MEDICAL TRAVEL QUALITY

Game changing customer service for hospitals

Posted by SandipChaudhuri on September 30, 2011   |   1 Comment

customer serviceMedical tourism has emphasized the need for hospitals to improve their marketing, and to provide a better patient experience. Corporate communications expert Sandip Chaudhuri presents a practical approach to understanding and analyzing customer service in hospitals. If you have a view about hospital marketing or quality medical tourist experiences, please write to us.

Ever since hospitals have started realizing the importance of marketing in their scheme of things, the rules of the game for hospitals have changed.

Creating a favorable impression for the hospital is a very complex job and would test the mettle of any service industry veteran. Customer service has become a keystone to creating a favorable impression and, one expects, greater word of mouth advertising and hence, a steady stream of new patients. Read more…

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Is a medical travel “facilitator” really necessary?

Posted by Julie Munro on August 19, 2011   |   No Comments

Bangkok HospitalWhen you started thinking about having a treatment abroad, I’m sure you found plenty of hospitals, clinics, doctors and medical tourism agents that all were happy to take your money. Where do you begin?

Some people will plunge right in, to contact what seem to be the best hospitals for them. Often, they find it difficult to communicate with the hospital, and decide to work with a medical tourism company instead. After all, the procedure they need involves travel, so wouldn’t medical tourism companies be able to help?

Other people will look for personal assistance from the beginning to help them select the provider and the specialist they need. Read more…

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Bhavana – addiction rehab as good as it gets

Posted by Julie Munro on July 3, 2011   |   No Comments

Bhavana Phuket ThailandWhat do certain celebrity alcohol and drug addiction rehab centers have in common with the Bhavana addiction treatment center? Are they really that different? Or any better?

There’s a treatment center in Malibu, California known for treating celebrity addicts like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. Its new owners apparently were not happy about its growing reputation as a high-dollar getaway for troubled celebrities instead of a serious drug and alcohol treatment center and they reportedly have set about to change this.

The changes the new owners are introducing tell us a great deal about the addiction treatment these celebrities may have received at this and other rehab centers.
Read more…

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9 questions for medical tourism companies

Posted by Julie Munro on July 8, 2010   |   No Comments

When I talk with clients about today’s issues in the industry, I ask them to consider a number of questions as they develop or review their business strategy for a medical travel or health tourism business. Here are 9 questions to ask today about your medical tourism business.

  1. As an agency, will you be a full-service medical travel agency, a health tourism agency, a broker or facilitator or an on-site international patient care management service? As a provider, will medical travelers be a significant part of your business or an incidental part?
  2. If it’s to be a significant part, will you establish a full-service international patient department available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year or will you rely on a local inbound full-service medical travel agency for patient processing and handling? If an incidental part, will you be able to provide important safeguards for medical travelers or health tourists including privacy, security, and quality of outcome? Read more…
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Medical tourism 2.0

Posted by Julie Munro on July 8, 2010   |   No Comments

It’s a new world for medical tourism in 2010.

Whether you manage a hospital, clinic or wellness spa or center; whether you are a doctor, dentist or other medical practitioner, a medical travel agent or broker, a hotel operator or travel agent; whether you want to provide a treatment or offer a patient handling service, you must look beyond yesterday’s business model.

Providers can no longer simply announce the opening of an international department, issue a mediocre e-newsletter, and declare their desire to serve international traveling patients.

Medical travel agencies can’t get away with putting up a website, signing commission agreements with hospitals, maybe visiting a couple of them, and declaring themselves open for business. Read more…

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