Medical Tourism: Healing patients, helping R.I. economy

Rep. Joseph McNamara
Posted 11/13/14

I had the honor of speaking at the World Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress held recently in Washington, D.C., having been invited to discuss new law enacted in Rhode Island this year that …

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Medical Tourism: Healing patients, helping R.I. economy

Posted

I had the honor of speaking at the World Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress held recently in Washington, D.C., having been invited to discuss new law enacted in Rhode Island this year that is designed to help open doors for domestic medical tourism companies to locate in Rhode Island.

The Rhode Island Medical Technology Innovation Act, which I sponsored in the House of Representatives, was developed to address regulations that presented impediments to providing good health care services to state residents. The new law corrects previous delays in responding to a new business entering Rhode Island and eliminates a major roadblock to firms involved in new, evolving kinds of health care services from coming to Rhode Island.

The conference presented a truly eye-opening look at an industry – medical tourism – that is growing rapidly and gaining in popular appeal. Medical tourism refers, essentially, to patients traveling to other states, or countries, for various health care procedures or treatments, whether due to quality, cost or because certain medical surgeries or procedures are not available in an individual’s home state or region.

More and more states are looking into medical tourism as a great opportunity to create jobs and boost the economy. With the adjustments to Rhode Island’s regulations as a result of the new law, our state is already positioned to attract these new businesses and the new, good paying jobs they will create.

One health care firm, with offices in five other states, has been considering Rhode Island as a New England presence for another of its treatment facilities – due to our convenient location between New York and Boston, and our highway and rail accessibility. That particular firm estimated that opening its doors in Rhode Island would result in about 60 new, permanent jobs and about 300 indirect, ancillary jobs in the area.

Our prime goal in the General Assembly the last few years has been addressing our financial problems and attempting to make Rhode Island a good place to do business so firms, large and small, will come here and grow here and create good jobs for our citizens. The “Medical Technology Innovation Act” is an important piece of that overall effort. Establishment of these kinds of health care facilities in our state could mean an influx of patients from other states, and possibly other countries. Some may come and only stay the few days necessary to have their procedures done. Others may stay longer, bringing families with them and expanding their medical visit into a vacation. That will be extremely beneficial to many segments of our economy – hotels, restaurants, resort/tourism locations and associated activities.

With the new law now in place, I believe Rhode Island stands ready to facilitate the ability of innovative health care businesses to come to our state, making their services convenient for our citizens and also helping to grow our economy, perhaps even sparking the development of a health care hub that will attract more doctors and patients and other health care workers from far and wide. Coupled with our state’s prime location in the Northeast, and the ease of reaching Rhode Island by air, auto and rail, we now have the kind of non-burdensome regulatory environment to become a magnet for the medical tourism industry.

Joseph M. McNamara is the Democratic State Representatives from District 19, Warwick, Cranston, and the Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare.

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  • Robertcurry

    This is a great news. Making the services convenient for the citizens in medical and health care.

    http://www.cellublue.com/

    Monday, November 24, 2014 Report this

  • Really nice about the Medical Tourism is now on its peak of popularity. There are a lot of countries which are now getting more and more popular in terms of Medical Tourism, like Kenya medical tourism, India, China, Mexico, etc. This is just a proof that many patients seek for a particular treatment abroad instead of having it in their country, main reason is the cost. These countries which offers medical tourism services has significantly improve their services and also the cost getting it more affordable.

    http://www.cheapmedcare.com

    Friday, May 15, 2015 Report this