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Top Specialty Hospitals and Medical Travel Services

Posted by Julie Munro on March 11, 2012 | No Comments

Top Specialty Hospitals

Medical travelers don’t always need the services that a general hospital offers. Many need only a specialty hospital or clinic. Here are a few excellent specialty providers that meet many of our requirements. They are listed alphabetically.

Hospitals and clinics not listed here may be known for medical excellence but they lack the kind of support for traveling international patients that we believe is critical in obtaining good outcomes.

Nominate a hospital or a medical tourism service.
Criteria for selection.

Barbados Fertility Centre

This center is a popular medical tourism destination for fertility treatments for North Americans and Europeans.

Carolina Medical Center

Carolina specializes in sports medicine, in Warsaw, Poland.

Mayo Clinic

In Rochester, Minnesota, patients can tap into the Mayo roster of specialists when having executive health checkups.

Pacific Cancer Centre

Cutting-edge cancer treatment center in Singapore offers a variety of options for international patients.

Shouldice Hospital

Shouldice Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario continues to distinguish itself in hernia surgeries. It has been on the MTQUA Top 10 World’s Best list for three years, and continues to receive international awards for its record of achievement.

Wooridul Spine Hospital

This unique hospital in Seoul Korea is a world leader in medical treatment of the spine. It also appears on the MTQUA Top 10 World’s Best list.

Top Medical Tourism Services

Known variously as facilitators, medical travel companies, medical travel agencies or brokers, the best of these companies take responsibility for the full medical journey, from planning through on-site care management and after the return home.

Please review the MTQUA list of member medical travel companies.

Top 10 World’s Best Hospitals For Medical Tourists 2013 List by Medical Travel Quality Alliance

Posted by Julie Munro on March 10, 2012 | Comments Off

A medical traveler should be aware that safety and quality in any hospital – no matter how good it is, and what country it’s in – is not guaranteed. We strongly urge all medical travelers to seriously consider using the services of an experienced, professional medical travel company that offers a full range of care management services on the ground. Any medical travel company, doctor, clinic or hospital that is Medical Travel Certified by MTQUA supports total care management for medical tourists.

Read the press release.
Nominate a hospital as a World’s Best Hospital for Medical Tourists™.
Criteria for selection.

1. Prince Court Medical Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Prince Court Medical Center provides excellent surgery options for medical travelers. Special services include a sophisticated burn unit, an In Vitro Fertility department with multiple fetal monitoring. A senior manager coordinates all international patient and medical tourist services and procedures, assuring medical tourists that coordination of care that meets the needs of the medical traveler is a priority. Read more about what makes Prince Court Medical Center great.

2. Asklepios Klinik Barmbek, Hamburg, Germany

Asklepios Klinik Barmbeck hired a new medical tourism manager to improve and support organizational response for medical tourists. It has increased its efforts to meet the needs of medical travelers in their home countries. Newly revised and updated medical tourism handbooks in Arabic and Russian as well as English provide extensive information about the hospital’s services. This hospital is of particular value for medical tourists who need treatment beyond the scope of their top facilities at home. It partners with innovative medical technology companies from Germany to test the most modern medical equipment before it is released worldwide. Asklepios Group is the largest private hospital operator in Europe.

3. Clemenceau Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon

Clemenceau has ties with Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and stands out as perhaps the leading hospital in the Middle East. This past year, CMC adopted “Six International Patient Safety Goals”, increased the use of encryption protected passwords to access patient electronic records, and introduced multidisciplinary rounds to better coordinate medical treatment for patients. It conducts an ongoing review of international patient trouble spots such as billings and ethical dilemmas in care.

4. Fortis Hospital, Bangalore, India

This Fortis Hospital, formerly Wockhardt Hospital, provides excellent surgery options for medical travelers seeking orthopedic procedures including hip resurfacing and replacement. It works closely with some US-based medical travel agents for follow up care and services of American patients once they return home.

5. Wooridul Spine Hospital, Seoul, Korea

This unique hospital is a world leader in medical treatment of the spine. Wooridul’s influence and prestige has spread worldwide through its doctors and its joint ventures with hospitals in Asia and Europe. It is the only specialized hospital on this Top 10 list.

6. Bumrungrad International, Bangkok, Thailand

The most well-known hospital for medical tourists, Bumrungrad has been taking foreign patients for 20 years. It has invested heavily in integration of medical records, pharmacy, labs and other hospital departments into a state-of-the-art electronic environment. Its focus on technology and its American style of management carry over to the Bumrungrad website, which is a model for other international hospitals. The hospital operates a network of exclusive representatives.

7. Anadolu Medical Center, Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul is home to several excellent hospitals. Anadolu offers a very high standard of treatment and care, and seems to understand the needs of the medical traveler. It has an international focus, with multilingual doctors and nurses, and a keen awareness of the services and support systems a medical traveler should have.

8. Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, Bangkok, Thailand

The flagship of the largest private hospital chain in Thailand, Bangkok Hospital Medical Center meets several of the MTQUA criteria that make it one of the World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™. Individual hospitals of the medical center in Bangkok include the distinguished Bangkok Heart Hospital, Bangkok International Hospital, and Wattanosoth Cancer Hospital. The hospital lists qualified medical travel companies on its website and operates a network of representatives.

9. Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore

The Parkway Hospital Group may well be the standard bearer for private hospital care in Singapore, and Gleneagles Hospital is its flagship. The Parkway group owns and operates hospitals throughout Asia.

10. Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai, India

It is one of the few centers in the world doing nearly 100% bypass surgeries on a beating heart and with
a very significant percentage using total arterial grafting. The hospital boasts the lowest surgical
mortality rates in the world with 0.26% in isolated bypass surgeries & an overall mortality of 0.8%. Some of
the most challenging and rare cases are performed regularly at AHI.

Special mention goes to these excellent hospitals for medical tourists that ranked very highly in our considerations for the Top 10 list for 2013.

Malaysia: Sime Darby Medical Centre Subang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur

Mexico: Christus Muguerza Super Specialty Hospital, Monterrey

South Africa: Mediclinic Morningside, Johannesburg

Spain: Barcelona Medical Centre, Barcelona

Top specialty hospitals and medical travel services

Top 10 World’s Best Hospitals For Medical Tourists 2010 by Medical Travel Quality Alliance

Posted by Julie Munro on March 10, 2012 | No Comments

MTQUA Top 10 Worlds Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists
Hospitals from around the world are considered annually for the MTQUA Top 10 list of the World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™.

Asia continues to be the top medical destination in medical travel: six hospitals in Asia; two in Europe; and two in North America were deemed best in medical tourism for 2010. Even for American medical tourists, despite the longer traveling time, Asian medical destinations offer more and better medical procedures and care than most medical destinations closer to home.

This list of leading hospitals for medical tourism is issued by the Medical Travel Quality Alliance to help patients, hospitals, and medical travel companies better understand the important factors that create an outstanding medical experience for a medical tourist.

All 10 hospitals on the MTQUA Top 10 World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™ list provide medical treatment and care for medical travelers that is of the highest quality and with advanced technology. All have outstanding local and regional reputations.

Many of these top 10 hospitals have international accreditation from any of several accreditation agencies including US-based Joint Commission International (JCI). Others may not have international accreditation but have stellar international reputations and other qualifications for medical quality and patient safety.

Criteria for selection.

MTQUA World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™

MTQUA World's Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists MTQUA annually publishes the list of the top 10 World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™. We choose to recognize the hospitals around the world that best meet our criteria for quality in patient care management for international traveling patients. To nominate a hospital as a World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™, please contact us for a nomination form and deadlines. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact us.

1. Fortis (formerly Wockhardt) Hospital, Bangalore, India

2. Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore

3. Prince Court Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

4. Shouldice Hospital, Toronto, Canada

5. Schoen-Kliniken, Munich, Germany

6. Bumrungrad International, Bangkok, Thailand

7. Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, Bangkok, Thailand

8. Wooridul Spine Hospital, Seoul, Korea

9. Clemenceau Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon

10. Christus Muguerza Super Specialty Hospital, Monterrey, Mexico

We recommend these top 10 hospitals mostly without qualification. For some, we attach specific advisories for American medical tourists and others that should be considered as they or their medical travel company makes plans to get treatment abroad.

Fortis Hospital (formerly Wockhardt Hospital), Bangalore.

Fortis Hospital provides excellent surgery options for medical travelers seeking orthopedic procedures including hip resurfacing and replacement, and has exemplary follow up care and services to monitor American medical travelers once they return home. More details here.

Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore.

The Parkway Hospital Group may well be the standard bearer for private hospital care in Singapore, and Gleneagles Hospital is its flagship. Anyone looking for a top medical destination, and a top hospital in this destination, won’t find much better than this.

Prince Court Hospital Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia is a relative newcomer as a medical destination. Prince Court Medical Centre in the capital Kuala Lumpur is a brand-new facility with outstanding patient safety and infection control features including state-of-the-art laminar air-flow technology in all operating rooms and an exceptional burns unit. It is owned by oil and gas giant Petronas, and managed by Austrian health care services.

Shouldice Hospital, Toronto.

Shouldice Hospital has distinguished itself for four decades in managing hernia surgeries. More Americans should know about this private hospital in the land of government-sponsored health care so close to home.

Schoen-Kliniken, Munich.

One of the largest owner-managed hospitals groups in Germany, Schoen-Kliniken meets most of our criteria even though the group has a policy – currently under review – of not encouraging American patients because of the belief that Americans would sue the hospital for any perceived lack of care. This should not stop Americans from seeking medical treatment there as treatment and patient care are outstanding. Schoen-Kliniken welcomes qualified medical travel companies.

Wooridul Spine Hospital, Seoul.

