Medical Tourism Association

Medical Tourism Association (MTA) is the first membership based international non-profit trade association for the medical tourism and global healthcare industry. The MTA consists of top international hospitals, healthcare providers, insurance companies, medical travel facilitators, and other affiliated companies or individuals. The trade group focuses on providing hospitals and medical tourism firms with accreditation standards to improve the quality and scale of oversees medical services available for Americans. In implementing accreditation standards, MTA is dedicated in protecting the reputation of its hospitals, providers, and medical tourism in general. Another goal of the association is to be the authority on medical tourism and to create a Web portal for individuals to learn about medical tourism and affiliated hospitals. MTA stresses objectivity of information so patients can make their own educated decisions. By increasing access to information MTA hopes to foster the growth of medical tourism internationally.

Mission

Medical Tourism Association has three tenets: Communication, Transparency, and Education.

Communication: The Medical Tourism Association believes that communication is pivotal to the success of the industry and to ensure positive patient experiences abroad. MTA has created a forum of exchange for all participants in global healthcare. To accomplish this, MTA has formed committees that work together to tackle issues such as legal, economic, patient financing, Errors and Omissions (E&O) insurance, communication with insurance companies, media support, and more.

Transparency: MTA seeks to achieve transparency in quality of care and pricing. Transparency in quality ensures patient safety, which transparency in pricing guarantees that patients traveling oversees are aware of what they are receiving without hidden costs or unanticipated expenses. MTA is also working on the Quality of Care project, which will report global healthcare statistics and give individuals a different perspective on the quality of medical available oversees.

Education: MTA believes that it is important for patients to have the correct information to understand what to look for when picking a hospital, doctor, or medical facilitator. Education, MTA believes, is the key to patient safety. MTA educated by various means: the media, conferences, Medical Tourism Magazine, and an assortment of online resources.

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Medical Tourism Magazine

Medical Tourism Magazine is the industry’s first trade magazine. In the magazine, professionals in the field discuss issues that surround medical tourism, such as quality of care, legal issues, after care, and choosing the right doctor and hospital. The magazine also provides advice for insurance and healthcare companies that are looking to enter the field of medical tourism. The magazine is free for subscribers both online and in print.

World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress

The World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress is the official conference of the Medical Tourism Association. It brings together insurance companies, insurance providers, governments, hospitals, clinics, and medical facilitators. The conference hold pre-arranged networking sessions between top international hospitals and employers, self-funded insurance plans, insurance plans, and medical tourism facilitators that are looking to outsource healthcare oversees. The first annual congress was held in 2008 in San Francisco. There were over 850 people in attendance from over 45 countries. The second annual congress will take place in October 2009 in Los Angeles. Medical Tourism Association is expecting over 2,000 attendees from over 50 countries.

References

Medical Tourism Consultant

External links

• http://iran-daily.com/1386/2996/html/panorama.htm#s273696
• http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/medical-tourism-trade-group-forms
• http://www.miamiherald.com/539/story/256204.html
• http://www.roughnotes.com/rnmagazine/2007/november07/11p114.htm
• http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2007/12/17/focus1.html
• http://www.floridahealthnews.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/6243
• http://eba.benefitnews.com/news/money-and-interest-there-but-employers-547321-1.html
• http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/214782/topic/WS_HLM2_GBL/Whats-the-Word.html
• http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/23420/New_Study_Sparks_Debate_on_Medical_Travel.html
• http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com
• http://www.medicaltourismcongress.com
• http://www.globalbenefitoptions.com/