International health travelers planning medical travel abroad have to decide where to go for health care. There is a big deal of medical directories, different associations, societies and et cetera registered all over the world which are competing in helping to find the best place for treatment oversees and promoting particular countries, hospitals and providers.
The problem is that such helpers have as a rule no legal obligations, and approaches used are not always convincible, appropriate and efficient.
It remains a big challenge for medical traveler to find a trusted source for reliable online health information about the right destination for medical care including evidence-based medical information, quality reports, certification or accreditation, mortality data, infection rates, performance data and to protect himself from misleading health information.
Recognizing that European citizens are avid consumers of health related information on the Internet and recognizing that the difficulties by evaluating of medical information available, the European Council at Feira on June 19-20 2000 supported an initiative within eEurope 2002 and as a result Quality Criteria for Health Related Websites were developed in widespread consultation with representatives of private and public eHealth websites and information providers, other industrial representatives, public officials, and representatives of government departments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations.
These criteria consist of 6 major points and should be applied in addition to relevant Community law:
Transparency and Honesty Authority Privacy and data protection Updating of information Accountability Accessibility
Health On the Net Foundation from Swiss /www.hon.ch/, one of most respected not-for-profit portals to medical information on the Internet, established its code of ethical conduct which is based on Quality Criteria for Health Related Websites of the European Council.
We recognize the HONcode as a minimal requirement for any health related websites and websites dealing with medical tourism as well. Any patient looking for medical care abroad is advised to check the present of the the HONcode on the website of provider or facilitator of health services. It is the start but not enough for choosing a right destination.
That is why the Institute for Cross-Border Health Care (Homepage: www.meditravel-plus.com) established guidelines with the aim to help international health travelers to choose a right destination for medical travel and to assist individuals in making more informed health and healthcare decisions. These guidelines can be consistently used by international health travelers planning medical travel abroad.
Institute for Cross-Border Health Care guidelines on general principles of destination evaluation for medical care:
1. Not rely on advertising but critically analyze and check statistics, medical data bases and not at the least use your own common sense.
2. Be aware of the fact that some destinations have not only price advantages but of course some disadvantages as well. The quality of overseas hospitals and providers remains the most important and controversial issue.
3. Be sure that a destination where you are going to medical treatment is able to fulfill and satisfy all requirements needed according to US and EU standards to health care.
4. Pay attention at the provision of healthcare, life expectancy and maternal mortality ratio according to Mortality Country Fact Sheet of WHO (World Health Organization) within the country advertising itself as an attractive destination for medical travel.
5. Be aware of possibility of outbreak of pandemic as a result of poor hygiene conditions over the inhabitants
6. Consult health care data of a country in question and try to understand, whether or not it is worthy to go there and whether the services of the local medical provider could be trusted of. For more information it could be useful for medical tourists to visit the website of WHO: www.who.int/countries, which is available now in 6 international languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish.
7. Pay attention at the fact which total expenditure on health as % of Gross Domestic Product a destination country has and try to learn whether the destination country is able to provide health care for its own citizens, including doctors and medical stuff of the hospitals.
8. Try to learn whether legal procedures, law medical standards comply with US and European law
9. Be informed of responsibility for clinical oversight with the country of treatment and check legal status of providers
10. Be certain that the transfer of your medical records to and from facilities outside your home country is consistent with USA and EU guidelines and local follow-up care could be coordinated
11. Be informed of your rights and legal recourse, complaint proceduresin the case of undesirable outcomes prior to agreeing to travel outside your country for medical care
12. Be certain that you could resort to the legal process and obtain remedies in case of complication and should anything go wrong. So you can avoid an increased risk and uncalculated spending
13. Inform yourself about general agenda as domestic security, terrorism and political instability
14. Inform yourself about the prevalence of the corruption in Public and Other Institutions, which could infect local hospitals and health care in general. For more information about Bribe payer index and Global Corruption Barometer, please consult the website of Transparency International:www.transparency.org. The information about corruption is available in 7 international languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
15. Inform yourself about circulation of faked medication. Particularly in the developing world some countries praised in advertising as medical travel destinations are supposed and proved to be the centers of faked medication production.
16. Try to understand that a variety of different factors could result that the price you pay for affordable and chip surgery would be in the end very big. And it is not only about the money. In our globalized world it is difficult sometimes to compete well with chip prices. But chip medical services could always be not good nor has a good quality.
17. Be aware about differences in nutritional habits, religious practices, family interactions and other customs
18. Be informed aware of standards of clinical excellence, pre and post operative care, levels of English spoken and medical training, cultural and language barriers
