1st Edition

Medical Travel Brand Management Success Strategies for Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (H2H)

Edited By Frederick J. DeMicco, Ali A. Poorani Copyright 2023
    504 Pages 14 Color & 57 B/W Illustrations
    by Apple Academic Press

    504 Pages 14 Color & 57 B/W Illustrations
    by Apple Academic Press

    This new volume, which complements the editors’ earlier volume Medical Travel Brand Management: Success Strategies for Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (H2H), explores the multitude of medical travel services and discusses the integration of traveling medical guests with destination providers, hospitality/healthcare professionals, and travel service providers. The editors also address the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has made on the travel industry, which has motivated them to bring together major players, renowned authors, practitioners, and researchers to create this book to help prepare the medical tourism market to not only recover from the devastating effects of the pandemic but also to provide tools and cases that will help to structure successful destinations for medical travel.

    From chapters on branding to assessing accreditation and post-care quality metrics, Drs. DeMicco, Poorani, and their fellow contributors take the reader through the critical phases of the medical travel journey: pre-visit, travel, on-site care, discharge and follow-up care. The authors address critical issues facing medical, health, and wellness travel from both macro and micro perspectives. Presentations of best practices and strategies demonstrate how some destinations have built, renewed, or engaged various stakeholders to construct or enhance their medical tourism destination.

    Medical Travel: Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (H2H) © also showcases best practices and innovative ways of designing and operating a profitable and entrepreneurial practice. Quality issues, aesthetics, and legal issues related to inbound and outbound medical tourism are also presented. The book explores the evolving nature of hospital design and the complex relationship between people and medicine as manifested in the relationship of hospital aesthetics to patient satisfaction.

    Importantly, the book also includes a chapter addressing medical health travel during the pandemic which describes how the pandemic has revolutionized telehealth and the medical travel industry, which can leverage the advances made in digital health and telemedicine.

    This volume will be an important resource for the four main players at the center of medical travel: medical travelers themselves, government agencies, intermediaries, and health and wellness providers. The selected best practices, research, cases, innovative strategies, SWOT analysis, and toolkits address the aims of all stakeholders.

    Part I: Getting Started

    1. Medical Tourism and Well-Being: Trends and Strategies

    Frederick J. DeMicco, M. Cetron, and O. Davies

    Part II: Designing Medical Travel Programs (Cases)

    2. A New Perspective into Affordable, Quality Healthcare: The Case of Pronto Care

    Adel Eldin and Frederick J. DeMicco

    3. An Examination of an Innovative Self-Insured Medical Center: The Case of Rosen Hotels and Resorts

    Frederick J. DeMicco and Abraham Pizam

    4. An Innovative Approach to Global Medical and Wellness Tourism: A Case of Florida Medical Tourism

    Adel Eldin

    Part III: Destination Competitiveness Factors and Cases

    5. Success Factors of Medical Tourism Special Economic Zones

    Ali A. Poorani and Yuan Fang

    6. Renewal Challenges: The Case of the Republic of Georgia

    Lali Odosashvili and Ali A. Poorani

    7. Medical Tourism Destination Success Factors: The Case of Three Chinese Cities

    Ali A. Poorani and Nan Jaing

    8. A Geo Mapping Project for Medical Travel and Wellness: Opportunity to Enhance Tourism Revenue in Colorado

    Frederick J. DeMicco, Sophia Linn, and Akiko Yoshimi

    9. Trade-Off Analysis of Health and Wellness Tourism Destination Attributes: An Outbound U.S. Consumers’ Perspective

    Radesh Palakurthi and Frederick J. DeMicco

    10. Medical Tourism/Travel in India: A Cost Comparison of Procedures with the United States

    Frederick J. DeMicco and Jackie Guzman

    Part IV: Marketing and Branding

    11. The Things I Learned about Building a Brand in the Medical Tourism Sector

    Ilan Geva

    12. How to Attract More Patients, Increase Profit, and Build an Irresistible Medical Tourism Brand

    Janet Bruno

    13. Dimensions of Medical Tourism and Destination Capacity Analysis: A Toolkit

    Ali A. Poorani

    Part V: Medical Travel Facilitators

    14. Success Factors and Best Practices for Medical Travel Facilitators: Tips for Benchmarking and Startups

    Ali A. Poorani and Yushu Fu

    15. Legal Issues in Medical Travel Facilitation

    Stephen M. Weiner

    Part VI: Patient-Centric Approaches: Managing Medical Traveler Expectations

    16. Patients Rate Hotel-Like Hospitals Better Than State and National Average in Patient Satisfaction

    Ali A. Poorani and Rita Fearon

    17. From Antiseptic to Aesthetic: Experience as a New Narrative in Curative Care

    Katie Contrera

    18. Hospitality Meets Healthcare in Oncology at Cancer Treatment Centers of America®

    Peter C. Yesawich, Ananth Mohan, Carolyn Lammersfeld, and Kelly Murray

    19. Strategic Medical Tourism Design: A Case of Switzerland, Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (H2H©)

    Frederick J. DeMicco, Peter P. Tschirky, Martin Jeffrey, Mengyu Li, and Mardelle M. Shepley

