A successful Healthcare Globalisation summit was held at The Venetian Hotel & Resort in Las Vegas, May 4 to 7. Formerly the International Medical Tourism Conference, the Summit focused on the solutions being developed around quality, continuity of care, medical information exchange technology, insurance coverage, and on raising awareness and acceptance among consumers, employers and other US stakeholders for the cost-saving benefits of medical travel.
IMTJ was one of the media sponsors of the event and attended the three-day summit. It was a successful event, with high-profile and informed speakers pushing on the debate about global healthcare. Speakers included Curtis Schroeder, group chief executive officer, Bumrungrad Hospital; Ori Karev, CEO UnitedHealth Group International; Paul Mango, director, McKinsey & Co; Rajesh Rao, CEO, IndUS Health; Ruben Toral, CEO, MedNet Asia; Steven Tucker, president, International Medical Travel Association; Simmi Singh, managing director, Health Industry, Converge Partners; Bill Crounse, MD, Worldwide Health Director, Microsoft; Josef Woodman, Healthy Travel Company, author of Patients Beyond Borders; and, Sharon Kleefield of Harvard Medical School.
Having attended a number of these events over the past 12 months, it is this editor’s opinion that medical tourism is developing rapidly, and this was reflected in the discussions. Gone was the woolly optimism of previous events. We have moved from predictions about the future to reports on present and imminent initiatives. Vague aspirations were less in evidence this year, perhaps typified by the report by McKinsey & Co on the “true” number of medical tourists currently travelling from the US. It’s a controversial report, and for that reason, IMTJ contributor Ian Youngman discusses it in detail in his article: Why McKinsey has got it wrong.
The Conference was also a good venue for innovative new ideas, and also below, we speak with Roger Amato and Dr Christopher Jones about two new ideas they have for the industry: data aggregation and a new consumer documentary film on medical travel.
