What to expect from massage courses

If you are interested in taking massage courses, then there are a few things that you should keep in mind. Knowing what to expect with these courses is important so that you can prepare yourself for the road ahead.

Taking massage courses can help you to be able to make money by helping people to feel better and relax themselves. You will find that this is a great way to make a living just as long as you are able to understand what to expect from the courses that you will have to take.

Many people jump in unprepared and end up not having as good as luck as the ones that took the time to prepare themselves.

Options

You will find that there are a couple of different ways that you will be able to take these courses so that you can become certified. The most popular option is of course going to the classes.

These classes are often held over the weekend so that they do not interfere with your day to day job that you may already have. Another option that you will be able to choose from is getting a DVD package and watching them from the comfort of your own home.

This is something that is going to end up saving you some money but it may be more difficult for you to get the full experience that you would get from the actual classes.

Certified

With any massage courses that you do end up taking you will need to make sure that you are going to be certified. While not all courses that you take will allow you to be certified should you leave the country you should still be certified in the country that you live in.

This means that any massage courses brisbane should be able to hold up to the massage courses in Perth. There of course is no reason why you should take any massage courses unless they will be able to allow you to be certified so that you can make a career out of massage therapy work.

Make sure that your certification will be recognized by the massage association in the country that you live in before you attempt to take any of the courses offered to you.

Business

What will typically happen after a person has completed their massage courses is that they will want to immediately get into the business. This may mean that they start their own business or they go to work for somebody else to get themselves started.

Whatever it is that you choose you will need to make sure that you will be able to go with courses that will allow you these options no matter what they may be. Whether you want to start your own business or work part time for somebody else, you will need to make sure that the courses will allow you these options to do as you please as soon as you finish the required courses to be certified.

I hope about medical tourism Directive

Members of the European Union several committees vote this week if you want to make changes to the Community directive on cross-border healthcare. The directive aims to provide a framework for patient mobility, through which patients in a Member State shall be entitled to treatment in another State.

General Medical Council (GMC of United Kingdom), which regulates the country's medical 230000, is running a lobbying campaign to protect British seeking healthcare in Europe than he describes as "hazardous" doctors. the GMC wants the new Community legislation to give patients access to disciplinary history of clinical incompetent.

Quoted in the Guardian, Paul Philip, Deputy Chief Executive of the GMC says: "the vast majority of doctors do an excellent job in very difficult circumstances. However, when patients UK travel to continental Europe, there is a risk that they could be treated by a physician that do not fit to practise or not fully qualified to give the treatment needed. "

UK patients have full access to the records of the GMC and are able to verify that a physician has been disciplined, or is the subject of a disciplinary hearing. The GMC wants medical organisations in other countries to provide similar patients ' access to information about their doctors.

In the first nine months of 2008, the NHS UK paid for more than 500 British patients have treatment elsewhere in Europe. Some patients also were funded for their trusts of primary health care. It is estimated that another 80000 British funded its own treatment abroad.

EU-border Healthcare directive delayed

According to EurActiv, an independent media portal dedicated to EU Affairs, the EU health Directive across borders that you want to lift the restrictions on patients traveling to treatment in other EU countries could be redrafted, withdrawn or downgraded.

Directive EU cross-border health took a couple of years to develop and was scheduled to go public on 17 December 2007. Became the main UK news of the day (the EU had leaked early copies of the directive for the media). But at noon, the EU had decided not to publish the directive and announced a delay of 4 weeks or so in publication due to "schedule issues".

Methinks ... that some Governments, including the United Kingdom were not too happy about the implications of the directive and how it can put your own healthcare system in a bad light as they became "exporters" of patients.

EurActiv believes that the Commission was requested to recast the directive.

A representative of the Organization of stakeholders a doctor told EurActiv:

"This is a problem between the EU Member State rich and poor. Health care costs vary widely across the EU, therefore, would be easier for Rich Nations to reimburse cheaper care abroad than for poor countries to repay their nationals seeking care dear in the richest countries ".

According to a spokesman for the Commission, the proposal is still scheduled for publication in "early 2008".

New association formed for medical tourism

In recent World health tourism Congress in Cyprus, it was announced the launch of the International Association of medical travel (TAG E RAG).

The TAG E RAG seeks to represent the interests of medical travellers and the medical travel industry, including health care providers and medical travel facilitators. The Association currently has 26 registered members worldwide. Dr. Steven Tucker, Medical Director of Clinical Cancer Center West Excellence in Singapor, is President of TAG E RAG.

