With the transformation of our healthcare system into a location-independent construct that prioritizes simplicity, transparency and accessibility, much has been achieved for the local population. Of course there will always be room for improvement, yet in the past six months alone we have made more progress than we would have made under normal circumstances over the next two years.
But what does the digitalization of our healthcare infrastructure mean for medical tourism?
No Barrier-Free Access to the German Healthcare System
Foreign patients, unlike domestic patients, do not have barrier-free access to the German healthcare system. This has repeatedly been established in the past from a scientific and, more recently, also a legal perspective. Accordingly, the digitalization of our healthcare system affects foreign patients differently as well. Where access is improved, simplified and consolidated for the domestic population, digitalization creates a new kind of access for foreign patients and often the first opportunity to make direct contact with the medical service providers.
More Transparency Through a Direct Provider Approach
A Direct Provider Approach is characterized by healthcare providers offering their range of services directly. In this way, even when supported by third-party technologies, they are themselves responsible for their market presence, pricing and documentation. Using the example of a platform for telemedicine, the physician or the hospital would, from profile creation through the description to pricing, at least be responsible for the content. Through the autonomy of healthcare providers in shaping their presentation and a detailed breakdown of the costs of a teleconsultation, a level of transparency is created that does not exist in the usual constellations of medical tourism.
Avoiding Unfair Patient Referral Through Greater Patient Autonomy
Taking the above example further, a patient from abroad would now select the physician on the platform themselves. Without any assistance for the patient, however, this is often not effective. Domestic patients know precisely, based on the referral from their general practitioner, which specialty they need to seek out.
I see an opportunity here in the integration of AI, which presents the appropriate service providers on the basis of a chat and an evaluation of the medical records. In this way, an AI-supported selection of experts can also serve as a preventive compliance measure to avoid patient referral for extraneous reasons.
Relieving the Local Healthcare System Through Telemedicine
Preventing unnecessary travel for medical tourism purposes is a win-win situation on all levels. In many countries of the Gulf region it has become a running gag that compatriots spend several weeks in Europe at the state's expense for health tourism purposes to treat harmless ailments.
The digitalization of our healthcare system will also transform international medical tourism. I am confident that the correct implementation of new technologies will bring about a more transparent, more stable and more stakeholder-friendly market.
