The impact of outbound, international medical tourism on practitioner-patient relationship dynamics in the United States

Healthcare costs and accessibility in the United States have driven growing interest in medical tourism (MT). While existing literature addresses ethics, regulations, and quality, a knowledge gap remains in understanding practitioner and patient experiences and relational dynamics. This research employs an exploratory approach to examine how medical tourism affects U.S.-based practitioners and patients, as well as traditional healthcare relationships. The first study used a phenomenological design with semi-structured interviews of three MT patients, analyzing themes around trust within the practitioner-patient relationship. Findings informed recommendations for practitioner education, enhanced patient support throughout the MT experience, and improved reimbursement for practitioners supporting MT patients. The study was limited by a small, non-representative sample, partly due to recruitment challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar challenges have been documented among other researchers; however, survey-based studies targeting dentists have demonstrated greater success, given the frequency of routine dental care and the well-defined nature of the specialty. Building on these findings and persistent gaps in the literature, a second study was designed to survey U.S.-based dental practitioners. This study examines how practitioners' knowledge of dental tourism influences clinical screening practices and patient discussions regarding outbound, international dental care. Using a six-point Likert scale questionnaire, the survey captures socio-demographic data, knowledge of dental tourism, and trust-facilitating behaviors. Descriptive statistics, correlational, and regression analyses are applied to identify trends and positive relationships. The results are expected to advance understanding of how therapeutic relationships are shaped by patients' increasing access to and utilization of a global healthcare market.