Cross-border movement of older patients: a descriptive study on health service use of Japanese retirees in Thailand

Abstract

BackgroundThailand’s policy to promote long-stay tourism encourages Japanese retirees to relocate to Thailand. One concern of such an influx is the impact of these elderly foreign residents on the Thai health system. This study aims to reveal the current use of and needs for health services amongst Japanese retirees residing in various locations in Thailand.MethodsIn collaboration with nine Japanese self-help clubs in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Phuket, questionnaire surveys of Japanese long-stay retirees were conducted from January to March 2015. The inclusion criteria were being ≥ 50 years of age and staying in Thailand for ≥30 days in the previous 12 months while the main exclusion criteria included relocation by company, relocation due to marriage, or working migrants.ResultsThe mean age of the 237 eligible participants was 68.8, with 79.3% of them being male, 57.8% having stayed in Thailand for ≥5 years, 63.3% having stayed in Thailand for ≥300 days in the previous 12 months and 33% suffering from chronic diseases or sequelae. Of the 143 who had health check-ups in the previous 12 months, 48.3% did so in Thailand. The top 3 diseases treated either in Thailand or Japan in the previous 12 months were dental diseases (50 patients), hypertension (44 patients), and musculoskeletal disorders (41 patients), with the rate of treatment in Thailand standing at 46.0, 47.7, and 65.9%, respectively. Of the 106 who saw a doctor in Thailand in the same period, 70.8% did so less than once a month. Only 23.2% of the participants preferred to receive medical treatment for serious conditions in Thailand. However, this number rose to 32.9% for long-term care (LTC) use.ConclusionThe usage of Thai health services amongst Japanese long-stay retirees is currently limited as they prefer going back to Japan for health screenings and treatment of chronic or serious diseases. However, the number of Japanese residents requiring health services including LTC and end-of-life care is expected to increase. The potential impact of promoting long-stay tourism on the Thai public health should be acknowledged and investigated by the Thai government, including the tourism authority.

Health seeking behavior of Japanese retirees in Thailand: a cross-sectional study

“…Our previous analysis revealed that Japanese retirees' use of health services in Thailand was infrequent and primarily for nonserious conditions [30]. This study provides additional information as to individual factors of all the categories -predisposing, enabling and need factor -affecting their health seeking behavior.…”

“…because they went to Japan for treatment, they stay Thailand shorter. This was revealed by our previous study [30] as well as a study in Malaysia [26] which indicated that voluntary health repatriation to Japan would reduce medical service use in a retirement place.…”

“…generally valid for a maximum of one year, commonly for three months, from initiation of travel from Japan. In Thailand, private medical care costs are often perceived to be more expensive than the xed medical fees under Japan's universal health insurance scheme [31,35], and travelers' insurance is actually the most common medical insurance the participants used [30].…”

The north-south policy divide in transnational healthcare: a comparative review of policy research on medical tourism in source and destination countries

“…Nonetheless, there are concerns about the effects of medical tourism on the health system, such as through internal migration of healthcare professionals, burdens created by foreign retirees seeking long-term end-of-life care, and cost inflation for the local population [21,87,[89][90][91]. A range of policy prescriptions have been offeredintegrated human resource planning, increased private sector contribution to human resource development, lifting restrictions on the recruitment of international medical graduates, levying a medical tourist tax to transfer some of the commercial gains from medical tourism to the health system, and reviewing policies for long-stay tourism.…”

Erratum to: Cross-border movement of older patients: a descriptive study on health service use of Japanese retirees in Thailand

“…In the original publication of this article [1], published on 8 March 2017, figure 2 and 3 contained a wrong figure caption. The original captions are as followed: The original publication of this article has been corrected.…”