I think the recession has led to an increased number of employers looking more carefully for savings in their P&Ls. This is one stone that's been unturned. We've had an increase in the number of employers from across the country calling us or contacting their broker for information.

We're seeing employers looking for options for large ticket items like hips and cardiac.  We tend to act like a consultant to them, helping them to define their offering. 

MTT: Do most employers have good sense of what they want to offer?

DB: It really varies. We recently had an employer in the Buffalo area that knew a lot about the industry and what they wanted. They had read reports, understood the Joint Commission International (JCI), and so on. They had really done their homework.

Then on the other hand, we're still talking with employers who are just hearing of the option for the first time.

Those that are making the offering have some sort of incentive driver for their associates or dependents to travel abroad. When we explain how that works, we tend to get interest.

For example, we contracted with BasicPlus Insurance Services in Roswell, Ga. They have a limited benefit plan called FlexMed that includes Companion Global Health as an option. In fact their option provides $2,000 a day for each day of in-patient care abroad. Their members recognize that $2,000 goes a lot further abroad than it does in the United States.

MTT: What do you anticipate the impact of health care reform will be?

DB: That's an interesting question. But until we have a bill that's been passed it's difficult to respond.

I believe that if we end up with a nationalized public option we'll see some significant wait-times for care here in the United States. I can't see how we wouldn't. We're already dealing with a shortage of doctors and nurses. If we exacerbate that by adding 30 to 50 million people to the mix, there's going to be a queue.

That being the case, we're in a good spot. Medical tourism companies stand to see some significant increase in queries and actual use.

About David Boucher

With more than 25 years of health care administration experience from the perspective of the health plan, the employer, and medical facility, David Boucher founded Companion Global Healthcare and currently leads the company. He began his career with BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, in 1981 before leaving the payer community to hold several executive positions within hospitals, including serving as CEO of three different facilities with Quorum Health Group.

PERSPECTIVES

Editor's Note: On November 12, 2009, Medical Travel Today hosted a Roundtable Discussion on the impacts of health care reform on medical travel.  Moderated by Sam Havens, a member of the Board of Directors of BridgeHealth Medical, and former Health Care Division president at Prudential, participants included:

Dr. Charles M. Cutler, consultant and former chief medical director for National Accounts at Aetna

Blair Gifford, assistant professor of Health Administration and Management at the University of Colorado  

Dale N. Lyman,  senior vice president of Cost Management Strategies and Stop Loss Administration at Meritain Health

Cyndy Nayer, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Health Value Innovation

(full participant bios are found at the end of the transcript)

What follows is Part One of the discussion. Parts Two and Three will be featured in future issues of Medical Travel Today.

 
Sam Havens (SH): Welcome everybody and thank you all for taking the time to do this. Let’s start with this topic: What are the parallels between health care reform discussion and medical travel with respect to access of care, cost savings, quality benchmark, and patient experience? Let’s start with Doctor Cutler.

Charles Cutler (CC): I think there are parallels in that the health care reform debate is really about expanding access to care, but that’s largely driven by affordability and cost savings, so the thrust of medical tourism is in large part the availability of less expensive care outside the United State. They would compete with care here so in that way it’s sort of parallel to the kinds of health reform activities and major goals of health reform, I should say. The quality benchmarks I think are interesting in that part of the health reform proposal has been to collect and make public more quality information that has been previously and perhaps to reward quality with various paper performance programs. So one of the advantages of at least some of the medical tourism programs has been to have transparent quality information and more in-depth quality evaluation of institutions to which patients are being referred than exist in the U.S. — other than Centers of Excellence. In regard to patient experience I don’t know that there is anything in the health reform proposal that specifically addresses patient experience. We have been collecting information about patient experience with care through vehicles like the Cap survey for years, and they are publicly available. Hospitals certainly make that information available when it’s favorable and whether they use it for marketing purposes. But I don’t know that that specifically is part of health reform, but it certainly is a major patient-decision criteria.

SH:  Blair would you like to make a comment on this first question?

Blair Gifford (BG): Well, actually I agree with everything that was just said. I was thinking a little about patient experience, too. I think there is a trend going on, and I think to some extent it’s being pushed a little by health care reform, that is regarding patients and shopping and consumer-driven health care and willingness to maybe go outside the local confines to look for health care possibilities, whether that’s international or domestic — and 200 miles away, that kind of thing. And I think to some kind of extent that is being set up in health care reform, suggesting people do a little more shopping, but everything that was said before about cost savings in particular I very much support.

