Mexico Goes for the Gold of Medical Tourism

Mexico To Compete for Marketshare of Global Medical Tourism Industry

A show of support at the First Global Medical Tourism Congress & Expo in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in August, 2010.

Mexico has so much to offer U.S. medical tourists – and never more so than in the coming years.

What follows is a report on the First Global Medical Tourism Congress & Expo in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico by speaker Roy Ramthun of HSA Consulting Services.  Ramthun was a senior health policy advisor to President George W. Bush

Health Care Reform and Medical Tourism

“A lot of people in the U.S. are going to end up losing their health insurance because of changes in the health care reform law,” says Ramthun, “They are going to be paying for their medical procedures by themselves – and the cost savings of traveling to Mexico for procedures is substantial.”

Mexico has a lot to offer their neighbors to the north – and a lot to gain by going after this market!  We’re rooting for you, Mexico!!  We U.S. citizens wish our neighbors to the south the prosperity that will come to their institutions and indigenous population by competing in the global health care market.

“My impression of the conference was that it was mostly an opportunity for people from Mexico to come together to publicly agree on the need to support medical tourism in Mexico,” said Ramthun, “I think it has been happening on an ad-hoc basis for a long time but this is one of the first times where government, medical providers, travel services, etc. have come together in support of a more concerted effort to bring patients to Mexico and meet their needs.

According to Ramthun, “a conference was planned a year ago in Monterrey, Mexico but was cancelled due to concerns about attendance when the H1N1 virus was just a scarier proposition.”

Ramthun said:  “There was a lot of discussion about Joint Commission accreditation and its importance for Mexican hospitals.  Only 9 are JCI accredited now.  The government says it adopted standards equal to JCI for all Mexican hospitals in 2008 so they don’t believe JCI accreditation is necessary any more.”

“I’m not sure the debate is over yet, “Ramthun admits, “but it is good to see that efforts are underway to address concerns that some have about whether the quality of hospital care in Mexico is equal to that in the U.S.”

“I think the conference provided a good deal of consensus building and support from government behind private efforts to promote medical tourism,” said Ramthun, “An official medical tourism association was announced at the conference.

According to Ramthun, “Previously, there was no recognized association in Mexico (like there is in Costa Rica).  Many people expressed concern that Mexico is behind other countries in promoting medical tourism, but I told them their natural advantages have allowed them to be way ahead of other countries in terms of volume of patients traveling here for medical procedures.”

“Next, it will be important for Mexicans to determine their priorities and develop a plan of action for pursuing them,” said Ramthun.

The development of the medical infrastructure that serves medical tourism also benefits the local citizens.  The demand for skills to service medical tourism automatically will be met by the universities training the young men and women for good-paying jobs and careers as well as be a boon for tourism.

Watch as Laura Gelezunas of PVPulse.com