    Part VII: Emerging Trends in Health, Wellness, and Medical Travel

    20. Advances in Telehealth and Primary Care

    Ali A. Poorani, Amanda Adkins, Terri Hollen, and Kathryn Raborn

    21. Delivering an Exceptional Holistic Patient Experience with Emerging Tech-Enabled Services

    Tammy Richmond

    22. Overview and Trends of Medical Marijuana Tourism: A Case of Colorado

    Soo Kang

    23. Measuring Quality of Healthcare Across Borders: The Role of International Healthcare Accreditation in Medical Travel

    Elizabeth Ziemba and Claudia Mika

    24. Hospitality Bridging Healthcare: Career Opportunities for the Future Hotel School Graduate

    Frederick J. DeMicco and John La Forgia

    25. Telehealth and the COVID-19 Era

    Yan Cao and Ali A. Poorani

    Biography

    Frederick J. DeMicco, PhD, RDN, is the Executive Director and Professor in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University, USA. Formerly he was Professor and the Aramark Endowed Department Chair in the Lerner College of Business & Economics in Hospitality Business Management at the University of Delaware. He was Associate Director of the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management (HRRM) at Penn State University, where he was Professor-in-Charge of the Hotel & Restaurant Management undergraduate program and also was the Professor-in-Charge of the Master of Science and PhD graduate programs for five years. He presently is a Conti Distinguished Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. Dr. DeMicco is the President of the International Academics and the Dean of Business Executive and Professional Programs at the Learning Village in Tuscany (SIAF) Campus in Volterra, Tuscany, the home of Innovation and Imagineering. Dr. DeMicco was also a Darden Eminent Scholar Chair Visiting Professor to the University of Central Florida–Rosen College, the USF Sarasota- Manatee, and Colorado State University; and currently is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Policy & Administration at the University of Delaware, USA. Dr. DeMicco has worked in healthcare at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and at Walt Disney World in hotel management where he obtained a Ductorate Degree from Disney University, Orlando, Florida. Dr. DeMicco was the President of International CHRIE–NENA (Northeast North American Federation). He was presented the International CHRIE/Cornell Howard B. Meek Award of Excellence for 2017.

    Ali A. Poorani, PhD, is an Associate Professor with expertise in leadership and entrepreneurship. He is the Director of Hospitality Associates for Research & Training (HART), which offers a variety of research and training programs for the hospitality and healthcare industries. He developed the University of Delaware’s Patient Experience Academy, in conjunction with Christiana Care Health System. He has published several scholarly articles, including Hospitality Bridging Healthcare. Dr. Poorani has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 14 years. He has conducted many workshops, focus groups, and training programs nationally and internationally, bringing hospitality to healthcare with a vision to make hospitals truly hospitable. His long-term engagement with the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (ICHRIE) includes: past board member of ICHRIE Finance Committee; chair, ICHRIE Finance SIG; board member for the Association of Hospitality Financial Management Educators (AHFME); member of ICHRIIE Strategic Planning Committee; ICHRIE Finance Committee; and Hospitality Industry Professionals-SIG. He also serves on the advisory board for Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Research Summit. Dr. Poorani is a recipient of various community service awards, such as the 2005 Champion of Club Education Award, 2009 Alfred Lerner College of Business Outstanding Service/Outreach Award, the 2012 University of Delaware Excellence in Advising and Mentoring Award, and the 2014 Leon and Margaret Slocomb Professional Excellence Award.<Dr. Poorani received his PhD in leadership and human behavior from United States International University (USIU) in San Diego and his MBA from the University of Central Oklahoma.

    "Frederick J. DeMicco and Ali A. Poorani have assembled an array of experts who provide invaluable guidance and insight illustrated with real-world case studies for any individual or firm interested in navigating the waters of this rapidly evolving industry. . . . A masterful job of presenting the full range of issues and opportunities in the field of medical travel. For the student hoping to enter this field, the entrepreneur about to make an investment, or the established professional firm planning a significant brand extension, this book is essential reading and should be the standard reference for anyone involved in the field of medical travel."

    —From the Foreword by John La Forgia, MBA, Emeritus Chief Officer of Marketing and Public Affairs, The Mayo Clinic; Author of Brand Aid: The Revolutionary Transformation of the Mayo Clinic

    "In this enlightening volume, Fred DeMicco and Ali Poorani have brought together some of the world’s leading experts to share their advice and experience on those areas that have proved challenging for many healthcare providers and destinations—determining a successful strategy, creating competitive advantage, marketing and branding a medical tourism offering, and meeting and exceeding the expectations of the international patient."

    —From the Foreword by Keith Pollard, Editor in Chief, International Medical Travel Journal