Internationalizing far later than other sectors, healthcare has seen trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) grow in recent years. While part of the service economy, healthcare has unique features ...that distinguish it from other service sectors and imprint on its globalization and spillover patterns. In this paper, we review the trends in healthcare internationalization, its drivers, and the obstacles standing in the way. We outline the special characteristics of the healthcare sector and how they affect the positive and negative spillovers from trade and FDI for home and host-countries. Implications for international business theory, research, and policy are delineated.
Main topics in assisted reproductive market: A scoping review Aderaldo, Janaina Ferreira; Rodrigues de Albuquerque, Beatriz Helena Dantas; Câmara de Oliveira, Maryana Thalyta Ferreira ...
PloS one,
08/2023, Letnik:
18, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Infertility affects around 12% of couples, and this proportion has been gradually increasing. In this context, the global assisted reproductive technologies (ART) market shows significant expansion, ...hovering around USD 26 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 45 billion by 2025.
We realized a scoping review of the ART market from academic publications, market reports, and specialized media news, to identify the main terms and characterize them into the main topics in the area.
We apply an LDA topic modeling process to identify the main terms, and clustered them into semantic synonymous topics. We extracted the patterns and information to these topics and purposed a factor/consequence correlation to them.
We found 2,232 academic papers and selected 632 to include in the automatic term detection. We also included 34 market reports and seven notices produced by specialized enterprises. Were identified 121 most relevant cited terms covering 7,806 citations. These terms were manually aggregated into 10 topics based on semantic similarity: neutral terms (37.2%), economic aspects (17.6%), in vitro fertilization (IVF) commodities & cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) (10.6%), geographic distribution (9.5%), social aspects (7%), regulation (6%), trends & concerns (3.9%), accessibility (3.4%), internet influence (2.9%), and fertility preservation for non-medical reasons (2%).
The analysis indicates a market with expressive complexity. Most terms were associated with more than one topic, indicating the synergism of this market's behavior. Only seven terms related to economic aspects, surrogacy and donation represent around 50% of the citations. Except for the topic formed by generic terms, the topic of the economic aspects was the most represented, reflecting macro perspectives such as a-la-carte standard of treatments, many clinics operating on a small/medium scale, and the recent formation of conglomerates. The IVF commodities & CBRC topic brings an overview of gametes pricing and transnational surrogacy, and its regulation. The topic of geographic distribution indicates that that the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market has the most significant growth potential in all fields. Despite the increase in supply and demand for infertility treatments and technological advances in recent decades, the success rate of IVF cycles remains at around 30%. Terms referring to research and development or technical improvement were not identified in a significant way in this review.
The formation of topics by semantic similarity proved to be an initial path for the elaboration of in-depth studies on the dynamics between several factors, for this, we present the panel classifying main terms into factors (demand, pent-up demand, or distributive) or ART market consequences. Through this approach, it was possible to observe that most of the works addresses economic aspects, regulation and geographic aspects and that topics related to research and improvement have not been addressed. In this way, we highlight the need to deepen the analysis of market elements that may be related to increased efficiency of IVF in the technical field.
Medical tourism is thriving in Nigeria among both elites and non-elites with over $1 billion annual expenditure on medical tourism. Inadequate healthcare infrastructure caused by economic problems, ...corruption and low budgetary allocation to the country's health sector, and lack of trust in the country's healthcare systems to handle complex medical procedures have contributed to this trend. This article discusses the trend of medical tourism in Nigeria and the associated medical, legal, and social issues in medical tourism generally, relying on relevant literature. The paper concludes that medical tourism is not inherently dangerous; however, unequal economic and power status may influence the quality of hospitals where patients receive treatment and the quality of treatment received. This unequal power and economic status may also determine justice in cases of substandard treatment in foreign hospitals. The study recommends that the Nigerian government should improve healthcare systems in the country to reverse the trend of medical tourism and to reduce the financial burden that medical tourism exerts on average Nigerians who need a high level of care but cannot access it in their country. It is also recommended that a regulatory framework that ensures protection from substandard hospitals and justice for Nigerians who fall victim to substandard care abroad must be put in place by the Nigerian government. Relevant health stakeholders should also continue to sensitize the public about the complications that may be associated with some medical procedures sought outside Nigeria especially cosmetic surgery which may result in follow-up challenges.
