Demand for International Medical Travel to the USA

Abstract

The USA has developed a global reputation for providing high-quality, cutting-edge medical care, and individuals from across the world travel to the country to receive care for complex medical conditions. Beyond this goal of higher quality of care, however, very little is known about the motivational patterns influencing medical travellers' decision making, including the extent to which existing tourism theory and forecasting models apply to this specialized group. The present study seeks to contribute to the knowledge base by developing and testing a macro-level model of international medical travel to the USA. Using country-level data from the US Department of Commerce, World Health Organization, World Bank and Central Intelligence Agency, a two-part regression analysis was used to assess factors associated with the presence and volume of inbound medical travel by country of origin. The results indicate that travel time and out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure are significant predictors of inbound medical tourism from a given country, and travel time, travel cost, services trade and the number of outbound travellers are significant predictors of the total volume of inbound medical travellers by country. The results are discussed in the light of existing tourism research, and guidance for hospitals, policy makers and the tourism industry is provided on where to target resources for developing relationships with providers and payers abroad.