SH:  I was interested in somebody perhaps commenting on the access to care. You know, we’ve clearly got a very significant limitation on the number of primary care physicians, but we’ve also got areas of the country where it is difficult to get specialty care. I don’t remember much discussion about this or much action in health care reform, but does anyone have a comment about the access to care issue in this first question?

Cyndy Nayer (CN): Building on what Chuck and Blair both said and to answer your question, I think access to care is critical in the U.S. This is particularly true if you're looking at things like access in rural areas or even access to Centers of Excellence. We all understand that there is capacity for specialties in different areas around the country.  What we need to do is get beyond thinking solely about cancer or high-intensity kind of services when we think of specialties. In truth, even diabetes care might be better served in one place than another around the country.

The second consideration, and it’s a corollary to the last point regarding an expanded view of specialty services, has to do with the potential financial impact of this approach to the patient and health plan sponsor. To make this work, we need to look for the highest quality and for the highest value of the service. Often you have excellent quality but find the cost for the same care may be less in a different part of the country or even a different part of the world.  While this is currently driving some of the discussion, I don't think it's affecting use yet. I think we are in the process of building the marketplace.

SH:  Dale, I was just going to call on you because among all of us at least on this point you probably have as much direct contact with plan sponsors as any or most of us do, so I’m interested in your view as well.

Dale Lyman (DL): I really like the comments that have come before me, and Cyndy’s in particular about the choice. What we’ve done a lot of looking at is, especially this question about parallels between the health care reforms and medical travel, we’ve done a lot of work looking at what we think is going to be the effects not on what are the stated objectives of the health care reform but of the effect. There are short-term effects and long term effects where really the consequences are going to have a significant impact on the medical travel.   In the short term, I think Cyndy’s comments are spot on because when you talk about choice and the access to care, cost savings is going to have a huge impact, and there is going to be a real scramble to initiate any kind of cost savings. I think that’s going to be pushing in the short term a lot of options for the groups to make changes to how they administer their care, so in the short term I think the cast savings are going to be a huge driver. In the long term, I think access to care is really the most important aspect to this. We want the object of health care reform to expand health care to more people. But some of the consequence we see is that some of the patient choices might be limited. It almost might get to the point where you get closer to a managed care type of environment.  If that happens, we’ve seen consequences in other countries where they build up almost a secondary system outside the main system where people who can afford it or people who want the option to go to somebody who’s not the established providers or one of the providers in their limited network, and so they go outside the system, and so I think in the short term the cost savings will drive significant steerage into the U.S. market, and the U.S. specialty providers, especially as far as domestic medical travel. In the long term there’s a very good possibility that systems and networks outside of what is the established norm will become more privileged. That’s where the domestic medical travel will come in so I think it’s going to have an interesting effect on both of them, both short and long-term consequences.

CC:  I think your point is well taken, and domestic travel in particular I think will become very interesting. And Sam I think your question about access abides as much to domestic as international travel to the degree that the focus on international travel has caused people to look at price differences across the U.S. and the quality differences in the U.S. I think there will be more incentive to travel outside the area where people live for care within the U.S. even before people look abroad. And if there is a public plan with considerable bargaining clout that can negotiate lower fees more comparable to the fees being charged outside the U.S. than I think we’ll see significant changes domestically — not necessarily internationally.

Part Two of the Discussion will be featured in Issue 25 of Medical Travel Today.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Premier Healthcare Germany and Offsurance Form Strategic Alliance to Accelerate Transformation of Medical Tourism

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: The Healthcare Travel Exhibition & Congress seemed the perfect venue to bring two companies engaged in international health care together in a strategic alliance. The convergence of the medical tourism, insurance, and information technology (IT) industries took a significant step forward as Premier Healthcare Germany and Offsurance announced a strategic alliance based on a shared vision of unified health care delivery systems.

Up until the present moment, hospitals, agencies, and service providers generally form ‘industry clusters’ to promote their services to international clients. By engaging the companies at the technology, marketing, and operational levels, the alliance will allow both companies to drive new growth opportunities and has the potential ultimately to transform communications across clusters, reducing costs and complexity and improving productivity.

By combining Premier Healthcare Germany’s extensive network of German hospitals with the Offsurance unique communication platform, the alliance will accelerate the availability of unified health care delivery system - an industry concept that uses advanced technologies to transform medical tourism from being process-driven to being more customer-centric. The Offsurance platform allows almost all of the stake holders to add value to the customer, making it easy and efficient for patients to reach quality hospital destinations, while interacting meaningfully with facilitators and service providers.

