Caribbean & Latin America Wellness Conference
Caribbean and Latin America
Inbound-Outbound
Health and Wellness Tourism
“The Doctor of the future will give no medicine,but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame.In Diet and in the prevention of Diesease.” 7-16-1870 by Thomas Edison
There is a battle between Health- Medical Tourism and the Wellness industry whereby the Health- Medical sector is using its wealth to discredit the Wellness practitioners as quacks and the Wellness practitioners are claiming that the Health -Medical sector is promoting short-term treatment and not efficacious long-term cure.
Paul Zane Pilzer the author of The Wellness Revolution makes the following distinction between the medical/health and wellness industries:
- Medical/Health – The sickness business is reactive. Despite its enormous size, people become customers only when they are stricken by and react to a specific condition or ailment. No one really wants to be a customer. Product and services provided reactively to people with an existing disease, ranging from a common cold to existing cancerous tumors. These products and services seek to either treat the symptoms of a disease or eliminate the disease.
- Wellness – The wellness business is proactive. People voluntarily become customers-to feel healthier, to reduce the effects of aging, and to avoid becoming customers of the sickness business. Products and services provided proactively to healthy people (those without existing disease) to make them feel even healthier and look better, to slow the effect of aging, and/or to prevent diseases from developing in the first place.
Based on my book, the Boxless Entrepreneurs™, I strongly feel that we need to look at this issue outside of the box in order for both industries to co-exist in a mutually beneficial way.
The philosophy of my book is that to think outside of the box, you must be in a box.
Your ability to function freely is based on the size of the box you are in. Many of those limitations include partnership (need for consensus approval), rules and regulations to mention a few.
Because of wars around the world, physical violence among mankind, and defective births, the medical industry will be with us forever.
Man’s search for the fountain of youth and desire to live a long sustainable disease- free life, natural remedies and spiritual enlightenment will be the underpinning reasons why the Wellness industry will also be with us forever.
There are many Boxless Doctors ™ (physicians) like Dr. Kirti Kalidas who understands the above truths, thus, deciding to have a US$ 17 million dollar expansion of his Orlando, Southwest Orange County medical facility for Natural and Integrative Medicine by 2010. According to the report, he is one of 30 doctors in the United States that has both a traditional M.D. and a Naturopathic License. Here is a traditional doctor who has decided not to think outside of the box, but to function outside of the box, thus, becoming one of the world’s few Boxless Medical™ Practitioners.
Approximately 10 years ago, I had the opportunity to witness the day-to-day behind the scene operation of Dr. Tony Vendryes, a certified medical doctor whose specialty was anesthesiology in Jamaica. He appointed me general manager of his operation, which included designing and overseeing his website production and maintenance; marketing and promotion.
Dr. Vendryes is a true Boxless Doctor™ who functions way outside of the box (the norms) by incorporating independent masseuse, reflexologies and reiki practitioners into his practice. He recommends natural remedies for the majority of his patients. I also witnessed Dr. Vendryes incorporation of HerbaLife™ into is daily operation until many of his own medical fraternity colleagues labeled him a quack. Today, many of those same doctors not only joined him, but many of them have incorporated or are practicing to a certain degree Alternative Medicine.
I witnessed individuals who were diabetics for 20 to 30 years became one hundred percent (100%) cured by following Dr. Vendryes lifestyle change diet prescription.
Wellness is a Trillion Dollar industry according to the wellness guru, Paul Zane Pilzer, author of “The New Wellness Revolution” . I am now aware that the medical industry is paying attention. Recent research revealed that the American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey of Hospitals, 19.8% were offering Complementary and Alternative Medicine services in 2006.
In order to compete successfully in the Medical & Wellness Tourism arena, hospitals and practitioners are adopting Out of the Box International Standards.
Many of them are controlling their customers’ (patients’) experience from the initial telephone communication till the post treatment services.
Here is what some of the world’s Boxless Medical Entrepreneurs™ are doing in order to have total control of their clients’ experience thereby, protecting their niche market.
Each satisfied customer becomes the most powerful advertising agent because, word-of-mouth marketing and promotion still remains top of the list according to marketing guru’s around the world.
- Dr. Kalidas Florida expansion includes 126 room Cambria Suites hotel for his out of town patients.
