The World Health Organization (WHO) European region estimates that more than 400,000 tuberculosis (TB) cases occur in Europe, a large proportion of them among migrants. A coordinated public health mechanism to guarantee TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care across borders is not in place. A consensus paper describing the minimum package of cross-border TB control and care was prepared by...

Background The importance of cross-border healthcare, medical and health tourism plays a significant role in the European health policy and health management. After dentistry, orthopaedic treatments are the leading motivation for seeking care in Hungary, as patients with rheumatic and motion diseases are drawn to the thermal spas and well-established orthopaedic centres. This paper aims to gain...

The article by Brenna and Spandonaro on interregional mobility for acute hospital care in Italy raises important issues concerning social and territorial equity in a healthcare system. Based on Regions and private providers’ strategic behavior, the hypothesis adopted to explain patient cross-border mobility (CBM), demonstrated by statistical analysis, may be further explored using qualitative m...

BACKGROUND The idea for this survey emanated from desk research and two meetings for researchers that discussed medical tourism and out-of-country health care, which were convened by some of the authors of this article (VR, CP and RL). METHODS A Cross Border Health Care Survey was drafted by a number of the authors and administered to Canadian physicians via the Canadian Medical Association's...

Three patients leave the United States for surgery. The first is self-employed and has no health insurance. He needs life-prolonging heart surgery that would cost at least $50,000 in the United States. On the Internet, he finds a cardiac surgeon at a private hospital in New Delhi, India, who can perform the surgery for no more than $10,000.1 Terms and conditions on the hospital’s website requir...

When I visit my dentist I travel 4 kilometres from my residence to her office. My experience is commonplace; many Canadians commute from their homes or workplaces to see a nearby dentist. Although our coffee might come from Colombia and our clothes from China, for most of us dental care is as local as the neighbourhood grocery store, library or community centre. However, for some people, obtain...

BACKGROUND The quantity and the reasons for seeking cross border reproductive care are unknown. The present article provides a picture of this activity in six selected European countries receiving patients. METHODS Data were collected from 46 ART centres, participating voluntarily in six European countries receiving cross border patients. All treated patients treated in these centres during o...

F. Shenfield1,*, J. de Mouzon2, G. Pennings3, A.P. Ferraretti 4, A. Nyboe Andersen5, G. de Wert6, and V. Goossens7 the ESHRE Taskforce on Cross Border Reproductive Care† Reproductive Medecine Unit, New EGA, UCLH, Euston Road, London NW1 2BU, UK INSERM, Unité de Médecine de la Reproduction, Groupe Hospitalier Cochin-Saint Vincent de Paul, 82 avenue Denfert Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France Bioethic...

From October 2013, European Union member states are obliged to adopt the new European rules allowing patients to search for health care abroad at the costs of the national authorities. The so-called cross-border care Directive (2011/24/EU) facilitates therefore patient mobility in the European Union (1). But only in case a certain treatment option is not (timely) available, or not equally effec...