• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.27-42
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• 2021

This study investigated the differences in patient experience by arrangement type of medical tourism facilitators(MTF) from the pre-visit to visit stages. Specifically, patient experiences from each stage with different service providers (MTFs and medical institutions) were measured: provision of information and respect for patient preferences as pre-visit experiences with the facilitators, communication and concierge services as visit experiences with the facilitators, and medical services as medical institution experiences. The scale to measure foreign patients' experiences was modified from the 'Picker in-patient questionnaire(PPE)' and the 'Picker patient experience questionnaire(PPE-15)'. Quantitative data were collected by conducting a self-administered questionnaire on 173 patients from China, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. Qualitative data were collected by conducting in-depth interviews with 9 patients and 9 service providers. The data were collected between January and October in 2019. Quantitative data was analyzed by SPSS 25 for Chi-squared test and ANOVA, and qualitative data were analyzed based on keywords. The main results are as follows. When foreign patients used only overseas MTFs, they had a relatively positive patient experience in respect of receiving pre-visit information(F=7.47, p<.01) and respect for patient preferences(F=3.11, p<.05). Looking at both domestic and overseas facilitators during the visit, the patient experience was relatively negative for communication(F=3.75, p<.05). Regarding medical institutions, patients had a relatively negative patient experience with regards to medical services when they used both domestic and overseas facilitators(F=6.49, p<.01). The implications of this study are as follows. Patients should have a seamless and high-quality experience regardless of the facilitator arrangement type. This can be prepared through service standardization for the service providers. It would be also necessary to consider each other's features and problems at the institutional level and to improve service coordination by having service providers periodically communicate with each other.