- Others have hired their own tour operators whose responsibility includes making all flight arrangement for their patient. Meeting them at the airport and walking them through immigration and custom. Having luxurious and comfortable transportation to take them to their destination. Some even arrange tours before and after surgery. Others arrange Duty Free shopping and other services for family travelling with the patient.
- Many other Boxless Medical Entrepreneurs™ are making sure that their staffs are proficient in the language of each patient. • Hospitals are now turning an entire floor into luxury hotel rooms with broadband internet access, flat screen TV and cooking facilities to cater to their clients who for example are vegetarians or only eat kosher food.
- Boxless Medical Marketers™ are even catering to the religious and cultural needs of each patient. Medical marketers are now aware of the fact that even transparency as to the total cost is a vital marketing tool for hospitals and wellness providers who provide such high level of transparency.
- Many of the smaller medical and wellness providers are creating affiliations with local spas, chambers of commerce, hotels, tour operators, transportation companies, consulates and embassies in order to guarantee their customers a positive experience which is the underpinning key to repeat business and long-term sustainability.
- Those institutions who have a strong Privacy Protection policy in place, use that as a serious marketing tool. Patients are even inquiring if these institution staff and affiliates are aware of the company’s privacy protection policy?
- Other Boxless Medical Entrepreneurs™ have created and implemented special training and educational programs for their entire staff so that each one understands the company’s mission statement and the step-by-step experience each customer should have in order to protect the company’s niche loyal customer market share.
- Medical and Wellness practitioners are also marketing their services through their well-designed Multilingual Content Management System websites with documented customer satisfaction reports. List of affiliations and well explained pre-arrival to discharge services and easy to find contact telephone numbers including cell and e-mail address for each doctor, manager and other service providers. Even the Chairman/CEO is accessible. According to the Medical Tourism Association (MTA) 49% of consumers learn about Inbound and Outbound medical tourism via the World Wide Web.
- Many institutions around the world are now adopting the open cubicles office system where managers and line staff share the same space. I call this the Boxless Office. ™ This lead to better communication between top management and line staff.
- With all the above in place medical and wellness practitioners can and will lose market share if Quality Service is not at the top of their list. Boxless Wellness & Medical Practitioners™ understands that there is only room for one hundred percent (100%) top quality service. 99% will not do it!
Today’s educated consumers are now using the Internet to search for legal actions against hospitals and individual doctors. Others are even trying to find out the death rate of hospitals and individuals doctors before they make a decision.
The battle for each consumer dollar has become fierce and the consumer is in the driver’s seat with the Internet as one of their most powerful decision-making tools.
Please note that when this idea of Boxless Medical and Wellness Entrepreneurs™ (marketing and operating outside the norm) becomes the norm for the majority of Medical and Wellness practitioners, the increase in such high standard of care across the board, will have a drastic change in the quality of service locals are now receiving which is going to have a direct effect on the amount of individuals participating in Inbound & Outbound Tourism.
The United States Healthcare Reform will also have a dramatic effect on Inbound and Outbound Medical Tourism since many of those individuals who travel for better healthcare are self-employed without any type of health plan and others who have little or no plan at all.
With the United States planning to have full coverage for every individual, many medical and wellness practitioners might become Boxless Medical Marketers™ by focusing eighty percent (80%) of their effort to the local market who are no longer looking overseas for healthcare solutions but are willing to use their healthcare plan locally. If they can get the care they are looking for without spending additional out of pocket money then, my prediction is that we will see an increase in local healthcare.
Taking a holistic look at Medical and Wellness Tourism, one will notice that insurance companies are now promoting wellness because they understand that if they can keep their clients healthy, then, they would not have to payout high medical cost of sicknesses that are preventable.
One of the unseen overhead expenses for small and large corporations is the loss of productivity due to employee absenteeism. Many of them are now having morning back massage for the staff and are given more small health breaks during the day. Others have installed in-house gyms and are offering healthy lifestyle meals in their lunch cafeterias. Research has shown that small and large corporations are helping their employees to lose weight, stop smoking and teaching them to pursue a healthy lifestyle. Companies are now experiencing employees’ loyalty, more productivity and less absenteeism, as dividends for their investment in their employees’ healthy lifestyle.
Insurance companies are paying for Spa treatments, chiropractor services, and many other alternative services that they never used to cover. The cost of these services compared to medical services are night and day, thus, from an economical point of view, insurance companies will embrace wellness tourism.
