“Patients are more and more targeting super-specialized services for the treatment of cancer and other chronic diseases – and that may involve travel,” said Renée-Marie Stephano, President of the Medical Tourism Association®. “The good news for potential medical tourism patients is that healthcare providers in Miami and throughout Florida already have the expertise, facilities and technology to treat many of these conditions.”
Florida has devoted $5 million during the next three years to promote the state as a destination for medical tourism. In the meantime, Stephano has been collaborating with Sen. Aaron Bean (R-Fernandina Beach) to assess the state’s areas of strength – from specialized cardiac surgery and orthopedics to routine procedures for dental care and cosmetic surgeries — that can be built upon and marketed to out-of-state patients.
The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors (GMCVB) is an accredited not-for-profit destination sales and marketing organization whose mission is to attract visitors to Greater Miami and the Beaches for leisure, business and conventions.
Now, Miami is making room for medical tourism because an estimated, record-high, 14.6 million visitors spent at least one night in Greater Miami and the Beaches during January-December 2014. Visitors continued to travel to Greater Miami and the Beaches primarily for leisure/vacation purposes, making up 75.9 percent of the visitor market in 2014.
But, the hope is that many of these travelers will stay long enough to plan a medical procedure or health and wellness treatment at one of Miami’s specialized surgical centers designed specifically to lure more international medical tourism patients.
That would be good news for the Florida economy. On average, more than 375,000 U.S. residents already spend more than $5.2 billion on medical services in Florida; about 3 percent of both the total patients and healthcare expenditures within the state. By comparison, more than 38,000 international patients spend more than $580 million on medical services in Florida annually; about less than one percent of all visits and charges.
The World Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress attracts some 3,000 key stakeholders – hospital administrators, doctors and clinicians, employers, government policy makers, insurance executives, facilitators, and hospitality and tourism interests – from across the globe to share their experiences and identify and solve issues that bear significantly on the industry. For a preliminary list of speakers, go to: http://www.medicaltourismcongress.com/integrated-conferences/
The Congress agenda features the 6th Ministerial Summit, Global, the 4th Medical Directors Summit, the 3nd Global Women’s Leadership Summit, regional and industry forums, and educational workshops included among more than 1,000 networking meetings for up to 200 qualified buyers of healthcare. Participants, sponsors and invited speakers can keep abreast of Congress updates or register at www.MedicalTourismCongress.com
