Congress Blog

The Medical Tourism Association was pleased to participate in this year’s Service Summit and Familiarization “FAM” tour in the beautiful country of Guatemala. Facilitators from Canada and United States of America were in attendance. Jonathan Edelheit, the Chief Executive Officer of the MTA, spoke at the Summit on the Opportunities in Medical Tourism in the US Marketplace. “This is an excellent opportunity for Guatemala to shine in the medical tourism industry through its dedication to the promotion of quality healthcare and its natural ecotourism industry,” he stated.

The Guatemala Exporters Association, AGEXPORT, with the goal of promoting Guatemala as a completive country for health and wellness tourism, presented the Service Summit. The conference included a program with renowned international and local speakers, international and local companies, and included specialized business Matchmaking Sessions. The President of Guatemala, Ing. Alvaro Colom, gave an opening speech expressing his support of the government in making Guatemala a top destination.

Following the Service Summit, participants were able to join a FAM tour of all the companies and providers in the health and wellness sector of Guatemala. The tour included visits to some of the hospitals and clinics in the country including Renova, Centro Medico Hospital, Hospital Multimedica, Centro Dental, Vision Integral, Hope International, Herrera Llerandi Hospital, Unidental, CER, Grupo Dental, Smile Factory and Dental Care Guatemala. Providers also got a chance to meet one on one with other local participants in the Health and Wellness Tourism Commission including Novaesthetics, Top Medical Trips, CEDAF, Cardio Care, TecniScan, Clarion Suites and the airline sponsor TACA. The tour ended with a day of tourism in Antigua to explore the beauty that Guatemala offers. The FAM tour was lead by the tourism company Turitran, who guided the group throughout the four days provided culture and history of the country throughout the day.

Issue 13 of the Medical Tourism Magazine will be featuring coverage of this event and showcase extensive coverage of the FAM tour. http://www.MedicalTourismMag.com  

Guatemala is destined to position itself as one of the major players in the Health and Wellness sector of the Medical Tourism Industry.

The Medical Tourism Association is made up of the top international hospitals, healthcare providers, medical tourism facilitators, insurance companies, and other affiliated companies and members with the common goal of promoting the highest level of quality of healthcare to patients in a global environment. Our Association promotes the interests of its healthcare provider and medical tourism facilitators members. The Medical Tourism Association has three tenets: Transparency, Communication and Education.

 The Medical Tourism Association at http://www.MedicalTourismAssociation.com  seeks to provide transparency in both quality of care and pricing. Every day we see more and more that the globalization of healthcare has created a very flat world. We exchange technology, information, communication, physicians and patients. In order to ensure patient safety, it is our goal to create a transparency about the quality of healthcare that can be found in each country. With this, it is increasingly important to create a transparency in pricing as well so patients traveling overseas for care can be sure of what they are receiving without hidden costs or unforeseen expenses. The Medical Tourism Association is also working on the Quality of Care Project, which will change the way we look at the reporting of global healthcare statistics and the quality of care available at hospitals around the world.

The World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress Announces the Pre-Conference Caribbean Patient Workshop

 This workshop will address: Thousands of patients leave the Caribbean each year for high quality healthcare. Learn what it takes and how to attract Caribbean patients and how to deal with Caribbean patients’ cultures, customs and expectations.

The pre-conference workshop is Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 8:00am- 5:00pm, with a break at 12:00-1:00pm for the networking lunch. The Exhibit hall opens conveniently at 5:00pm! This is the one event per year where Employers, Self Funded Health Plans, Insurance Companies, and Medical Tourism Facilitators that are looking to outsource healthcare overseas have the opportunity to meet with top International Hospitals and Medical Tourism Companies in one place for the ultimate networking event. “The best Medical Tourism Conference of the year.”

This is a comment they have heard over and over from delegates who participated in the first World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress which took place in San Francisco California September 2008. The 2009 World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress promises to match that sentiment and, at the same time, provide even more networking and advanced panel sessions for this international gathering. The conference will feature up to 2,000 attendees, up to 200 speakers, and over 125 exhibitors.

 Don’t miss out on the 2nd Annual World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress will take place on October 26-28th, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles California USA! For more information please go to http://www.MedicalTourismCongress.com

 Till next time, Stephanie

World’s Largest Medical Tourism Conference Announces Pre-Conference African Patient Workshop. This workshop will address:

Thousands of patients leave certain countries in Africa each year for high quality healthcare. Learn what it takes and how to attract African patients and how to deal with African patients cultures, customs and expectations.

The pre-conference workshop is Monday, October 26^th, 2009 at 8:00am- 5:00pm, with a break at 12:00-1:00pm for the networking lunch. The Exhibit hall opens conveniently at 5:00pm! This is the one event per year where Employers, Self Funded Health Plans, Insurance Companies, and Medical Tourism Facilitators that are looking to outsource healthcare overseas have the opportunity to meet with top International Hospitals and Medical Tourism Companies in one place for the ultimate networking event.

