Expectations of Russian Medical Tourists on German Health Care Services: A Kano Model-Based Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Medical tourism is a steadily growing market in Germany and has a great value of economic interest. Although the majority of patients come from Russia, little information on the needs and expectations of this patient group exists.Methods: Based on the Kano model which is an established research tool for assessing customer's expectations in industry and healthcare, an online questionnaire was constructed. Based on literature review and an interview with a leading medical tourist agency 15 relevant service requirements were identified. Participant recruitment was accomplished via social media platforms and email invitation of Russian patients who have already received care in Germany. A typical stepwise analysis was performed after the Kano categories were derived for each requirement. As a supplementary aspect an analysis of the relative importance and satisfaction levels was performed.Results: 152 participants without (pn) and 38 with (pw) previous experiences in the German healthcare system completed the questionnaire. 9 requirements were categorized as a one-dimensional, 4 as an attractive and one each as a must-be and an indifferent attribute by pn-subjects. Almost all requirements which were classified as onedimensional by pn-subjects were classified as must-be attributes by pw-subjects. Conclusion:Typical one-dimensional attributes were related to services associated with the planning and travel process, typical attractive requirements were associated with additional support during hospital stay as a sophisticated room equipment and Russian-speaking staff. To maintain satisfaction must-be and attractive attributes have to be well controlled mainly by facilitating the travel process. Disproportional gains in satisfaction can be achieved by special offers during hospital stay.

Health Resorts and Multi-Textured Perceptions of International Health Tourists

“…This implies that providing affordable health care, a sustainable tourism experience alongside medical facilities, and the consideration of risk levels influences the expectations of tourists/travelers, and ultimately impacts their intentions to visit a health resort. These results are in line with the work of Plehn et al [38] in healthcare setups. Improving the health and wellness experience of tourists/travelers at the appropriate levels of their expectations could be an important consideration of health resort services' providers when defining their health resort's sustainability strategies.…”

“…Many research works have identified the crucial role of individuals' perception and evaluation in defining behavioral intentions [19,36,37]. More precisely, expectations are discussed in determining tourists' decision-making processes and their likely behavioral intentions in health and medical tourism contexts [1,2,[38][39][40][41]. However, despite the seminal role of expectations, there has been little literature that attempts to empirically examine the role of expectations in determining international health tourists'/travelers' behavioral intentions more precisely in a health resort concept.…”

Minimal Human Interaction in Hospitals: Effective Online Registration System Design

“…Witell et al (2013) declared that the Kano model is an excellent tool to explain the roles of different quality attributes for customers. Plehn et al (2016) further used the Kano model to analyze the medical tourism field and found that this model can efficiently depict key attributes to maintain satisfaction. Materla et al (2019) assured that using the Kano model can transform the voice of the customer into inputs for the design of hospital service.…”