The combined efforts of the companies will develop traditional health care travel systems into a unified platform that enhances workflow efficiencies, while saving time and providing added functionality. This customer-centric approach will provide the easiest transition path for businesses that are focused on benefiting from the advances in medical tourism, helping to enable them to reduce the costs and also encouraging future investments in medical tourism.

“Our companies are both young, innovative organizations in their own domains — Premier’s German network of hospitals and Offsurance’s unique software platform,” says Michael Meurs, co-founder and CEO of Premier Healthcare Germany. “By combining our strengths, we will accelerate the delivery of health care to our international customers, and offer a higher-quality experience, greater reliability, and significantly lowered costs. That’s where we can make a real difference.”

Fazel Raheman, M.D., inventor of the Offsurance platform and the company Chairman, states, “We are investing together because the industry is at an inflection point. We will have deep collaboration in product development with Premier, allowing us to deliver high-quality, highly reliable solutions rapidly that will support mission-critical health care communications. The opportunity for our customers is fantastic. We will enable them to realize tremendous economic and business benefits from this.”

Olaf Haase, president and co-founder of Premier Healthcare Germany, adds, “This is a defining moment for Premier — redefining how health care can be better delivered to the customer and working from that high point is part of our broader business strategy to transform our company into a leader within the European Union. From this transaction, we believe we can capture significant market share, ramping up momentum through 2014 to achieve the ambitious business goals we have set for ourselves.”

Ranbir Singh, vice president of the Business Development Division at Offsurance, notes, “Unified health care delivery will drive the next major advance in individual, team, and organizational productivity in today’s increasingly complex work environment. Our software-based approach puts people at the center of communications and intuitively embeds communications capabilities into health care delivery work flow, including third-party software applications.”

Components of the Agreement
Strategic alliance

• The companies will enter into a five-year alliance agreement, with provisions for its extension
• Offsurance will be Premier Healthcare Germany’s strategic partner for advanced unified communications solutions and systems integration
• The two companies will co-test and evolve innovative communications platforms as go-to-market vehicles

Solutions and systems integration

• Offsurance becomes a strategic systems integration partner for the advanced unified communications solution
• Premier believes it can capture substantial new revenue through its added service offerings

Joint product development

• The companies will form joint teams to collaborate on product development that spans enterprise, mobile, and wire line carrier solutions
• The two companies are considering cross-licensing intellectual property
• Premier and Offsurance will engage in early-stage integration and testing

Go-to-market initiatives

• The companies will jointly benefit from the advanced unified communications solution and integration services
• Both companies will invest substantial resources in planning, marketing, business development, and service delivery
• The two companies will expand their network of health providers in Germany or other areas, based on increased demand
• The two companies will develop a series of compelling ‘outsourced’ health care solutions for in-bound customers to Germany and the European Union, from international corporations, Fortune 500 companies, as well as small and medium-sized business, and added value providers

Intuition Communication Acquires Major Share in Medpages, the Irish Health Care Portal

Intuition Communication Ltd, the online publisher of Treatment Abroad and International Medical Travel Journal, has become a major shareholder in Blue Dot Ltd, the Dublin-based company that owns Medpages, the Irish health information portal.

Intuition, a U.K.-based Web publishing company in the health care sector, operates some of the U.K.'s most visited and successful health information Websites, including Private Healthcare UK, Surgery Door, the Harley Street Guide, Medical Expert, and the medical tourism sites Treatment Abroad and International Medical Travel Journal.
www.medpages.ie is built on a similar business model to Intuition Communication's successful Private Healthcare UK and Surgery Door Websites. Intuition will provide Medpages with technology, expertise, and health-related content to support the development of a leading health information portal in Ireland.

Reza Hamidi, who runs Medpages, says; "Our vision has always been to build a great health Web portal. As both companies share a similar culture and strategic vision it is hoped that the combination of Intuition Communication's success and experience of producing health information Websites combined with Medpages knowledge of the Irish market will create a strong partnership in maximizing the potential of Medpages."

Keith Pollard, managing director of Intuition Communication, says of the investment into Blue Dot Ltd, "Becoming major shareholders in medpages.ie will enhance Intuition's position as a leading health information provider, will grow our visitor traffic in the health care sector, and will enable us to expand outside of the U.K. We are extremely experienced at providing health consumers with the relevant and up-to-date health information, which has put us at the forefront of health information Websites in the U.K. and Europe."

