title: Who are the medical travelers and what do they want?: a qualitative study.
abstract: The ongoing debate on U.S. healthcare reform fueled by increasing cost and poor access to quality healthcare is spurring interest in medical travel. The topic of medical travel-going abroad to seek medical care-has been widely reported in various news outlets. This issue even resulted in a Senate Hearing before the Special Committee on Aging. Despite this popularity, very little empirical research has been conducted to describe and understand medical travelers. To fill this gap, the present study involves in-depth interviews of medical travel facilitators with extensive exposure to and communication with medical travelers. This article has multiple objectives. It aims to develop a demographic and psychographic profile of medical travelers and identify their underlying motives to seek medical care overseas. Based on these insights, it presents a list of propositions to be tested in further research. Finally, it offers practical implications for the healthcare industry.
authors: Department of Management, Missouri State University, Springfield, 65897, USA. ckaruppan@missouristate.edu
authors: Corinne M
authors: CM
authors: Karuppan
authors: Muthu
authors: M
authors: Karuppan