Rule of Thought: Medical Tourism Association® to Address Strategies at EU Cross-Border Healthcare Symposium

Palm Beach Gardens, FL, June 08, 2014 --(PR.com)-- The Medical Tourism Association® will offer evidence-based best practices and collaborative projects to effectively and efficiently implement the new cross-border European Union healthcare directive at an international public policy symposium, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., at the Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie, in Brussels, Belgium.

Public health practitioners, physicians and clinicians, government policy makers, academe, insurance executives and related tourism and travel interests are invited to “Cross-Border Healthcare in Europe: Improving Cooperation to Deliver a Patient-Centered System,” which will enable participants to exchange innovative approaches to the directive that enables European citizens to receive medical care when necessary in any EU member destination when comparable treatment is not readily accessible in the state where the patients are insured.

“The cross-border directive has the potential to improve existing patient healthcare systems in the European Union and, at the same time, develop a number of sites equipped with the proper resources – geography, climate, transportation and hospitality infrastructure and, of course, quality medical services -- into attractive health travel destinations,” said Renée-Marie Stephano, President of the Medical Tourism Association®. “Healthcare is one of the largest economic sectors with the EU, making the promotion of health, encouragement of innovation, and the increased sustainability of systems imperative to protecting not only EU citizens, but those international visitors who choose to travel to Europe.”

Jeffrey Coxon, Education and Engagement Manager at the Medical Tourism Association®, will provide objective and constructive input related to the successes and failures of the legislation, which was passed in 2011, and covers both treatments offered in state-run hospitals and by private service providers. In most cases, European citizens who receive medical attention in the continent have to pay costs upfront, but can claim reimbursement upon their return home, up to the amount the treatment would have cost in their EU member state.

The Medical Tourism Association® is the first membership-based international nonprofit trade association for the medical tourism and healthcare industry made up of top international hospitals, healthcare providers, medical travel facilitators, insurance companies, and other affiliates committed to promoting the highest level of quality healthcare to patients in a global environment. www.MedicalTourismAssociation.com