How successful will be the organization in developing internationally accepted standards and codes of conduct for medical tourism. ... who knows?

The medical tourism market is very fragmented, consisting of many smaller players such as doctors, dentists and individual clinics and diverse groups of hospital and medical tourism facilitators. Still, there's a company tried to take a very significant proportion of the market. It is likely that those who take the lead in this rapidly emerging market will be the standard setters that others will follow.

Comparing the costs of medical tourism (accidental)

Whereas much of the attention in the sector of medical travel is focused on medical tourism (i.e. where the main reason for travel is some form of treatment or surgery), a more mature market sector and established is providing healthcare for the tourist or business traveler who falls ill abroad.

The structure and the maturity of this sector means that it is much easier to collect comparative data, such as the cost of treating healthcare and real in different countries. Cost management is in the hands of international insurance companies, insurance companies and travel assistance companies that negotiate prices with the hospital providers worldwide. the recent analysis of travel insurance claims, published by travel insurer based on the United Kingdom, Sainsbury 's, Travel Insurance provides an insight on the variation of hospital costs around the world and the increasing tendency in hospital costs.

According to his analysis:

In 2009, a record number of people needed medical treatment while abroad. The most expensive country for inpatient hospital treatment was the United States, with the average hospital visit cost £ 6000. The average cost of hospital treatment abroad rose to £ 2.040 during the past 12 months, an increase of 6.25% on year. The most significant increase of costs of treatment were seen in Turkey (+ 10%), the United States (+ 10%) and Spain (Companion). During the summer months (May to September), the most common reason for hospitalization was gastroenteritis with the average bill for inpatient treatment worth £ 1200. The most expensive hospital bills were for those who suffered a heart attack on the outside, resulting in medical expenses that on average £ 12500.

It is interesting that international assistance companies that deal with these tourists doctors "accidental" have shown little or no interest in entering the business of medical tourism. They have everything in place to become the world's number one facilitator and blow everyone market:

They have a network of "approved" hospitals around the world. They facilitate the treatment to thousands of international patients in foreign countries every day. They have call centres to handle requests for information of patients. They have broad technology and systems to manage the process of patients. They have people on the ground in key destinations that can provide local support. They have comparative data on treatment outcomes and comparative costs in hospitals worldwide.

So why don't companies like Europ Assistance, Mondial Assistance and AXA Assistance entered the market of medical tourism and use their knowledge to achieve a dominant position in the market?

The answer is probably very simple. The medical tourism market just isn't big enough to be appealing to them, not worth the hassle. That is good news for existing operators ... but puts the market opportunity of medical tourism in perspective in the long-term relationship established market of international assistance.

EU-border Healthcare directive increases the health tourism

The new directive EU health across borders which should be announced today plans to lift the restrictions on patients traveling to treatment in other EU countries. Patients who wish to travel to other EU countries for medical treatment will be able to recover the cost of NHS treatments and will only have to pay their travel and accommodation costs, as well as any top-up fees if foreign hospitals charges are higher than the NHS cost.

The directive can revolutionize the way we experience healthcare in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. The directive takes the concept of choice of patients to a new level. Competition European hospitals could request changes very necessary within the NHS. Successive Governments of the United Kingdom made token gestures for introducing market forces within the NHS. the NHS ranked 17 of 29 European countries recent euro index of consumer health, now faces effective competition on the European market.

The directive will provide a framework for crossing the border healthcare and will deal with issues such as quality of care, patient safety, method of financing and transfer of patient information. There are also plans to introduce "European reference networks" that would gather medical expertise across Europe and encourage greater collaboaration between centres of excellence.

New research paper provides insight into infertility tourism

A recent work presented at the annual meeting of the European society of human reproduction and Embryology in Rome highlights the growth of tourism of infertility "at a time when many medical tourism companies are feeling the pinch of the recession.

The article, "Cross border reproductive care in six European countries" provides a review of tourism of infertility entry for six European countries receiving patients-Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. Data were collected from 46 centres in these countries. Patients came from 49 different countries, but nearly two-thirds came form only four countries-Italy (31.8%), Germany (14.4%), Netherlands (12.1%) and France (8.7%).

Drivers of tourism of infertility
Because these are infertile couples crossing borders for infertility treatment? This varies from country to country, but the main driver is the law on infertility treatments within the country of origin. This is the main reason for patients coming from Italy, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. Italian law banned sperm donation in 2004. German law prohibits the egg donation. in France, assisted conception for single women or same-sex couples is illegal and there is a ban on advertising for egg donors. Regulation concerning anonymity of donor affect Scandinavian and British patients; some countries have regulations that limit the reimbursement design assisted the maximum age ... some countries have legal limits on the amount which can be paid to donors, thereby reducing the availability of eggs and sperm.

