Medical travel is now one of the fastest growing areas of medical care, according to a new report on emerging trends published by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP). (Visit www.ahp.org.)

"Medical tourism, defined as a service for elective procedures, has given way to medical travel, which is providing essential, often life-saving treatment outside the home country," the report states.

"Medical travel was practically unheard of a few years ago, except for self-paid elective surgery or for treatments not approved in the patient's home country. It is now one of the fastest growing areas of medical care."

The Falls Church, VA-based organization cites World Health Organization estimates that cross-border trade in health services could total $1.25 trillion within 10 years, representing a potential 20% percent increase in the global health services market.

Fueling the growth in medical tourism are the familiar drivers, such as savings to employers when employees opt for treatment in another country, along with the growth in uninsured and under insured patients seeking less costly care.

The AHP cites some other factors that include "a growing number of foreign hospitals have applied for American accreditation. The Joint Commission for Certification of Healthcare Organizations has changed its name to the Joint Commission International to reflect the increase."

In addition to attracting more North American and European patients, the AHP noted that a growing middle class in the Middle East and Asia "is clamoring for better local health care."

Stated AHP: "Many countries have realized that by partnering with a prestigious U.S. hospital or medical school to manage or build a new facility, their ventures attain instant credibility and can become regional draws that spur economic development."

North American medical institutions are responding with more partnerships and direct investment in offshore facilities, noted the report.

"Johns Hopkins Medical International, the Cleveland Clinic and Philadelphia International Medicine, a consortium of Philadelphia hospitals, are all being courted by foreign investors and governments looking to attract the talent, technologies and financial resources of developed economies."

The AHP report cited a forecast made by Devon Herrick, a health care economist specializing in international trade in health care services, the medical travel market can be expected to nearly double from $60 billion in 2006 to more than $100 billion by 2012.

Mitigating against that trend is a growing isolationist streak among Americans, noted the AHP, citing a Gallup poll that the report calls "stunning" given the increased role international trade plays in the U.S. economy.

The AHP report also details an interesting effect of the growing medical travel market and globalization of healthcare: hospital fundraisers in the U.S. and Canada have to be aware of the change in donor cultures.

"The definition of community is now global even if you are local," the AHP report' cautioned the hospital fundraisers the organization represents.