Critical success factors and difficulties of physical checkup and medical cosmetology of international medical care services

Research Background: To promote the international medical care service is a global trend. The international medical care service is consisted of physical checkup, medical cosmetology, critical care medicine and other types of medical service. Among these services, since physical checkup and medical cosmetology are favored by international tourists who can both enjoy travelling and low-invasive medical services, they are believed to create more economic benefits. On the other hand, the majority of the current studies on the topic of international medical care service were either policy research or develop strategy research, only a few studies explored critical success factors for hospitals to promote the international medical care service. Since many factors may influence how hospitals and medical institutions promote the international health care service, to identify the critical success factors in this process is vital for the medical service sector to gain the advantage of development in the international medical care service. Therefore, the current study will investigate how local hospitals provide the international medical care services, i.e., the physical checkup and medical cosmetology for international tourists and search for factors that affect the development of this particular field. It is hoped that through further exploration, the current study will identify some critical success factors in this sector as well as potential difficulties, so that the results of this study can provide valuable information for the medical sector in terms of how to promote the international medical care service. Aim: The current study aims to investigate the critical success factors that help medical sector in Taiwan to provide international medical care services, especially physical checkup and medical cosmetology. The main goals for the study are: 1) to explore the current situation of the international medical care service of physical checkup and medical cosmetology in Taiwan and to search for the related factors as well as difficulties in providing these services; 2) to identify some critical success factors for providing international medical care services in the field of physical checkup and medical cosmetology; (3) to discuss the implication and application of the results. Methods: A literature review is conducted to find out related factors that affect the international medical care service of physical checkup and medical cosmetology. The qualitative research method of semi-structure interview is used to identify critical success factors and difficulties in the sector. Participants are chief directors in departments of the international medical care services in hospitals. Results and Contributions: The current study aims to identify and discuss the critical success factors of international medical care service of physical checkup and medical cosmetology in Taiwan as well as difficulties in this sector. It is found that, critical success factors may be divided into three categories: the department-level, the hospital-level and the environment-level. The department-level elements include competition strategies, the quality of medical service and the language. The hospital-level elements include hospital policies, the quality of staff members/spaces/equipment, the quality of service and the medical insurance system. The environment-level elements include government policies, languages used in the environment, the international status, laws and regulations related to medical services, and the education system. Difficulties in these fields include obstacles in government policies as well as laws and regulations related to medical services, education system, the low public awareness and recognition, languages, competition strategies and the quality of medical service. It is hoped that, through discussion of these findings, the current study may provide a different theoretical perspective in understanding the current situation of the international health care service, as well as some valuable insights for promoting the development of this field in Taiwan.