International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

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
Tomas Mainil 1, 2
1 Scaldis Academy, HZ University of Applied Sciences, Vlissingen, The Netherlands
2 CELLO, Sociology of Health, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
10.15171/ijhpm.2015.37
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.
Keywords
Cross-border Healthcare
Behavioral Model of Health Services
Medical Tourism
Subjects
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  • Received Date 02 February 2015
  • Revised Date 20 February 2015
  • Accepted Date 18 February 2015
  • First Published Date 01 April 2015
  • Published Date 01 April 2015