Medical Tourism Marketing Expert Offers Advice on Reaching Hard Hit U.S. Consumers

Irving Stackpole, president of Brookline-based Stackpole & Associates, presented a workshop on "Marketing to International Patients" at the First International Congress of Medical Tourism on November 4-6, 2009, Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala Conference Center in Cartagena, Colombia.

The global medical tourism sector is estimated to be a $5 billion industry with projected growth of 35 percent per year for the next three years. Originally the domain of the super rich buying the best medical care in the world, as well as adventure travelers seeking the out-of-the-ordinary, today's "average" medical tourist is from the middle class and looking for dental treatments or elective procedures like cosmetic surgery. More complex medical care like orthopedic and cardiac surgeries are on the rise. With more Americans losing their jobs and health insurance coverage, more people are exploring high quality, lower cost international options. Governments and businesses are aggressively seeking ways to find and serve those potential patients. That is where Stackpole & Associates fits into the bigger picture.

Stackpole & Associates, an international marketing, market research, and organizational development consulting company with deep roots in health care, is ready to assist organizations seeking to improve or establish a foothold in this dynamic market. The company's president, Irving Stackpole, is on a whirlwind medical tourism tour, presenting workshops on marketing to international customers at the World Medical Tourism Congress in Los Angeles, Calif., and at a dental conference sponsored by the Ramada Plaza Herradura in San Jose, Costa Rica. Colombia is the mid-point on his travels, which include meeting with potential private and governmental clients eager to learn about medical tourism marketing in Cuba and the Bahamas.

According to Stackpole, "By applying solid business and marketing principles intelligently and with a dash of creativity, we are helping organizations domestically and internationally develop and implement solutions to their most important challenges in health care and medical tourism. Our team of professionals has decades of experience in health care that can be directly applied to the nascent field of medical tourism. We are excited to be at the forefront of the medical tourism sector."

Leaders in Health Care Exchange Views on Medical Tourism at Healthcare Travel Congress

Key factors driving the globalization of health care is the cost factor with exorbitant health care costs in industrialized nations, long waiting lists for surgery, and the aging population in countries such as America and Europe.

During the opening session of the Healthcare Travel Congress, an IIR Middle East crafted event held at the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel Dubai from November 15-17, 2009, world-renowned health care leaders from across the globe discussed the past, present, and future of health care supply and demand.

Vishal Bali, CEO of Wockhardt Hospitals Group, India, highlighted the impact that globalization has had on the health care industry and how medical tourism is growing as a result of this trend.

"Globalization is the optimization of competencies in various parts of the world to create value for the health care consumer and the health care provider alike," says Bali. "The health care sector is decentralizing itself from the individual hubs and moving towards a more global approach to health care, working within a framework of transparency and truly creating a choice for the consumer.

"The world can now fully understand the proposition of a merger between two industries – health care and tourism - and although the clinical side of health care travel is increasingly being elevated, and the element of tourism is often secondary, the driver and catalyst for change in this industry has come from accessibility of services, the migration of the health care workforce, and the need for quality health care service providers across the globe."

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has recently gone through a reform process where the total health care strategic direction has been revised to incorporate the globalization of health care and the potential to benefit from the movement of patients within the region and from abroad. Laila Al Jassmi, CEO of the Clinical Support Services Sector of the DHA, spoke about how globalization of health care has allowed the UAE to look outside its boundaries to learn from medical best-practices adopted abroad.

"This region, namely the GCC, is working towards creating a profitable medical tourism industry, but we recognize that we have some way to go before this industry is mature," Jassmi says. "We need to increase the demand and supply of our health care sector, and this can only be done by restructuring and enhancing our in-house health care strategy. In order to boost this country into medical tourism we need to ensure everyone, both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationals and residents, that they will have equal access to health care first. The government recognizes that our patients still require the expertise from medical professionals abroad, which is why we have increased the number of visiting physicians by 10 percent per year."

Mamdouh Ayad, M.D., strategic affairs director for Johnson & Johnson, UAE, discussed his company's role as a worldwide leader in health care on a global level as well as some of the regional initiatives Johnson & Johnson have taken towards advancement of the health care sector in the UAE.

Dr, Mamdouh explains, "Johnson & Johnson Medical Middle East has a continuing commitment to research and development, and we are focusing on professional education and developing the skill-gaps of local medical professionals in the region. So far over 20,000 doctors from countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon have taken part in an exchange program where local doctors acquire knowledge and skills from Europe and America and then implement these skills when back in the region. By developing Centers of Excellence, such as Dubai Healthcare City, the infrastructure for health care in the UAE can be developed so that we are able to deliver locally the same standard of health as in the west."

