The potential benefits of travelling across national borders to obtain medical treatment include improved care, decreased costs and reduced waiting times. However, medical travel involves additional risks, compared to obtaining treatment domestically. We review the publicly-available evidence on medical travel. We suggest that medical travel needs to be understood in terms of its potential risks and benefits so that it can be evaluated against alternatives by patients who are seeking care. We propose three domains -quality standards, informed decision-making, economic and legal protection - in which better evidence could support the development of medical travel policies.

Les avantages potentiels de la traversée de frontières nationales pour recevoir un traitement médical résident notamment dans une meilleure prise en charge, des coûts moindres et des temps d'attente réduits. Il est cependant plus risqué de voyager pour bénéficier de soins médicaux que de recevoir un traitement à l'intérieur du pays. Nous avons analysé les données scientifiques publiquement disponibles concernant le tourisme médical. Il nous apparaît essentiel de considérer le tourisme médical en fonction de ses risques et de ses avantages potentiels afin que les patients qui nécessitent des soins puissent le comparer aux autres solutions possibles. Nous estimons que l'amélioration de la qualité des données scientifiques dans trois domaines – normes de qualité, prise de décision éclairée et protection économique et juridique – favoriserait l'élaboration de politiques relatives au tourisme médical.

Department of Psychology Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Department of Psychology University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3EB England

Department of Psychology University of Warwick Coventry England

Medical Faculty University of Köln Köln Germany

North Central College Naperville Illinois United States of America

The Policy Institute King's College London London England

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