This study aims to: (a) identify the motivation to travel for medical reasons and the quality of the medical services received; and (b) examine the relationship between the quality of medical ...services and the attitudes held by tourists about these. It fills the gap in the literature by contributing to our knowledge of medical tourists' behavior. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed at 25 hospitals and travel agencies within Korea. The results deliver insightful messages in the fields of travel behavior and motivation in the medical tourism industry, and for health marketers and planners of medical tourism services.
Introduction: The upward trend of seeking bariatric surgery tourism will only grow with the globalization of medical care. We aim to describe the experiences participants of a supervised weight loss ...program in relation to their pursuit of bariatric tourism.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews with an unbiased questionnaire were conducted to obtain a profound understanding of the current Irish bariatric surgery recruitment program and bariatric patients’ perception of it.
Results: Analysis of interview data yielded 5 themes. Each theme was elaborated further with selected quotes from the coding process. Participants were asked to suggest potential solutions to current bariatric surgery and tourism support concerns in Ireland. Authors’ recommendations based on a literature review and the analysis of the interview transcripts are also provided.
Conclusion: Any patients with morbid obesity and many years of attempted weight loss should receive a bariatric procedure to alleviate not only weight-related metabolic co-morbidities, but also the associated psychiatric burden. The currently available eligibility criteria and the lack of resources render an ideal surgical intervention inaccessible to many. Efforts must be made to scrutinize the efficacy of the existing criteria and the availability of resources. Alternatively, a bariatric tourism scheme that allows uninterrupted patient care should be developed.
In the United States, travel is a fact of the abortion care provision landscape. This is largely due to the uneven geographical distribution of providers and state-level gestational duration bans ...that constrain what abortion care is available locally. When abortion travel is compelled by legal restriction, it is forced travel. Research has comprehensively documented that forced abortion travel is burdensome; people who must travel for abortion experience financial, logistical, and emotional burdens. Generally overlooked, however, is variation in the experience of travel-related burdens and whether and how such burdens can be reduced. Given current political hostility to abortion, the number of people who must travel and the distances they must travel for abortion are likely to grow, making the question of how travel-related burdens can be reduced in the absence of policy change of increasing relevance. Using thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 30 cisgender women in the United States who were forced to travel to obtain third-trimester abortion care, I identify three ways that the burdens of forced abortion travel can be mitigated without policy change: prompt referrals; financial and practical support for travel; and emotional support. In some instances, respondents experienced the received emotional support as so valuable as to offset the other burdens of travel, pointing to the possibility that some people might prefer to travel for abortion care whether or not they are forced to do so. Respondents also reported unexpected positive aspects of traveling, including experiences of kindness and human connection, underscoring that not all aspects of abortion travel are negative. Findings thicken our understanding of forced abortion travel and identify structural and interpersonal practices that can reduce the associated burdens, complementing legal and policy-oriented critiques of legal regulation that makes abortion travel necessary.
•Third-trimester abortion travel entails financial, logistical, and emotional costs.•Referrals and financial, practical, and emotional support reduce travel burdens.•Structural and interpersonal actions can improve experiences of forced travel.•Abortion travel is not only burdensome; it may include unexpected positive aspects.
Abstract
São Tiago medical spa is an integrated structure in a new Health Tourism Complex, in Penamacor, Portugal, with a recent start of operation, due to the classification of a new natural mineral ...water in place. That medical spa bases its exploration on the natural mineral water obtained from the Well P1. Thus, to facilitate the preservation of the quality of the resource, natural mineral water, one of the fundamental instruments is the implementation of a Protection Perimeter of Well P1 and its associated aquifer system. In this sense, in this paper, after briefly presenting the basic geoenvironmental aspects that are the base for the elaboration of the Protection Perimeter, the methodology of its elaboration is explained, with the final solution, which constitutes a territory organized by three zones: Immediate Protection Zone, Intermediate Protection Zone and Extended Protection Zone. The official restrictions legally foreseen for those zones are mentioned and the official systematization of the current occupation of the territory is presented, in terms of the Municipal Master Plan (PDM), while emphasizing the potential sources of existing pollution. Finally, some comments are made about the future orientation regarding the occupation of the territory in the interior zones of the Protection Perimeter, so that the new Health Tourism complex, consisting of a medical spa, hotel, and aqualudic spaces, endures in the time, and helps the sustained economic growth of the region.
