Medical Travel & You: What Agents Need to Know

by David Boucher December 03, 2013

Following is a guest column from the president of Companion Global Healthcare.

While U.S. and Canadian consumers have been traveling for medical care for years, the trend has accelerated since 2006 and continues to do so.

But many travel agents are new to medical travel, also called medical tourism, and have pressing questions and concerns about handling such travel for their clients.

Here are answers to four of the most common concerns and hesitations we hear from travel agents.

I’ve never been to a hospital outside the U.S. How do I assist my current customers when they express interest in traveling abroad for surgery?

*David Boucher*

The best way is to partner with a trusted medical travel facilitator who has scoured the globe for the safest care and the best values. You can visit CompanionGlobalHealthcare.com or seek alternatives from the Internet. (See sidebar.)

As a travel agent, how will I be involved in the client’s arrangements for travel and medical care? Will I earn commission?
Most reputable medical tourism facilitators will take care of the heavy lifting – arranging medical care – then refer the client back to you for the travel portion. That way you earn whatever commissions and service fees you might normally be paid when booking travel.

Will there really be opportunities to book tourism activities beyond point-to-point travel?
Yes. Well over 90% of medical travelers are accompanied by a companion. During the patient’s recovery period, his or her companion will have lots of free time and are oftentimes seeking adventure. Also, when the patient traveler feels up to it, and their physician agrees, they may want to plan excursions before their surgery.

What if something goes wrong during the client’s excursion and their trip needs to be delayed in say, Bangkok, Thailand?
At Companion, we require all travelers to purchase a non-fault medical malpractice policy, like the low cost ones available from GlobalProtectiveSolutions.com. Depending upon the amount of protection purchased by the traveler, this can cover several additional days in a faraway hospital, airline change fees, etc.

David Boucher is president and chief operating officer of Companion Global Healthcare, a medical travel facilitation and HR benefits consultancy. (Disclosure: Companion Global Healthcare is a partner to Well-Being Travel, a sister company to Travel Market Report.) Earlier in David’s career, he was a hospital CEO and worked for BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.