Christus Muguerza Super Specialty Hospital, Monterrey.

Christus Muguerza is an outstanding hospital for medical tourists though it is not isolated from the drug violence raging across Mexico. For anyone who has family or friends, or an on-site medical travel facilitator, in Monterrey who can look out for them in case of trouble, it’s an outstanding choice.

Clemenceau Medical Center, Beirut.

Clemenceau has ties with Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and stands out as a leading hospital in the Middle East. For value, treatment and patient care, it doesn’t get much better than this, though some Americans may be uncomfortable traveling to the region for care.

Finally, we selected two excellent hospitals in what many consider to be the leading medical destination, Thailand. It may surprise some that Thailand, a popular medical destination in past years, does not have a hospital at the top of this list. We remain concerned about the possibility of political unrest of the ruling party that has recently caused the closure of the main international airport and some violence.

For anyone, American or otherwise, wishing medical treatment in Thailand, we strongly suggest that plans be made through a medical travel company that has local representatives who can assist should any problems arise. Those coming to Thailand for medical care should register with their embassy in Bangkok.

Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, Bangkok.

The flagship of the largest private hospital chain in Thailand, Bangkok Hospital Medical Center meets several of the MTQUA criteria that make it one of the World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™. Individual hospitals of the medical center include the distinguished Bangkok Heart Hospital, Bangkok International Hospital, and Wattanosoth Cancer Hospital. The hospital lists qualified medical travel companies on its website.

Bumrungrad International, Bangkok.

The most well-known hospital for medical tourists, Bumrungrad has been taking foreign patients for almost 20 years. Medical records, pharmacy, labs and other hospital departments are almost fully integrated into a state-of-the-art electronic environment.

Criteria for selection

Vote

Posted by Julie Munro on October 10, 2011 | Comments Off

What website best communicates, informs or helps a medical tourist to go abroad for treatment?

Is it a hospital website? Clinic? Doctor? Medical travel company? Medical tourism portal? Is it a whole site, a section of a site, a page? Is it a Facebook page? A Linkedin page? A social community?

We are not looking for the prettiest or fanciest, or the most connected or most social website or web page. We want to find what is most useful to someone who is planning a medical tourism trip.

Planning a medical tourism trip almost always either starts or ends on the internet, on websites like this one, on forums, or on specific provider sites. Patients browse the internet looking for information that will help them. They spend hours searching on Google, Bing and other search engines hoping to find what they need.

In your opinion, what websites best offer medical tourists the information they need? In making plans, international patients have questions about

treatment
quality
cost
convenience
support

What hospital website, clinic or doctor website, website of a medical travel company or other medical tourism service provider would you send a medical tourist to?

Why find the best website for medical tourists?

Most of the websites who offer information or help for medical tourists are not as helpful or as informative as they should be. By selecting those that stand out in what they offer to medical tourists, we hope other hospitals, clinics, doctors, medical travel companies and medical tourism support service providers will offer better information, help and support on their medical tourism website pages.

By nominating a website that you think is the most helpful and informative, you are helping make all medical tourism websites better.

Nominate a website you think is doing a great job educating and assisting medical tourists to find and get the good treatment or care they are looking for. We will post the most popular nominees on this site and select the top candidates for visitors to vote the best. The person who first nominates the best site will win a prize.

Submit your nomination here.

[contact-form-7 id=”2943″ title=”vote for website”]

Getting outstanding medical treatment abroad of the best quality and highest standards

Posted by Julie Munro on September 5, 2011 | 1 Comment

What creates outstanding medical treatment abroad?

When MTQUA representatives review hospitals for our annual list of World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists, these are some of the criteria considered. These are not listed in their order of importance.

1. Medical quality and outcomes

2. International patient communication and care management

3. International patient marketing

4. Value for service

5. Patient safety and security

6. Transparency and disclosure

7. Attention to other unique needs of the medical traveler

8. Website

9. Management

10. Partnerships, alliances and external support

See the Top 10 list of World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists

How to get the best care and best value in medical tourism

Medical tourists have a world of choice in health care and are taking advantage of this. But the information they have to base their choices on is often bewildering, confusing, and wrong.

Patients looking for medical care and treatment abroad need accurate up-to-date and reliable information. Whether a website or a medical tourism company can provide the sort of information that will answer concerns about best quality or high standards of patient safety and care management is often a concern.

Some patients now consider accreditation status and word of mouth recommendations before they make their choice of hospital, and that’s a definite improvement over relying only on the internet for information or choosing the lowest cost.

Issues such as patient safety and security, international patient operations and protocols, marketing integrity, transparency and facilitator review should be weighed heavily in any selection of hospital by the medical traveler.

To get the best value and care from going abroad for treatment to the best hospitals or other hospitals in the best medical destinations, MTQUA recommends that medical tourists consider using a qualified medical travel company or care manager who has professional trained facilitators or agents on site to take care of any circumstances that may arise, medical or otherwise.