Excerpts from Newsletter from treatment abroad on Cross Border Healthcare inEurope
What does approval of the EU Directive mean for medical travel in Europe?
Will<http://email.intuition-comms.co.uk/c.html?rtr=on&s=ecks,19lwl,54n0,gv6g,h2i0,chx4,6nzp> Treatment Abroad clients see a surge in patient numbersfollowing the approval of the<http://email.intuition-comms.co.uk/c.html?rtr=on&s=ecks,19lwl,54n0,hcp8,h5tt,chx4,6nzp> EU Directive on Cross-Border Healthcare by the EuropeanParliament last week?
We 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 theway that healthcare works in Europe and more importantly whether it willgive a boost to the medical travel sector.
The right to cross border healthcare
The EU Directive does not give patients any rights to cross borderhealthcare that they don’t have already. It doesn’t introduce any newrights. These rights have already been established by the European Court ofJustice.
The Directive aims to establish a framework within which cross borderhealthcare will operate and to set the rules regarding how patients willaccess care and what kind of treatment they are entitled to. The new rulesshould be in place by 2013 (in theory…).
So, there will not be an overnight change and we are unlikely to see a surgein the number of cross border patients within the EU.
Government funding
Within the UK, there are already well established procedures for NationalHealth Service patients who wish to exercise their right to cross bordercare under existing EU law. Every NHS trust has (in theory) a procedure inplace to deal with requests and to manage the process. See “<http://email.intuition-comms.co.uk/c.html?rtr=on&s=ecks,19lwl,54n0,m5jh,i4fp,chx4,6nzp> NHS Choices – Planned treatment abroad”.
Last year, it is believed that around 500 British patients exercised theirright to cross border healthcare and underwent treatment abroad that wasfunded by the NHS.
So, with the approval of the EU Directive, will 500 become 5,000 or even50,000? It’s unlikely.
One reason is simply awareness of the EU treatment option amongst thegeneral public. It isn’t in the interests of the NHS to promote the EUoption. And there is no-one in the medical travel sector with the kind ofmarketing budget required to really boost awareness of medical travel withinthe UK (or within any target market in Europe).
Opportunities to promote funding of medical travel
However, this doesn’t mean that hospitals within the EU and medical travelfacilitators can’t exploit some of the opportunities presented by the EUDirective. If a patient approaches you needing an operation, you shouldalways check if they are aware of their EU rights to cross border healthcareand the possibility of third party funding of their treatment.
Patients want treatment close to home
Another reason for steady rather than exponential growth in cross borderhealthcare is that the “propensity to travel” amongst patients will alwaysbe low. When patient choice within the NHS was extended to allow patients totravel anywhere within the UK for treatment (internal medical tourism) asopposed to just their local area, little changed. Even if there was awaiting list in their local area, patients preferred to wait for localtreatment rather than travel to another NHS hospital 100 miles away forimmediate treatment.
So what will drive growth?
In the longer term, what may drive growth in cross border healthcare is howgovernments, insurers, payors and patients deal with the increasing pressureto reduce expenditure on healthcare.
Significant changes are taking place within healthcare systems in the UK andelsewhere driven by rising national debt and the resulting need forreductions in public expenditure. There may be more overt “rationing” ofhealthcare services and encouragement for patients to fund or co-fund theirtreatment. Such changes may create a more open market in healthcare in whichthe cross border healthcare option plays an increased role.
Time will tell…
Become a Treatment Abroad client, and benefit from our knowledge of crossborder healthcare
At<http://email.intuition-comms.co.uk/c.html?rtr=on&s=ecks,19lwl,54n0,gv6g,h2i0,chx4,6nzp> Treatment Abroad, we share our knowledge of cross borderhealthcare, of medical tourism and of online marketing with our clients.We’re currently working on a patient guide, “Your rights to cross borderhealthcare in Europe”. As a Treatment Abroad client, you can request a freeelectronic copy for distribution to your patients.
So, why not contact Jeff Coxon at Treatment Abroad to find out how we canhelp you to grow your business in cross border healthcare.
Jeff Coxon+44 (0) 1442 817 817 [email protected]