Inbound Medical Tourism Or Export Of Medical Services: Which Market Do We Need?

The purpose of the paper is to consider development barriers and tools for targeted support and stimulation of the growth of this sector of the economy, as well as the peculiarities of the impact of the pandemic COVID-19 on the growth and development prospects of the Russian inbound medical tourism market. Methodology. The article is based on a qualitative sociological study conducted in November 2019 –December 2020, with focus groups and expert interviews method usage. In total, there were conducted 8 expert interviews and 4 focus groups.

Findings. The launch of the federal project "Development of the export of medical services" within the framework of the federal program "Development of healthcare", the creation of the Moscow medical cluster, the development of regional markets for inbound medical tourism are considered as institutional measures that can facilitate the target audience's access to the resources of Russian medical clinics. The value of results. As part of the research, the authors for the first time have introduced the analysis of the first results of inbound medical tourism development in 2017-2020 in Russia. The differences between the export of medical services and the market of inbound medical tourism were revealed. The authors put forward the thesis about the export of medical services as the first phase of the development of the market of inbound medical tourism. This analysis identifies areas for further research.

Keywords

inbound medical tourism; export of medical services; regional markets for inbound medical tourism; healthcare market transformation; state program for the development of medical tourism: pandemic COVID-19

Received

25.05.2021

Publication date

03.11.2021

Number of characters

34189

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GOST	Tarasenko E., Dvoryashina M. Inbound Medical Tourism Or Export Of Medical Services: Which Market Do We Need? // Pskov Journal of Regional Studies – 2021. – Volume 17. No3 /2021 C. 18-33 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://prj.pskgu.ru/S221979310015230-6-1 (circulation date: 28.04.2024). DOI: 10.37490/S221979310015230-6
MLA	Tarasenko, Elena, Dvoryashina, Marina "Inbound Medical Tourism Or Export Of Medical Services: Which Market Do We Need?." Pskov Journal of Regional Studies 3 (2021):18-33. DOI: 10.37490/S221979310015230-6
APA	Tarasenko E., Dvoryashina M. (2021). Inbound Medical Tourism Or Export Of Medical Services: Which Market Do We Need?. Pskov Journal of Regional Studies (3), pp.18-33 DOI: 10.37490/S221979310015230-6

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1	Introduction. Inbound medical tourism as a term denoting the movement of potential patients outside the borders of their country to obtain more affordable (less expensive) and high-quality medical services, came into circulation a little more than 20 years ago¹. According to the most conservative estimates, the growth of the medical tourism market over the past 10 years is at least double the growth of world GDP, with the largest flow of incoming patients to Mexico, Southeast and South Asia². The main drivers of this process are the aging processes of the population, at the same time the growth of its well-being, the speed of which exceeds the dynamics of the availability of high-quality health care resources. The imbalance between the growing personal costs of medical procedures and the resource problems of public health in many countries has only increased in recent years, forcing patients to resort to medical services abroad to save or reduce the waiting time for treatment. According to various estimates, the capacity of the global medical tourism market before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was $ 70–90 billion.	1. History of medical tourism, Medical tourism. URL: https://ru.health-tourism.com/medical-tourism/history/ (accessed 14.04.2021). 2. Patients Beyond Borders. URL: https://www.patientsbeyondborders.com (accessed 14.04.2021).
2	The search by governments of different countries for sources of economic growth stimulates interest in the topic of inbound medical tourism [12; 14; 18; 38], as a result of which, over the past 10 years, there has been a boom in the development and implementation of national programs for the development of inbound medical tourism, including the Federal project “Development of the export of medical services”³ for the period 2019–2024. In this regard, a very productive review of the conceptual framework of the inbound medical tourism market, including the allocation of its differences from the export market of medical services [11; 13; 22].	3. Federal project “Development of the export of medical services”. URL: https://minzdrav.gov.ru/poleznye-resursy/natsproektzdravoohranenie/medturizm (accessed 17.04.2021).
3	Research methodology. The purpose of this article is to consider the features of the formation of a new segment of the medical services market, analyze the first results of the development of the Russian inbound medical tourism market based on the export strategy of medical services. As part of the desk study, the authors also analyzed official reports and documents on the results of the implementation of the Federal Project “Export of Medical Services”, studied the reports of several Russian medical organizations subordinate to the Ministry of Health of Russia that is actively involved in the export of medical services. In April 2019 — December 2020, the authors conducted a qualitative sociological study using focus group methodology and in-depth interviews. In total, 4 focus groups were held (respondents were students of the discipline of their choice from the university-wide pool of “Marketing of medical services” for master's programs of the Higher School of Economics, including those with experience in health care and marketing) and 8 in-depth interviews with experts — healthcare organizers holding managerial positions in the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, the Moscow International Medical Cluster, the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Central Research Institute of Organization and Informatization of Health Care” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, the Moscow State Medical Insurance Fund. The purpose of the author's research was to identify the respondents' assessment of the current state of the export of medical services, their attitude to the advantages, problems, and barriers to the development of the inbound medical tourism market, as well as their recommendations for improving the development of the inbound medical tourism market.
4	Overview. Despite the sustainability of the use of the term Medical tourism (or Health tourism) in the world, an integral concept and methodology for the study of inbound medical tourism as a phenomenon have not yet been formed [8; 11; 23]. This makes it very difficult to try to “grow” a new market segment. The definition of “medical tourism” actually identifies the goals of obtaining medical services abroad as the basis for characterizing the strategy of a part of the tourist audience that travels abroad. By the beginning of the 2000s. two basic models have developed, one of which can be called the model of traditional inbound medical tourism (Med Travel), which means that potential patients in developing countries search for treatment options in medical centers and clinics in developed countries [6; 9; 10]. The second, to a greater extent, describes a new phenomenon (Med Tourism), characterized by the flows of patients from developed countries to developing countries in search of quality medical services at a relatively low cost, solving the problems of long waiting times for services in their country, the legal regime for the use of certain treatment technologies or access to resources (stem cell therapy, transplantation, etc.) [19; 24]. The selection of the second model, the transformation of the inbound medical tourism market as a whole is the result of the evolution of the international market of medical services in the context of globalization, as well as, not least of all, the wide expanse of marketing technologies [26; 29]. The traditional Med Travel model is represented by medical clinics in Europe, North America, whose reputation has been formed for decades, they not only offer medical services to residents and foreign patients but also act as world centers for training medical personnel, technological leadership in medicine. From the point of view of promotion technologies, the Med Travel model does not support third-party and does not develop its own agent networks; the medical clinic is the only “beneficiary” of the reception and treatment of foreign patients.

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