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The medical travel market industry is growing as millions of people are crossing borders to seek healthcare services every year. Yet there is not sufficient empirical research around medical travel. People typically call all medical travelers “medical tourists,” a practice that is not helpful. Therefore, from a public health perspective, it is important to understand the definition of medical travel, the motivations behind travel, and how to overcome public health challenges that may occur as a result of this practice. Since medical travel is an experience that does not finish with obtaining health services, it is important to gather medical travelers' profiles before and after they access healthcare services. This will allow healthcare professionals to follow medical travelers' outcomes and assess their health-related quality of life. A robust evidence base will promote better future decisions related to medical travel. Creating an evidence base for medical travel will support upstream policies and strategies aimed at regulating the medical travel market.

Background: The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) spends millions of dollars to cover United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationals seeking healthcare overseas each year. Many patients undertake multiple visits following their initial trip. This paper analyzes repeated trips following an initial medical trip overseas so that the DHA can more effectively address patients’ needs and reduce the risks associated with multiple trips overseas.Methods: Administrative data were obtained from the DHA for the UAE nationals who sought treatment overseas during 2009–2016. We examined the match of the medical specialty between the initial and subsequent trips. Medical specialty was the key independent variable and other covariates included gender, age group, travel season, treatment destination and trip order. A mixed-effects logistic regression model with subject specific random intercept was used to assess the relationship of the outcome with the key variables of interest.Results: The analysis included 2,344 UAE nationals who had at least one trip following the initial medical visit. Oncology was the most common medical specialties sought by patients who travelled for repeated visits (18%). Patients in the age group 13-18 years had the highest odds of subsequent visits matching the medical specialty at the initial trip relative among age groups (OR 1.93, 95% CI:1.351,2.757). Patients travelling for oncology, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, obstetrics/gynecology and otolaryngology had higher odds of subsequent trips matching the specialty of initial trips. The odds of subsequent trips matching the medical specialty of the initial trip increased with each additional trip (OR 1.73, 95%CI: 1.533,1.94).Conclusions: This is the first longitudinal study that examines the repeated medical trips among UAE nationals supported by the DHA. The results demonstrated that age group, medical specialty sought at the time of the initial trip, and number of trips were significant factors for understanding the match of the medical specialty between the initial and subsequent trips. The study results may help the DHA to establish an overseas treatment registry to collect information about patients seeking medical treatment overseas. In addition, the study will support establishing follow-up care programs to improve patients’ outcome and the clinical care for those patients.

Background Each year, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) spends millions of dollars to cover the costs of United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationals seeking healthcare overseas. Patients may travel overseas to seek an array of treatments. It is important to analyze the number of trips and treatment destinations for patients travelling overseas to provide baseline information for the DHA to improve polices and strategies related to overseas treatment for UAE nationals. Methods Administrative data were obtained from the DHA for UAE nationals who sought medical treatment overseas during 2009–2016. We examined the number of trips and treatment destinations by medical specialty, age, gender, years of travel and travel seasons. Multinomial logistic and negative binomial regression models were used to assess the relationships of the treatment destinations and number of trips, respectively, with the key variables of interest. Results The study included data from 6557 UAE nationals. The top three treatment destinations were Germany (46%), the UK (19%) and Thailand (14%). The most common medical specialties were orthopedic surgery (13%), oncology (13%) and neurosurgery (10%). Oncology had the highest expected number of trips adjusted for a number of covariates (IRR 1.34, 95% CI: 1.24–1.44). Regarding destination variation, patients had a lower relative risk ratio of seeking healthcare in Germany in the winter (RRR 0.68, 95% CI: 0.57–0.80). Endocrinology was the most common medical specialty sought in the UK (RRR 3.36, 95% CI: 2.01–5.60). Conclusions This is the first study to systematically examine the current practice of medical treatment overseas among UAE nationals. The results demonstrate that treatment destinations, medical specialties for which treatment was sought, age, gender and travel season are significant factors in understanding overseas travel for medical care. The study can guide the DHA in collecting more data for further research that may lead to policy-relevant information about sending patients to the best-quality treatment choices at an optimal cost.