The aim of this paper is to reveal the process of innovation and inverstment in advanced medical equipment and the role of “seeking recipients from a wider area” at medical facilities in non-metropolitan areas. Travelling outside one’s residence for affordable medical care, which is called “medical tourism,” is growing on a global scale. In Japan as well, medical check-up tours have become popular over the last decade. This paper focuses on the process of the spread of PET screening tours, from the viewpoint of the management in medical facilities. PET (positron emission tomography) is an advanced medical technology useful for diagnosing cancer.
This paper is composed of two parts. Primarily, it reveals how PET or PET-CT (PET-CT) instruments have penetrated Japan and how the PET screening tours were started in medical facilities in non-metropolitan areas. Second, as a case study, a PET screening tour was explored which was initiated by a clinic in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. Results are as follows:
First, it was concluded that PET screening tours are a defined medical travel product developed by three groups: private hospitals having PET-CT equipment which provide the service to recipients in the three major cities; accommodations adjacent to the hospitals; and travel agencies which have customers who live in the three major cities. In the beginning of the PET screening boom, the number of facilities was insufficient even in the cities when compared to the number of people seeking to be diagnosed by PET-CT so that scheduling an appointment was difficult. On the other hand, private hospitals were facing the high cost of establishing PET-CT facilities. For the purpose of bringing recipients mainly from the three major cities, some of the hospitals started PET screening tours, which include a diagnosis using PET screening and accommodation for rest.
Second, it was found that there are three main reasons for the success of the clinic’s PET screening tour: (1) Both hospital and tourism industries have positive reasons for the tour; (2) PET screening matches with the demands of the partnering travel agencies; and (3) the clinic tried to provide a high-value product. It might be expected that many tourists will come seeking medical care from foreign countries, and it could enlarge the number of advanced medical equipment facilities available at medical institutions in Japan. Planning the distribution of advanced medical equipment facilities is important to avoid low rates of utilization.
