Medical Sociology as a Heuristic Instrument for Medical Tourism and Cross-Border Healthcare; Comment on “International Patients on Operation Vacation – Perspectives of Patients Travelling to Hungary for Orthopedic Treatments”

Document Type : Commentary

Author

1 Scaldis Academy, HZ University of Applied Sciences, Vlissingen, The Netherlands

2 CELLO, Sociology of Health, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract

In this commentary, we establish a relationship between medical sociology and the study of medical tourism and cross-border healthcare by introducing Ronald Andersen’s behavioral model of healthcare use, and linking this model to the recent empirical study of Kovacs et al. on patients travelling to Hungary for orthopedic treatment. Finally, we plead for more measurement in the field of patient mobility.

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References

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History

  • Received Date: 02 February 2015
  • Revised Date: 20 February 2015
  • Accepted Date: 18 February 2015
  • First Published Date: 01 April 2015

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