SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. and BANGKOK, Dec. 9 Medical Travel Quality Alliance (MTQUA, http://www.mtqua.org), announces the first program to train and certify international patient care managers and medical travel providers worldwide.
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"All medical tourists who want treatment in another country now can plan, arrange and complete medical travel with a Certified International Patient Advisor (CIPA) and map out the best road to safer, top quality care, great doctors, and great hospitals," says Julie Munro, MTQUA's founder and a leading medical travel facilitator.
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Traveling patients often try to check doctor credentials and hospital standards. "Good advice, but impossible to do alone," according to Munro. "MTQUA trains medical tourism facilitators in how to get this information, how to screen and prepare patients, and how to judge quality of care."
For doctors, knowing that a CIPA is managing their traveling patients lessens the worry of patients being left stranded during the course of treatment abroad, of getting the wrong sort of care or medications, or of having no follow up after they return home.
"As more international hospitals and insurers make medical tourism safer and better by using only certified agents when accepting international patients, medical travel will become a standard option for patients everywhere and this will truly be health care reform," says Munro.
"I don't know anyone else who is able to do this training," says Kenneth Mays, spokesman for Bangkok's Bumrungrad International, possibly the best-known hospital for medical travelers.
MTQUA's certification program details for medical travel facilitators and travel agents, and the white paper Best Practices in the Care and Management of Traveling International Patients are on the organization's web site.
About Medical Travel and Health Tourism Quality Alliance: MTQUA (mtqua.org) promotes standards and practices, and provides training and workshops in all aspects of medical travelers' continuum of care. MTQUA's advisory panel includes Harvard and Johns Hopkins affiliated hospitals and established health care travel agencies. Founder Julie Munro is a noted medical tourism expert and CEO of InterMed Global (InterMedGlobal.com) who, in 2003, founded Cosmetic Surgery Travel (CosmeticSurgeryTravel.com).
SOURCE Medical Travel Quality Alliance
