Background
Methods
Search strategy
Inclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria
Study selection
Bias assessment
Results
Search results
Reference | Article Title | Journal | Content type | Resource | Key Words | Key Findings | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Choi Wa et al., 2018 [33] | Word-of-mouth in medical tourism: the major determinant for Emirati patients to visit Korea | The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine | Letter to the Editor | PubMed | Medical tourism; Emirati patients; Word-of mouth | There was a perspective gap on medical tourism between Emirati patients and Korean health professionals. |
2 | Dang HS et al., 2020 [26] | Grey System Theory in the Study of Medical Tourism Industry and Its Economic Impact. | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | Research Article | PubMed | Asia-Pacific region; Grey system theory; Taiwan; economic impact; medical tourism industry; performance evaluation; sustainable development. | Tourism sources and healthcare medical infrastructures play a crucial role in promoting the healthcare travel industry, while cost advantage and marketing effectiveness were less considered. |
3 | Jun J, Oh KM, 2015 [30] | Framing risks and benefits of medical tourism: a content analysis of medical tourism coverage in Korean American community newspapers. | Journal of health Communication | Research Article | PubMed | Korean American community newspapers are rarely engaged in risk communication and lack sufficient information about potential risks of medical tourism while emphasizing diverse benefits. | |
4 | Kim C et al., 2020 [27] | Is Korea Ready to Be a Key Player in the Medical Tourism Industry? An English Education Perspective. | Iranian Journal of Public Health | Original Article | PubMed | Medical tourism; English education; Nursing; Korea | Nursing major students were satisfied with the English instructors but were not feeling that is enough to deal with foreign patients. Students felt that the teaching methodology should be changed to incorporate more medical content into the nursing English program. |
5 | Kim KL, Seo BR, 2019 [23] | Developmental Strategies of the Promotion Policies in Medical Tourism Industry in South Korea: A 10-Year Study (2009–2018). | Iranian Journal of Public Health | Original Article | PubMed | Medical tourism, Medical tourism industry, Medical service | International affairs and cultural aspects have a significant impact on the selection of medical tourism. |
6 | Kim M et al., 2017 [32] | From Servicescape to Loyalty in the Medical Tourism Industry: A Medical Clinic’s Service Perspective. | INQUIRY | Original Article | PubMed/ JSTOR | Republic of Korea; emotion; international medical tourist; loyalty; marketing; medical clinic; medical tourism; servicescapes; structural equation modeling. | The interrelationship of servicescapes, positive emotion, and satisfaction is essential in influencing international medical tourists’ loyalty to a medical clinic. |
7 | Kim S et al., 2019 [22] | Critical Success Factors of Medical Tourism: The Case of South Korea. | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | Original Article | PubMed | Medical tourism; South Korea; Success factors; Supplier perspectives. | The medical tourism industry not only includes medical services but also involves tourism perspectives, supporting the patient and their companions to stay in a comfortable and pleasurable environment. |
8 | Park J, et al.,2017 [29] | The Effects of Price and Health Consciousness and Satisfaction on the Medical Tourism Experience. | Journal of Healthcare Management | Review Article | PubMed | Medical tourists’ price consciousness was significant with respect to their satisfaction with medical and travel services. Health consciousness also influenced their decision-making process. Health consciousness did not have a significant effect on tourists’ satisfaction with medical travel services. | |
9 | Park JK et al., 2020 [28] | Exploring Internal Benefits of Medical Tourism Facilitators’ Satisfaction: Customer Orientation, Job Satisfaction, and Work Performance. | Journal of Healthcare Management | Research Article | PubMed | Satisfaction with management is positively correlated with customer orientation and job satisfaction of medical tourism facilitators. Satisfaction with coworkers has a direct impact on customer orientation. | |
10 | Rokni L et al., 2017 [24] | Barriers of Developing Medical Tourism in a Destination: A Case of South Korea. | Iranian Journal of Public Health | Original Article | PubMed | Cultural competence; International healthcare; Korea; Linguistic proficiency; Medical tourism. | Lack of specialty and expertise among the health care practitioners in the scope of cross-cultural communication, seems to be the core barrier to development of medical tourism in Korea. |
11 | Rokni L et al., 2019 [21] | Improving Medical Tourism Services through Human Behaviour and Cultural Competence. | Iranian Journal of Public Health | Original Article | PubMed | Cultural competence; Human behaviour; Medical tourism; South Korea. | Challenges due to cultural and social background differences: 1) The personal characteristics of doctors. 2) External supports to be provided by the associated organizations. 3) Skillfulness, which implies the culturally oriented interaction with foreign patients. |
12 | Seo BR, Park SH, 2018 [20] | Policies to Promote Medical Tourism in Korea: A Narrative Review. | Iranian Journal of Public Health | Review Article | PubMed | International meditour coordinator; Korea; Medical sector; Medical tourism industry | In Korea, International Meditour Coordinator (IMC) s are contributing to the development and enhancement of competitiveness in Korea’s global healthcare industry. It is urgently necessary to establish human resource management policy guidelines in the medical tourism industry |
13 | Shin J et al., 2018 [31] | Utilization Status and Satisfaction with Medical Services in Nonresidential Foreign Medical Tourists Visiting a Korean Medicine Hospital. | Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine | Research Article | PubMed | The most frequently used visiting channels were agencies. Nonresidential foreigners who received integrative medicine treatment expressed high satisfaction, but visiting and promotion channels were shown to be limited | |