Difficulties in accessing treatment at home was a driver for a third of patients UK, and a desire to donate "anonymous" was expressed by approximately one in five patients.
There are also some specific indications between streams: Italians for Switzerland and Spain, the Germans prefer the Czech Republic, the Dutch and French opt for Belgium.
18.3% of patients were searching semen donation, 22.8% to donate eggs and 3.4% for embryo donation.

Market opportunity for medical tourism companies?
The study estimates that "a minimum estimated 11 000 – 14 000 patients per year" visits of six countries in the study. can also be much larger than that.

If you're in the business of medical tourism, download the document. is a useful vision about opportunities in tourism, the infertility and the type of clients seeking ... What should be a considerable influence on their marketing. Understanding your market is crucial to the success of any business of medical tourism. For example, the Internet was a frequent source of information on infertility treatment abroad in Sweden (73.6%), Germany (65.0%) and United Kingdom (58.5%).

So, this is good news for my business that a search of Google UK "infertility treatment abroad" brings treatment abroad in number 1 and our other sites in positions 2, 3, 4, 6 and 10 on the results of the top ten Google Web Publishing UK healthcare!

The challenge for medical tourism industry

The recent European Congress on health tourism in Budapest reflected some of the current problems and challenges that medical tourism industry, particularly those made by a global recession. Budapest is dental tourism hub of Europe, attracting patients from countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia. If the recession is hitting medical tourism, then Budapest will feel more than most.

There were workshops and presentations from various providers and industry players in Congress of Budapest. One of the most realistic of these presentations was done by Dr Bela Batorfi of The Batorfi implant Dental Clinic in Budapest. This clinic impressive typically performs approximately 1800 dental implants per year. But with the onset of the global financial crisis which saw some worrying trends:

The number of patients abroad fell about 30%. Medical Tourists are more difficult to find! The average spend per patient has decreased from around 5000 € for £ 2600. Medical Tourists are spending less per visit. The average age of the patients has increased. Medical Tourists are delaying treatment.

The experience of Batorfi implant Dental Clinic is reflected among many of the other providers of dental treatment in Budapest. Isn't it the case that Budapest is losing patients and market share to other destinations. Understandably, many clinics are worried about falling off in business and how long it will continue.

In the context of financial crisis, Hungary is one of many countries planning a "Medical City" to attract patients from around the world for a medical centre of excellence. According to Balázs Stumpf-Biró, Executive Director of European medical tourism Alliance (EuMTA), Hungary is planning to create 100 acres of land near the international airport of Budapest as a health complex, similar to Dubai healthcare city.

If this development suffers the same fate Dubai healthcare city remains to be seen. The initial building boom in Dubai has come to a grinding halt. Build anything in the current financial environment is a risky business, and with the market for medical travel to Hungary down about 20% to 30%, he'll be a courageous investor that defines the first brick.

Various estimates of numbers of medical travel to Hungary put the number of incoming tourists doctor around 300000 for 350 k per year. Most of these are for dental treatment and many can be "short trip/low-cost" cross border visitors from Germany and Austria. But this is still a valuable market.

What, then, long-term prospects for medical tourism destinations like Hungary? Better than most, I would suggest. The market for travel medicine is here to stay and are here for the long term. Hungary has been at the forefront of medical travel in Europe in the last decade and he can maintain this situation.

But like most countries, being encouraged below the route medical tourism must tread with caution. Hear the usual exaggerated statements by proponents of industry, such as the medical tourism association that "the greatest market potential for Hungary is the United States". I can just see hundreds of thousands of Americans leave their maps of Europe, location of Budapest and booking flights long-distance through New York/London/Amsterdam for their dental implants. It will not happen.

So where Hungary focus?

Well ...:

There is a population of 550 million in "of the United States of Europe" that can begin to exploit the opportunities under the EU directive on patient mobility. Not so far away from Hungary, there are 140 millions of Russians who are beginning to spend their money on holidays throughout Europe. Medical travel will follow this trend. And the UK dental problem is here to stay. See this recent article in the independent: It can hurt a bit: Rise in hospital admissions for last-ditch tooth extractions

My advice for Hungary ... The same as you would get business guru Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence).

Stick to the knitting-stay with the business you know!