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Home > Blog > 2011

Health tourism blog: 2011

The Health Tourism Blog is written by Keith Pollard, a regular speaker and commentator on medical tourism and the independent healthcare sector.  The Health Tourism Blog addresses some of the challenges and issues faced in the health tourism and medical travel sector, and provides suggestions on how both the industry and the individual participants can maximise the business opportunities that the marketplace presents. 

  • Why the medical tourism industry must do better... much better Customer surveyWhilst the medical tourism industry continues to sing its own praises and tell itself how great it is.... consumers are telling a different story. The 2011 Medical Tourism Survey being conducted by European Research Specialists on behalf of Treatment Abroad raises some concerns about the quality of treatment and customer service that the industry delivers to patients. 09/12/2011
  • We need to talk about Kevin... Businessmen looking at laptopThis week I have been prompted to consider what's going on the wider world of blogging and online content... what blogging is about and why I write this blog. 18/11/2011
  • Protecting your brand on the internet...beware the brandjacker! Man in suit using laptopThe internet is a great place to market your medical tourism services but because it is difficult to police, it can be easy for a domain name speculator to hijack your brand. Businesses can find that having spent years developing and investing in a brand, one day along comes a domain name speculator or brandjacker who aims to profit from the brand value and customer loyalty that legitimate... 14/10/2011
  • Cosmetic surgery gone wrong....Is cosmetic surgery tourism safe? Cosmetic surgery patient and medical staffA new survey of members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons highlights the concerns that American plastic surgeons have about cosmetic surgery abroad. It's a commonly recurring theme within the profession. 15/08/2011
  • Google abandons plans for personal health records Consultants accessing patient recordsGoogle has announced that it plans to retire Google Health in January 2012. It's a blow to those in the medical tourism world who had grand plans for the global patient record and who were using the Google health record as the model or template for this. 01/07/2011
  • Believe what your customers do...not what they say! Consumers taking actionA recent article in Harvard Business Review, Four Simple Low Resolution Innovation Tests highlights the problem faced by anyone who is considering investment in the medical tourism business. How can you know whether people will actually buy your service i.e. whether patients will actually travel abroad to use your services? 17/06/2011
  • Medical tourism: After the gold rush Crowd at medical tourism conferenceLast year, I blogged about Medical tourism...lessons from the California gold rush. It's taken me a while to write the postscript to this, but I finally got around to it last week when I spoke at the European Medical Travel Conference in Barcelona. 06/05/2011
  • Comparing quality in medical tourism Comparing quality in medical tourismHow does a medical tourist make a valid comparison of a doctor, hospital or clinic in one country with a doctor, hospital or clinic in another? The simple answer is that he or she can't. And the truth is that it may never be the case (well not in my lifetime). 11/03/2011
  • A new dawn for cross-border healthcare in Europe? Happy medical professionalsWill European hospitals see a surge in patient numbers following the approval of the EU Directive on Cross-Border Healthcare by the European Parliament last week? I would like to say...Yes! But the reality may be a little different. So....let's take a look at how the EU Directive may (or may not) change the way that healthcare works in Europe and more importantly whether it will give a boost to... 15/02/2011
  • The medical tourism numbers game... Part 2 NumbersBack in May 2008, I blogged on McKinsey and the medical tourism numbers game... and commented on their strange way of counting (or not counting) medical tourism numbers. Given the latest study on medical tourism numbers, New study numbers US medical tourists in thousands not millions, reported in IMTJ, I thought it was time once again to address the thorny issue of....how many medical tourists... 13/01/2011
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About me

Keith Pollard

Keith Pollard

I am Managing Director of Intuition Communication Ltd, a web publishing business in the healthcare sector. Our sites include International Medical Travel Journal, Treatment Abroad, the medical tourism portal, DoctorInternet, the Arabic medical tourism portal and Private Healthcare UK, the UK's leading site for private healthcare services. I am a regular speaker and commentator on medical tourism and the independent healthcare sector.