Think global
International Ideas and Practical Experiences in the context of Globalization
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Beschreibung
More and more people are becoming aware of the fact that they must make own provisions for ensuring their health. This increasing awareness is not only due to the differing social systems existing in the various countries as far as benefits are concerned. More and more people are actively promoting healthy lifestyles, a practice that is increasingly related to the tourism industry (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie 2011, p. 7). Patients worldwide are out looking for cheap surgery or body modification, less waiting time, or special treatment. The medical sector has long since become globalized. One of the frequent factors favoring health tourism is a poor performance on the part of healthcare systems in terms of medical-technical quality and limited or over-expensive access to benefits (Frädrich 2013). The German healthcare system enjoys a great reputation abroad. This is particularly due to its excellent organization, standardizations, management, as well as its outstanding training and further training and quality assurance programs (Frädrich 2013). Against this backdrop, the present paper addresses the following question: What are the potentials of health tourism for Germany? To answer that question, the way to proceed is to first of all provide a brief definition of the term health tourism, and give an outline of the different forms of health tourism (Chapter two). Subsequently, the third chapter concerns itself with highlighting the current developments of health tourism in Germany, and typologizing the motives of foreign patients for utilizing medical services there. In addition it gives an overview of the advantages related to health tourism in Germany, and determines the specific medical areas that are utilized by health tourists. The final step is to show the way medical service providers organize their marketing communication to acquire the appropriate target groups. Afterwards, chapter four provides several case examples. The fifth chapter summarizes the investigation findings, and draws a critical conclusion.
Autor*in
Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management University
Themen in »Think global«
Globalization Health Care Medicine