Regardless of which direction the United States Healthcare Reform takes, the Caribbean and Latin America will continue to be attractive wellness venues due to its natural environment. Many Medical and Wellness Caribbean based institutions are offering high quality services combined with before and after care tours and attraction activities that are hard to resist.
The Caribbean and Latin America, especially Panama is becoming the premier choice for retirees from all walks of life. Panama can now market Medical and Wellness Tourism to a niche market right in their backward.
With the baby boomers coming of age and seeking the fountain of youth, the Caribbean and Latin America continues to be very attractive for Medical and Wellness Tourism because those same Baby Boomers have been coming to the Caribbean and Latin America, more so the Caribbean from since early sixties, the days of the Hippies until now. They know the Caribbean , Love it and want to own a piece of it from day one.
Now that they are retiring with some disposable income, the Caribbean and Latin America with its lush green foliage and breathtaking ambience is the right venue for each one to find their own fountain of youth.
Caribbean and Latin American doctors now understand the importance of meeting world certification and quality standards in order to compete in this billion dollar Medical and Wellness Tourism markets.
In Panama, you now have the Johns Hopkins Affiliate Hospital. This affiliation is one of the most powerful branding tools Panama could use to promote wellness in the region. Panama has now put itself in an enviable position and is now thrust into competition against Canada, England, India and many other European countries not only because of the weather, but due to the competence of a first rate hospital such as Johns Hopkins Affiliate that meets international standards.
LIST OTHER ACCREDITED HOSPITALS IN PANAMA.
The baby boomers (persons born between 1946 – 1964) are no different from health seekers the world over who travel to improve their health. The reason for travel is to improve one’s health. Therefore seeking the fountain of youth through travel is a most natural thing.
When we speak of health tourism, and how each segments relate to the other, we are entering the domain of none other than Dr. Constantine Constantinides, Founder of Healthcare Cybernetics, a think and do tank with competencies in health tourism integration. Dr. Constantinides is a friend of the Caribbean who likens our islands to the Green Isles. His constant research on the topic of health tourism had led him to Positive Tourism’s production of the Caribbean VeggieFest, Spa & Wellness Conference in 2007. His strong interest in engaging the Caribbean in the use of his philosophies to help in the development of health tourism prompted us to invite him to become an advisory board member of Positive Tourism Network.
Constantinides’ regards and considers Health Tourism in the context of its Core Segments (the order of listing is arbitrary):
- Spa (and Thalassotherapy)
- Wellness and Fitness
- Sports Tourism
- Culinary Tourism
- Accessible Tourism
- Dental Tourism
- Medical Tourism
- Assisted Living Abroad
The preceding segments give rise to a description of Health Tourism, which Constantinides terms a ‘ ‘hybrid domain,’ which is – a product of cross pollination of elements from the Healthcare, Tourism and even other sectors. This process of cross pollination gives rise to forms of health tourism or health tourism segments and clusters.
The Assisted Living Abroad segment is well suited for Panama.
This segment is defined as:
A type of long-term care facility for elderly or disabled people who are able to get around on their own but who may need help with some activities of daily living, or simply prefer the convenience of having their meals in a central cafeteria and having nursing staff on call. (Definition by MedicineNet.com)
According to Constainine Constantinides, the Concept and Objective of Ambient Assisted Living arose out of the quest to come up with ways and means which would enable maturing individuals to continue leading an independent and autonomous life.
The objective is to extend the time maturing people can live independently in a preferred home environment, by increasing their autonomy and assisting them in carrying out activities of daily living. (www.ambientassistedlivingsystems.com)
Modern Maturity magazine has rated Panama as the number one place in the Americas for retirement by Modern Maturity Magazine of the American Association of Retired Persons, in the top five according to Fortune Magazine and International Living. Conde Nast Traveler selected Panama as one of the six best places for a second home in the Americas. These ratings are based on safety, cost of living, infrastructure attractions, beauty and climate.
Boomers have increasingly been demanding the support of technology and the provision of supporting healthcare services that will lead them to the fountain of youth. Health care providers including wellness practitioners who choose to care for the ambient assisted living segment must be properly trained and licensed in delivering geriatric health care.
Telemedicine and health care nurses on call are wellness practitioners who are frequently called in to assist this wellness segment.
