Medical Tourism Blog

Randy Southerland, writing for the Atlanta Business Chronicle ( subsrciption required ), reports about the fledgling efforts of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce in making Atlanta the location of choice for cutting edge medical treatment, for both international health travelers and those in the region.

"When it comes to attracting tourists to Atlanta, boosters like to play up amenities such as the Georgia Aquarium, Atlantic Station, Stone Mountain and recreational activities.

Soon they may be adding robotic heart surgery to the list.

Leaders at the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce are working with local hospitals to fashion a plan to market the area as a destination for so-called medical tourists. These people -- usually affluent and able to pay for cutting-edge treatments -- are increasingly willing to travel to get the best medical care. Civic planners want them to think of metro Atlanta when they plan their next medical vacation."

He also goes on to add that "Going south, Jacksonville is getting ready to launch a similar program emphasizing both Florida beaches and its Mayo Clinic.

Northeast Florida already attracts a lot of out-of-towners to its hospitals and clinics. Last year 10,300 patients traveled to the region accounting for 12 percent of admissions, according to Rossman.

The bureau expects to launch an advertising program using brochures, Web sites and perhaps other forms of media in October."

I doubt whether they'll be getting medical tourists from Mexico or Costa Rica, but they might attract some from in and around the region. We will be keeping track of this, and provide you with updates as and when available, and hopefully before October.

Also, David Williams at WorldHealthCareBlog is doing some great reporting and interviews on medical tourism in Singapore.

News Update: Just found out that there was a global health care teleconference on medical travel and medical outsourcing on the July 25th 2007, organised by NABE, with Dr. Milica Bookman ( read interview ), as one of the participants. Download the full podcast of the teleconference here - http://www.nabe.com/podcasts/070725hrt.mp3.

Interview update - During the weekend and in the next week, we have two interviews scheduled. One is with Jonathan Edelheit, United Group Programs Inc., who provide health insurance for overseas treatment and the other interview is with Brian Gooch, Gooch & Associates, a JCI consulting company which provides JCI compliance assistance to hospitals abroad. Stay tuned.