World Hospital Monitor for Medical Tourists?

The World Hospital Monitor

The World Hospital Monitor

World Hospital Monitor is a unique database that will provide reliable and authoritative performance information for international hospitals that are looking to attract patients from other countries.

Specifically in the US, there are three drivers of whether or not a patient will travel abroad for medical care: lack of information or trust in the information that is being provided, fear and motivation.

First, there is a lack of information available to patients (and payors) about procedures being performed in “foreign” hospitals. The World Hospital Monitor will provide standardised information on a variety of key elements that are important to patients and payors.

Secondly, there is fear. Patients are fearful to travel for medical procedures. It is something outside of their comfort zone. The World Hospital Monitor should have a Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) tool, which will help new patients overcome the fear of the unknown by accessing qualitative information from former patients who have every reason to report their experiences accurately.

Finally, there is motivation. Right now, a major motivator is the cost of an alternative procedure. As payors have increasing financial pressures brought upon them, there will be new and innovative ways that they will seek to have patients travel abroad for specific treatments.

Aggregated outcomes data should be collected, analysed, translated and compared and statistics remains proprietary. Trusting relationships with hospitals which understand the importance of transparency and objective comparisons must be developed. A coalition of accurately compared outcomes data will benefit both hospitals and patients because it offers a level-playing field to shop for other aspects, such as price and proximity.

Data from specific hospitals based outside of the US that have an interest in bringing patients in from the US, or for that matter any market outside of their home market will be collected. The World Hospital Monitor must have a standardised data collection procedure and further a standardised PRO tool which are all used in the development of this unique database.

The World Hospital Monitor is able to provide an index of hospitals by any number of criteria to determine the appropriate value for the patient, relative to other hospitals and procedures in their home region or country.