Purpose
Recent years have witnessed a significant rise in Indian healthcare establishments (HCEs) which indicate that there is a constant need to improve the healthcare quality services through the ...adoption and implementation of TQM enablers. The purpose of this paper is to identify such enablers and then propose a ranking model for TQM implementation in Indian HCEs for improved performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study identifies 20 TQM enablers through comprehensive literature survey and expert’s opinion, and classifies them into five main categories. The prominence of these enablers is established using a recently developed novel multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method, i.e. best-worst method (BWM). The importance of the various main category and sub-category enablers is decided on the basis of their weights which are determined by the BWM. In comparison to other MCDM methods, such as analytical hierarchy process, BWM requires relatively lesser comparison data and also provides consistent comparisons which results in both optimal and reliable weights of the enablers considered in this paper. Further, a sensitivity analysis is also carried out to ensure that the ranking (based on the optimal weights) of the various enablers is reliable and robust.
Findings
The results of this study reveal that out of five main category enablers, the “leadership-based enablers (E1)” and the “continuous improvement based enablers (E5)” are the most and the least important enablers, respectively. Similarly, among the 20 sub-category enablers, “quality leadership and role of physicians (E14)” and “performing regular survey of customer satisfaction and quality audit (E52)” are the most and the least dominating sub-category enablers, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
This study does not explore the interrelationship between the various TQM enablers and also does not evaluate performance of the various HCEs based on the weights of the enablers.
Practical implications
The priority of the TQM enablers determined in this paper enables decision makers to understand their influence on successful implementation of the TQM principles and policies in HCEs leading to an overall improvement in the system’s performance.
Originality/value
This study identifies the various TQM enablers in HCEs and categorizes them into five main categories and ranks them using the BWM. The findings of this research are quite useful for management of the HCEs to properly understand the relative importance of these enablers so that managers can formulate an effective and efficient strategy for their easy and smooth implementation which is necessary for continuous improvement.
Modern advances in assisted reproduction technology (ART) have disrupted the traditional concept of parenthood. Every year, thousands of people travel abroad from their home countries in order to ...circumvent restrictive legislation or to benefit from lower fees. In a similar context, surrogacy raises many bioethical and legal issues. The present paper will address the main questions arising from the debate prompted by surrogacy, focusing on international legislation, and looking critically at the different legislative models. As a result of worldwide heterogeneity in policies, legal approaches, and access to ART throughout the world, a growing number of would-be parents are seeking treatment abroad. The lack of regulation on cross-border surrogacy in low income countries can undermine the dignity and rights of women as even modest economic compensation determines a significant purchasing power. The international effort should be aimed at creating an international regulatory framework from which guidelines useful to national governments derive. An international agreement would provide a solid legal basis for the protection of surrogate women. In order to limit the economic interests linked to procreative tourism, so as to truly protect global health and women's rights, legislative uniformity is therefore necessary between the various states.
Medical tourism is a growing, multi-billion dollar industry fueled by improvements in the global transportation infrastructure. The authors studied patients living in the United States who travel to ...other countries for plastic surgical procedures and returned to have their complications treated in the authors' center.
A retrospective patient evaluation was performed. Patients who had presented to an urban tertiary academic hospital plastic surgery service with complications or complaints associated with plastic surgery performed in a developing country were studied. The authors collected demographic information, types of surgery performed, destinations, insurance coverage, and complications.
Seventy-eight patients were identified over 7 years. Most commonly, complications were seen following abdominoplasty (n = 35), breast augmentation (n = 25), and foreign body injections (n = 15). Eighteen patients underwent multiple procedures in one operative setting. The most common destination country was the Dominican Republic (n = 59). Complications included surgical-site infections (n = 14), pain (n = 14), and wound healing complications (n = 12). Eighty-six percent of patients (n = 67) relied on their medical insurance to pay for their follow-up care or manage their complications, with the most common type of health insurance coverage being Massachusetts Medicaid (n = 48).
Cosmetic surgery performed in developing countries can carry substantial risks of complications that can be challenging to patients, primary care providers, insurers, and plastic surgical teams not associated with the original surgery. These complications pose significant burdens on our public health systems.
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