The New and Definitive “How To” Guide to Medical Tourism

As the North American authority in the facilitation of safe, high quality, and affordable medical travel, MedRetreat’s managing director, Patrick Marsek, was approached in early 2008 by Alpha Publishing to co-author “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Medical Tourism.”

Released nationwide on March 3rd, this book is an easy-to-read, comprehesive guide to the fast-growing phenomenon of medical tourism (overseas healthcare). The information in this book is based on years of experience in facilitating medical travelers in their pursuit of high quality, affordable surgical procedures ranging from cosmetic and dental procedures to hip and knee replacements, spinal fusions, artificial disc replacements and hysterectomies.

For anyone even considering medical tourism this book will answer all your questions and provide you with the tools you’ll need in planning a safe and affordable medical retreat.

For more information about the book, please visit http://www.medretreat.com/member_services/medical_travel_guide.html

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Selecting a Medical Tourism Facilitator

If you are considering your surgical procedure overseas, the medical tourism service agency you chose to work with is very important part of the process and should never be taken lightly. It is imperative to know that all agencies are not the same. You must decide if you want to work with an agency that will basically arrange your flight, hotel stay, and surgery date, or if you want to work with a full service agency that is there with you every step of the way to ensure that you have a very successful and stress-free experience from beginning until you return home and beyond. In other words, if a problem arises during your medical retreat, will your agent be there to assist you, even if it is 3:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, or will you have to solve your problem on your own? It is essential that you select a medical tourism service provider that you feel very comfortable with and trust to guide you through this cumbersome process.

Make sure that you do your research to ascertain that you are working with a reputable medical travel facilitator that has been around to facilitate enough satisfied clients to have developed a positive track record. One clever way to do this is to search in the “news” or “about us” section of their website to see how many news stories that they have been featured in. Make sure to skim the articles, as many companies post multiple medical travel articles on their websites that mention nothing about their specific company or past clients.

Selecting an Overseas Hospital For Your Surgical Procedure

If you are considering medical tourism (overseas healthcare), the hospital will be the most important factor in your decision making process, after choosing the doctor. You will want to feel assured that you will be having your procedure in a modern, state-of-the-art facility, with the highest level of accreditation and standards. Such a hospital should have a medical travel process with a high level of commitment and reputation for serving international patients.

In every medical tourism destination, there are literally hundreds of public and private hospitals serving their own domestic populations. Today many hospitals around the world have opted to jump on the bandwagon of the emerging medical travel trend by promoting their facilities to potential medical tourists.  With such a vast array of hospitals to chose from, researching international hospitals has become a daunting and confusing process. 

If you work with a reputable medical travel facilitator, they will have already conducted detailed site inspections of their affiliate hospitals to ensure international standards are met. More importantly, if your agent has sent many patients to a specific hospital, they will have a very close relationship with the doctors and administrators resulting in priority communication status. Beyond this, the ultimate leverage that you will have in terms of ensuring the successful outcome of your procedure is the reputation and financial growth of the hospital. The last thing that any of these elite healthcare providers would ever want is for you to have a complication resulting from their error, which could end up on CNN Headline News the next day and negatively impact their future in this industry.

Considering Medical Tourism – Which Surgeon?

It goes without saying that the most important factor when considering the total value of medical treatment abroad is the quality and experience of the surgeon. The selection of a surgeon can be a very confusing and stressful task, as you may feel overwhelmed by the sheer choice in the global marketplace of healthcare. Who can you trust and how can you verify their true credentials? This is where your selection of a medical tourism agency like MedRetreat brings immediate value. The truly reputable American agencies have taken this guesswork out of the equation by partnering with the most reputable hospitals in their respective countries. These agencies have personally met these doctors to insure that they are as they claim themselves to be. Not only will your medical tourism agent supply you with a comprehensive resume of the surgeon, but perhaps even more importantly they should be able to put you in touch with past clients who have first hand experience with the surgeon.

Choosing a Medical Tourism Destination

As you research your medical treatment options outside of North America, it is very important that you identify the “total value” of your medical tourism experience. The first step is to realize that you are not planning a simple vacation. You are seeking a serious medical procedure in a foreign country that you may know very little about and is possibly thousands of miles away from everything that is familiar to you. There is no need to be alarmed, as people have been traveling great distances to receive medical treatment since the beginning of time. However, in our contemporary global economy, with all the options that you will identify in your search, it’s important that you consider all of the factors that will play a significant role in the total value of your experience. Through the Internet today, you will find hundreds of healthcare providers from all over the world selling their medical tourism services. It’s easy to get lost in this vast maze of information when all you are trying to do is find the best doctor you can afford outside of North America.

To eliminate the guesswork in your search, contact a reputable North American-based medical tourism facilitation agency like MedRetreat.  With six years of experience is providing outstanding customer service to thousands of clients, their highly skilled Program Managers can quickly answer your questions based on you specific needs.  Medretreat was developed to assist and protect North Americans in their pursuit of health care abroad.

Projected Shortage of Joint Replacement Procedures in United States….MedRetreat Responds

Over the years, people have traveled great distances for medical care for many different reasons.  Some traveled due to the lack of quality care in their domestic markets, while others because of the extensive waiting periods for treatment brought about by government run socialized systems in countries like Canada and England (which the Obama Administration is currently pursuing, but that is a topic for another day).

In more contemporary times, Americans have been traveling abroad for medical treatment for economic reasons.  A surgical procedure in the U.S. without the appropriate health insurance policy often devastates families financially.  In fact, the number one cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. since 2004 is attributed to medical expenses. 

It didn’t take long for uninsured and underinsured Americans to realize that world class medical treatment in places like Malaysia, Thailand, and India was a fraction of the cost in the U.S.  This trend quickly became so popular that the mass media coined the term “medical tourism” to describe these unique travelers.

As many vested interest groups attempt to predict the future growth potential of medical tourism, the answer may be close at hand.  According to recent studies presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) the number of patients in need of hip and knee replacement, is likely to surpass the number of surgeons available to perform them.

“One of the studies co-authored by Steven M. Kurtz, Ph.D., found that a major reason for the growth in patient demand for joint replacement is the increase in younger patients. Projections show that by 2011, more than 50 percent of patients requiring hip replacements will be under the age of 65; the knee-replacement patient population will reach that threshold by 2016. For primary total knee replacement, the fastest growing group of patients is in the 45-54 age category; the number of procedures performed in this age group is projected to grow from 59,077 in 2006 to 994,104 (an increase of 17 times) by 2030.“Joint replacement is generally thought of as a procedure for older people, over 65,” says Dr. Kurtz, corporate vice president and office director at Exponent, Inc., in Philadelphia. “Our projections show that younger people make up a big piece of the pie, and that is only going to increase if historical trends continue.”


If these projections come to fruition and the demand for joint replacement procedures out-strips the supply in North America in the coming years, these patients may want to consider the option to travel overseas.  Joint replacement procedures are already among the most popular procedures facilitated by MedRetreat, the leading U.S.-based medical tourism facilitation agency.

For more information about medical tourism for joint replacements, please visit

http://www.medretreat.com/procedures/popular_procedures/joint_replacement.html