“The best Medical Tourism Conference of the year.” This is a comment they have heard over and over from delegates who participated in the first World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress which took place in San Francisco California September 2008. The 2009 World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress promises to match that sentiment and, at the same time, provide even more networking and advanced panel sessions for this international gathering.

                                                

The conference will feature up to 2,000 attendees, up to 200 speakers, and over 125 exhibitors. Don’t miss out on the 2nd Annual World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress will take place on October 26-28th, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles California USA!

 

For more information please go to http://www.MedicalTourismCongress.com   

 

Till next time,                                

Stephanie

The 2nd Annual World
Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress, the largest medical tourism
congress in the world, announces speakers, sponsors and record increase in
attendance this coming October 26-28th 2009 in Los Angeles, California.
http://www.medicaltourismcongress.com/ Over 60 countries confirmed
participation. Up to 5,000 private one-on-one networking sessions will be
arranged through special networking software, allowing each delegate to
schedule up to 80 meetings during the 3-day conference.

Deloitte estimates that 1.6 million American patients will travel to
other countries in 2010 for medical care and treatment, doubling the
numbers who traveled in 2007, and spending billions of dollars.

This Congress is the only event each year where the largest numbers of
Employers, Self Funded Health Plans, Insurance Companies, Governments, and
Medical Tourism Facilitators worldwide come to partner with international
hospitals.

Ministries of Tourism and Ministries of Health participate together
with up to 200 expert speakers, up to 2,000 attendees and 125 exhibitors
and sponsors. Monday night’s VIP cocktail reception open to Workshop
attendees is sponsored by a top US health insurance magazine, bringing in
up to 400 US Health Insurance Executives, Agents, and Brokers.

Some expert featured speakers include:

George Zahorcak, CIGNA International Expatriate Benefits,

Ana Andrade, Vice President, HealthNet Latino Programs

H. E. Mr. Nasser Al Budoor, Director International Relations & Health Affairs and Director of Health Minister’s Office – Ministry of Health, United Arab Emirates (UAE),

Laila Al Jassmi, Dubai Health Authority,

Michelle Lerow, Aetna Global Benefits,

Shady Nawar, Qatar Insurance ,

Edison Vallejo, BUPA Insurance,

Peter Hayes, Hannaford Brothers,

Missy Jarrott, Chatham Steel,

Matt Leming, Swiss Reinsurance,

Scott Leavitt, National Association of Health Underwriters,

Kemal Canlar, United Healthcare,

Jay Gieringer, Humana,

Paul Keckley, Deloitte,

Steve Cyboran, Sibson Consulting,

Dr. L. Casey Chosewood, CDC,

Alexander Domaszewicz, Mercer Health & Benefits Services,

Joseph Heyman, American Medical Association,

Alexandra Jung, Aon Consulting,

Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, Minister of Tourism Bahamas,

Sandra Berkowitz, Willis/HRH,

Cynthia Carrion, Undersecretary of Tourism Philippines,

Christine Leyden, URAC,

Dr. Mehul Mehta, Partners Harvard Medical International,

Ross Pendergraft, Los Angeles Association of Health Underwriters,

William Ruschhaupt, Cleveland Clinic.

The Diamond Sponsorship for the second year is the Council for Korea
Overseas Promotion and KHIDI. Gold sponsors include Colombia, Malaysia,
Turkey, and Mexico City.

The World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress is the official
conference of the Medical Tourism Association (Global Healthcare
Association) http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com and is sponsored by
Medical Tourism Magazine, the official publication of the Medical Tourism
Association, http://www.medicaltourismmag.com.

For those of you not aware this year the MTA has invested in an advance networking software. This software will allow attendees to go online and create their own online profile for their company. Attendees can then login and search for companies they would like to network and meet with. Once they find these companies, they can send an invitation and schedule up to 80 private one on one networking meetings at the conference. It is very exciting and should really make scheduling networking meetings much easier than last year. It will also allow attendees to schedule significantly more meetings than last year’s conference. We have expanded our private networking rooms at this years medical tourism conference so that there are 2 networking rooms. It is very important though that people upload their profile now and start scheduling meetings because meetings must be pre-scheduled before the conference through the software and there is a deadline where after a specific date, attendees can’t schedule anymore networking meetings through the software.

See you in Los Angeles!

If you are planning to attend the MTA’s annual conference in Los Angeles this October please make sure to watch the networking video to learn how to get the most out of networking and how to schedule up to 80 private meetings at the conference.

www.medicaltourismcongress.com/networking_activities.php

Scoll down to the first video, hit play and turn your sound on! This new networking software is great!

H. E. Mr. Nasser Al Budoor, Director International Relations & Health Affairs and Director of Health Minister’s Office – Ministry of Health, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Board Member Executive Board of Health Minister’s Council for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC Countries)

and also Ana Andrade, Vice President, HealthNet Latino Programs. HealthNet is one of the largest health insurance companies in the US with millions of Americans insured. HealthNet was one of the first US insurance companies to create a cross border healthcare program between the US and Mexico.