| Capitalizing on Hawaii’s reputation
as a premier tourism destination, there is great potential to offer
the state’s advanced technology capabilities as they relate
to medical and healthcare services as a means of diversifying the
economy.
Medical and healthcare tourism consists of two
components:
1. medical treatment and executive check-ups
at specialized facilities; and
2. fitness and wellness involving exercise and/or
nutrition programs within spas, resorts, or hotel facilities.
The greatest potential for Hawaii is to tap
into the large number of upper-income individuals from the
Asia-Pacific countries, as their populations grow older and
require state-of the art medical technologies. It is estimated
that about 30 million people in Asia have incomes that can
support travel to the U.S. for medical and healthcare services.
Additional days that these patients are required to stay in
Hawaii before and after hospital discharge, along with expenditures
during these periods by accompanying friends and relatives,
further increase the overall contribution of the medical and
healthcare sector.
Hawaii brands its medical and healthcare
offerings as the best of high-tech and hightouch – where
medical facilities integrate the latest Western, technology-based
medicine with ancient Hawaiian, Asian, and holistic healing
arts. The state offers a spectrum of treatments in complementary
therapies and alternative medicine that blends Eastern and
Western approaches. For example, medical facilities would
have the newest and latest Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI),
as well as the most advanced Computed Tomography (CT) Scanner,
and a full complement of medical specialists. At the same
time, a patient can select the services of "healing touch"
therapists, naturopaths, acupuncturists, massage therapists,
and chiropractors on the hospital staff.
Hawaii is one of the first states to facilitate
telemedicine applications using its advanced telecommunications
infrastructure. The state has implemented a variety of remote
healthcare demonstrations using NASA’s Advanced Communication
Technology satellite and other broadband connections. The
purpose of these experiments has been to link Hawaii-based
healthcare institutions with major mainland healthcare facilities
to support the delivery of state-ofthe-art medical services
to different locations. |
