Abstract 42: Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplants and Treatment of Severe Blood Disorders: Role of Providers in Medical Tourism

Abstract

Purpose: Medical tourism provides international patients with medical services, but little data is present on the role of medical tourism in regard to hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) services. Over the last 10 years, the University of Illinois at Chicago Blood & Marrow Transplant program has established an international network (GlobalBMT) of LMIC centers, that includes hospitals in Nepal, India, Nigeria, Tanzania, Bolivia, Cuba, Argentina, Ukraine. This project involves each hospital of the GlobalBMT network to: 1. qualitatively assess the current role of medical providers in international care of HSCT patients and 2. quantitatively and qualitatively assess the current policies of medical institutions for sending and accepting international transplant candidates. Methods: This is a mixed-methods cross-sectional study with a quantitative component (questionnaire) and a qualitative component (interview). A questionnaire was disseminated to 12 medical providers in 8 countries, who either refer or accept international HSCT patients, to assess the demographics, volume, and frequency of international referrals. We also conducted semi-structured virtual interviews with willing healthcare providers to qualitatively assess the current infrastructure in medical tourism for international HSCT candidates, as well as elicit ways in which this structure can be improved. Results: Here we will report on the results of the mixed-methods cross-sectional study that was conducted within the GlobalBMT network. In the setting of this research project, we suggest a need for a formalized provider-to-provider framework in the sphere of medical tourism for HSCT patients to be sent outside of their home countries to receive a HSCT, diminishing the impact of third party brokers and misinformation. Our data have uncovered themes in the existing structure of third-party agents searching for a profit, difficulty connecting with home physicians to coordinate care, and limited information for patients on the procedure. Conclusion: The data collected in this project provide an example of existing structures in medical tourism for HSCT in some LMICs. Gaps in center-to-center patient information, role of middle-men directly contacting patient families, or lack of advanced medical care in LMIC, are some of the relevant findings that based on this initial study could be exploited in a large multicenter international registry study. Citation Format: Deepika Khanna, Damiano Rondelli. Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplants and Treatment of Severe Blood Disorders: Role of Providers in Medical Tourism [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 11th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research; Closing the Research-to-Implementation Gap; 2023 Apr 4-6. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 42.