With patients becoming more and more educated on issues related to their health, patient safety and medical liability is becoming an important issue. Through the globalization of information technology, patients are able to surf the Internet for viable treatment options and make their own choices with regards to their health. "Medical tourism should be seen as a choice, not a necessity," remarks Prem Jagyasi, M.D., CEO of ExHealth in Dubai Healthcare City and Chairman of the Healthcare Travel Congress.

U.S.-based Angeles Health International Offers the Latest in Spinal Fusion Surgery to Americans Willing to Travel To Mexico

Angeles Health International (AHI), the U.S.-based medical travel division of Mexico’s largest private hospital network, is offering a revolutionary new spinal surgery, Lumbar Dynamic Stabilization (LDS). LDS is widely regarded by surgeons performing the procedure to be a particularly attractive and more effective alternative to the more invasive and expensive spinal fusion surgery. LDS surgery is a non-invasive procedure for people who suffer from degenerative disc disease and have exhausted all conservative treatments, and prefer to avoid the risks and complications of spinal fusion. The LDS spinal surgery procedure is available at AHI's Orthopedic and Spine Program at Hospital Angeles Tijuana.

Lumbar stabilization surgery, also referred to as soft stabilization, uses a less drastic approach than traditional metal implants. The surgery uses flexible materials to stabilize discs and reduce the load on the spine's joints and disc space, which in turn reduces pain. Because the surgery reduces operating time and hardware implantation, it is a less invasive procedure than traditional methods, resulting in less post-operative pain. The procedure takes about fifteen minutes, requires only local anesthesia, and is performed on an outpatient basis. The medical device that is implanted in the back of the LDS patient, known as the PercuDyn system, is manufactured by American medical device manufacturer Interventional Spine Inc., and is available exclusively in Baja California at Hospital Angeles Tijuana.

Spinal and orthoscopic surgeries are performed at Hospital Angeles Tijuana by Juan Dipp, M.D., and Dario Garin, M.D. Dr. Dipp wrote the surgical protocol for the LDS spinal surgery, performing more than half of the 400 procedures to date. Dr. Dipp is considered a top surgeon with this procedure, and is currently training new surgeons in Mexico and Europe.

Dr. Garin is a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. After earning his medical education at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and his Orthopedic Surgery Residency at Centro Nacional de Rehabilitación-Instituto de Ortopedia, Dr. Garin spent two years as a Visiting Resident at the University of California San Diego-Sharp Memorial Hospital. He has additional U.S. experience with a Foreign Joint Reconstruction Fellowship at Elkhart General and Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinic of Northern Indiana.

With health care costs skyrocketing in the U.S., tens of thousands of Americans are opting for medical travel, Mexico, for the high quality, less expensive medical, surgical, and dental care options available in its technologically modern hospitals. AHI offers patients full English-fluent concierge services (as well as 20 other languages), handling everything from travel arrangements and medical records transfer to consultations and appointments in a comprehensive and affordable medical travel package. "Medical travelers who choose AHI's Orthopedic and Spine Program at Hospital Angeles Tijuana for back surgery in Mexico, find it to be a world-class facility where patients can expect the highest level of experienced care. Since Hospital Angeles Tijuana borders the U.S., patients experience the convenience of a domestic flight to San Diego rather than flying around the world for this procedure," says Paulo Yberri, CEO of Angeles Health International.

About Angeles Health International
U.S.-based Angeles Health International is the medical travel division of the largest private hospital family in Mexico. Through its Mexico medical tourism program, Angeles Health International has treated more Americans traveling abroad for medical care than any other hospital network in the world. Angeles Health International was created specifically to serve the needs of American patients.

UPCOMING EVENTS

National Newspaper confirms support for Health & Medical Tourism Show
The Independent Newspaper has confirmed support of the forthcoming Destination Health exhibition, which is set to take place on 17 - 18 April 2010 in London.
Destination Health is a brand new exhibition designed exclusively for people planning to travel abroad for all types of treatments.

If you are involved in any aspect of health tourism, then you should be exhibiting at Destination Health.