14 | Sung S, Park HA, 2019 [25] | Perceived cultural differences in healthcare for foreign patients visiting South Korea: tool development and measurement. | BMC Health Services Research | Research Article | PubMed | Cultural differences; Culturally competent healthcare; Medical tourism; Nursing care; Tool development. | Foreign patients visiting South Korean hospitals perceived that the healthcare culture differed significantly from that of their home country. |
Title | Content type | Issuing Body | Explanation | URL | |
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1 | Act on Support for Overseas Expansion of Healthcare System and Attraction of International Patients 의료 해외진출 및 외국인환자 유치 지원에 관한 법률” | Act | National Assembly | Language of the specific Law enacted by Korean for promotion of medical tourism | |
2 | Analysis of the status of eco-system in the medical tourism industry in Korea and activation of medical tourism (2016) 한국 의료관광 산업 태계 현황분석 및 의료관광 활성화 중장기 전략 수립 용역 실태조사 결과 보고서 (2016) | Report | Korea Tourism Organization | Analysis of the status of eco-system in the Korean medical tourism industry | |
3 | Establish a KSA marketing strategy and action plan for revitalizing medical tourism (2014) KSA 중증환자向의료관광 유치 활성화를 위한 마케팅 전략 및 실행계획 수립(2014) | Report | Korea Medical Holdings | An marketing strategy and action plan proposed by Korea Medical Holdins | |
4 | Korean Medical Tourism Overview (2013) 한국의료관광총람(2013) | Report | Korea Tourism Organization & Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism | An annual medical tourism report commissioned by the Korea Tourism organization & Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism | |
5 | Korea Medical Tourism Marketing (2016) 한국의료관광마케팅 (2016) | Report | Korea Tourism Organization & Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism | Provides an overview of Korean medical tourism marketing | |
6 | Korea statistical information service | Database | Statistics Korea | Number of hospitals by Region/ Number of Health center Branch, Healthcare center (1997–2017) | |
7 | Medical Tourism Promotion Marketing Current and Strategy (2012) 의료관광 홍보 마케팅 현황 및 전략(2012) | Report | Korea Tourism Organization | This study is to establish the basis for the medical tourism development strategy by analyzing the status and characteristics of foreign medical tourists in Korea | |
8 | Study of developing Cluster Medical Tourist Model (2014) 채류형 의료관광 크러스터 모델 개발연구 (2014) | Report | Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism | In order to effectively promote the resident medical tourism cluster project, which is a national government task, this report set up the type and model of medical tourism cluster that can efficiently connect and utilize medical and tourism resources. | |
9 | The awareness of Korean medical Tourism among foreigners (2017) 한국 의료 웰니스 해외인지도조사보고서 (2017) | Report | Korea Tourism Organization & KHADI한국보건산업진흥원 | A report to identify needs of foreign medical tourists |
Risk of bias
Overview of history of South Korea medical tourism policy
Year | Description |
---|---|
Nov 2005 | Korean government formed a task force with the objective of attraction of foreign patients |
Jan 2009 | • Revised the medical law: introducing, arranging, and inviting foreign patients became legal • Attracting foreign patients was selected as a specific task • Designating the Global health care business as one of 17 new growth engine industries. • Registration Act for Foreign Patient Registration (Article 27–2 of the Medical Law)” was passed |
May 2009 | Implementing registration system of medical institutions Issued medical visa (M visa) for medical tourists |
Nov 2009 | Developing “Smart Korea, Medical Korea” as a national medical brand |
July 2011 | Developing malpractice insurance policy for a medical institution |
Dec 2011 | Allowing physicians and dentists to dispense medicines |
May 2013 | Designating medical tourism industry as one of 140 national tasks |
Nov 2013 | Establishing medical tourism hotel business |
Sep 2014 | Allowing hospital facility to enter medical tourism hotels |
July, 2016 | “Act on Support for Overseas Expansion of Healthcare System and Attraction of International Patients” enacted |
March 2017 | “1st Comprehensive Plan to Support Overseas Expansion of the Healthcare System and Attraction of International Patients” |
May 2018 | “Enforcement plan to Support Overseas Expansion of Healthcare System and Attraction of International Patients 2018” |
Section of Act | Content |
---|---|
Art 6 | A requirement that a medical institution and a foreign patient attraction agency should have at least one medical specialist assigned for each medical department and that there be mandatory purchase of medical malpractice liability insurance |
Art 8 | A medical institution and a foreign patient attraction agency should affix the certificate of registration and circulations of patients’ rights and interests |
Art 9 | Placed a restriction on excessive fees |
Art 10 | Places a restriction on attraction of foreign patients by a general hospital |
Art 14 | Required evaluation and designation of a medical institution and an attraction agency |
Art 15 | Provided permission for medical advertisement in a foreign language |
Economic considerations of South Korean medical tourism
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plan | ||||||
The Comprehensive Plan (2016) | 470,000 | / | 650,000 | / | 800,000 | / |
The Enforcement Plan (2018) | / | 360,000 | 400,000 | 460,000 | 520,000 | 600,000 |
Comparison of medical tourism policies of other top Asian destination countries
Country | Summary of Strategy | Size (foreign patients) | % of Tourism to GDP (2019) |
---|---|---|---|
Thailand | Visa procedure simplification Tax exemptions for health facilities for medical tourists Center of Excellent Health Care of Asia Initiative | 2.5 million | 21.6% |
India | Lower import duties Prime land at discounted prices Tax concessions | 0.85 million | 9.2 |
Singapore | SingaporeMedicine (Multi agency partnership) Agreements with Middle Eastern nations | 1.2 million | 10.00% |
South Korea | Medical Tourist Visa Medical institution registration system Allowing physicians and dentists to dispense medicines Medical tourism hotel business Malpractice insurance policy for a medical institution Multilanguage advertisement | 0.30 million | 2.7% |