Evolution of Medical Tourism: from Cottage Industry to Corporate World
Abstract
The medical tourism industry is going through a major transformation. It is moving from an early adopter marketplace to a mainstream market.
Knowledge and understanding of consumer behavior demands experience, expertise, and maturity in medical travel products and services.
In order to survive in this competitive market, the service provider must be ready to anticipate, respond, and adapt to supply and demand principles quickly or risk becoming extinct.
The new medical tourism economy requires a structured approach to acquiring and managing international patients. Today, five critical threats faced by medical centers:
Consumers are increasingly seeking healthcare solutions that fit their budget, treatment options, and buying preferences.
In an era of consumer-centric healthcare, the consumer perception will dictate what, why, how, who they want to interact with. Demand insights on how people do their research about medical problems, and subsequently, identifying criteria for medical travel, evaluation of type of cost packages and decision-making timelines will be further explored.
By understanding consumer specific needs, perceptions, and desires, and mapping them to develop and customize medical travel is critical for the industry to grow and increase awareness as well as its adoption rate. It is important that medical providers, medical tourism clusters, and governments trying to participate in medical travel industry, align their healthcare solutions by understanding the nature of demand and develop specific program to meet consumer needs.
The session will cover topics such as the future of the global healthcare industry in dealing with supply and demand in the medical tourism industry. Understanding supply chain and establishing sustainable infrastructure are essential to determine how the demand will help in developing sustainable business practices. The session will offers guidance and information to established medical providers as well as new entrepreneurs in this field.
Mr. Pramod Goel Brief Overview
Mr. Pramod Goel is president and founder of PlacidWay, an internationally recognized industry leader in medical tourism. Mr. Goel is the author of recently released book Evolution of Medical Tourism: from Cottage Industry to Corporate World.
PlacidWay is a U.S.-based medical tourism company with presence in over 40 countries worldwide, offering most comprehensive solution to over 500 medical providers globally, from India to Turkey to Mexico and Costa Rica.
PlacidWay’s global presence includes patient referrals from all continents including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, CIS, Africa, and Asia. With nearly one million healthcare consumers from these regions accessing PlacidWay websites annually, PlacidWay has become a thought leader in the industry, providing globally deployed industry best practices, focused to attract international patients. PlacidWay has become an ultimate internet resource for the medical tourism industry.
Mr. Goel has a diverse and experience-rich background building and orchestrating start-ups, turnaround, and growth-oriented ventures. His strategic leadership and entrepreneurship has resulted in several globally successful enterprises. He is a big picture thinker, with focus on establishing best business practices, enterprise standards, and operational excellence.
Mr. Goel has been instrumental part of many global organizations, delivering many strategic and tactical solutions across multiple industries such as healthcare, technology, travel/hospitality, energy and manufacturing. His vast management consulting experience includes strategic planning, operational execution, enterprise business modeling, among many other competencies and achievements.
Mr. Goel holds a Master’s in Industrial & Systems Engineering and a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering.