For everything from heart disease to hip replacements, breast implants, and medical spas, Destination Health is dedicated to every area of health tourism. It brings together thousands of patients and medical providers under one roof and offers an exclusive platform to meet people who are ready to invest in their personal health, body image, and well-being.
Whatever the size or nature of your business, if you want to promote and increase awareness of your health and medical travel services in a focused and dedicated environment, you should be at Destination Health.

To find out more, visit the Destination Health website or call us on + 44 (0) 20 8230 0066 or email sales@destinationhealth.co.uk

European Medical Travel Conference Slated for May 5-7, 2010

The European Medical Travel Conference 2010 in Venice, Italy is attracting an impressive list of speakers and experts in medical travel and health. The conference has now around 50 speaker applications from all over the world. These include:

1. Vivek Shukla from India. A thought leader in medical travel and international marketing.
2. Dr. Maria Todd from the USA, President of CGIH, and CEO of Mercury Healthcare.
3. Dr. Caroline Wagner from Germany who is in charge of European and International Relations at Germany's largest statutory health insurance fund.
4. Pradeep Thukral from India. Executive Director of  the Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA).
5. Carlo Ramponi from Italy. Director of the European office of Joint Commission International.

Click here to take a look at the current speakers list.

Attend: Previous major congresses on Medical Travel and Health Tourism in Europe have attracted over 300 participants. We’re expecting even more for EMTC 2010. Check out the benefits of being a participant in EMTC 2010.

Exhibit: We have 500 sq. m. for the exhibition during the conference, which will accommodate about 30 stands. Take advantage of the special rate of €1,300 until December, 31, 2009.

Contribute: Good speakers are a valuable part of the conference. The organizers invite you to become a speaker and offer compensation commensurate with your contribution. Download the speaker application form

Sponsor: Support Europe’s premier medical travel event and maximize your company profile.

Email chairman@emtc2010.com for more details.

Asia Medical Tourism & Wellness Congress @ Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia May 13-14, 2010

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will be hosting an international event next year in Berjaya Times Square. Medical Tourism & Wellness Congress (GLOW 2010) will be an international trade exhibition running concurrently with a multi-stream conference session.

GLOW 2010 will gather senior-level decision makers across the health care, wellness, and corporate executive sectors from around the world to brainstorm on issues concerning their industry.

The objectives of the Congress are:

• To bring together our clients who are senior decision makers in major organizations across the region (100 - 150)
• To provide an exciting neutral platform for vendors/solution/service providers to position themselves effectively
• To conduct marketing/ advertising and promote brand awareness
• To conduct business development activities to a targeted focused audience
• To network and benchmark with professionals as well as other vendors and solution/service providers

GLOW 2010 will bring together our clients who are key corporate professionals in the medical, spa, and wellness sectors across the Asia Pacific and Middle East region to provide an exciting platform for vendors and solution providers to position themselves effectively. We estimate in excess of 100 to 150 senior-level decision makers for the exclusive conference in addition to walk-in trade visitors of over 1,500 for the exhibition.

A wide variety of sponsorship opportunities are available. Visit http://www.glow2010.com/ to learn more.

Central and Eastern Europe Medical Tourism and Healthcare Summit  
May 17-18, 2010, at the Aristos Hotel, Zagreb, Croatia

Medical Tourism in Central and Eastern Europe has been increasing rapidly. The region as a whole offers a variety of affordable treatments and procedures within easy reach of most travelers.

Global Engage, in partnership with Global Health Consulting of Croatia, is pleased to announce this international summit, which will bring together and showcase facilitators, providers, and medical organizations from across the region including Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, and surrounding countries to meet and network with senior level delegates from all over the world.

The Central and Eastern Europe Medical Tourism and Healthcare Summit will include an exhibition area, workshops, and a two-day conference agenda featuring an international speaker panel focusing and sharing their experiences on current issues affecting medical tourism and health care in the region and the world in general.

A further dedicated conference stream will focus on dental medical tourism providing an educational platform for dentists in the Central and Eastern European region to develop their business internationally and attract foreign patients to their practices.

There will be adequate time provided for networking and forming collaborations with potential partners over business lunches, drinks reception, and a gala dinner and the opportunity to visit local medical facilities.

Attend as a delegate or if you prefer to gain increased exposure for your company or organization please enquire about our exclusive exhibition, sponsorship, and marketing options.

To view further details of the conference agenda, speakers, sponsorship, and registration details please visit - http://www.globalengage.co.uk/central_eastern_european_medical_tourism_summit.html

Or to discuss your participation in more detail contact Steve Hambrook (Conference Director). Tel +44 (0) 1865 811 189 or email steve@globalengage.co.uk