Receiving medical treatment is a stressful process under the best of circumstances.  Medical tourism or traveling outside your country of residence for health care services may be an option to obtain lower cost, quality medical services.  Here are seven topics to consider when making an important decision about your health and medical tourism.

The phrase “medical tourism” refers to the practice of leaving your local community to receive health services in another location.  It is also called “medical travel”, “health tourism”, “international patient travel”, or “global healthcare”. While it most often refers to international travel, medical tourism can also apply to individuals who travel within their own country.  For example, people living in one part of the country may seek medical care at specialty care hospitals like Boston’s Children’s Hospital for pediatric care or Houston’s MD Anderson Hospital for cancer treatment.