International market-orientated strategies for medical tourism destinations

Erik A. Borg and Kjell Ljungbo

Patients seeking medical care are traveling greater distances for treatment. The globalization of health care has given rise to a thriving global medical services industry.

Introduction

Health care is undergoing a process of internationalization, accelerated by information technology (IT) and new communications media. Growing numbers of patients are now seeking planned medical treatment in countries other than their home countries. This represents an export of a service and has led to what is called medical tourism. Medical tourism, defined as travel for the purpose of seeking elective health care (Reed, 2008), has rapidly become a prosperous industry. Our thesis is that increased market orientation can improve the service quality provided to patients. It is primarily, but not exclusively, the private hospitals that can increase their...

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