International Journal of Travel Medicine &Global Health Original Article International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health. Winter 2014; Volume 2, Issue 1:5-9 All rights reserved for official publication of Baqiyatallah university of medical sciences © The Capabilities of Iranian Hospitals in Attracting Medical Tourists; Based on Joint Commission International: A Case Study of Shiraz Hospitals Tahereh Shafaghat 1 , Ali Reza Jabbari 2 , Zahra Kavoosi 3 , Ali Ayoubian 4 , Mohammad Kazem Rahimi Zarchi *5 Abstract Introduction Iran is dependent on oil for foreign exchange, and there- fore needs to make investments in other industries to make alternative incomes and overcome this problem. This country has potentials in some trades that can be flourished by proper investments. Medical tourism is one of these industries [1]. Medical tourism is one of the most im- portant and profitable industries that is nowadays respon- sible for a big measure of national income in some coun- tries. According to the assertion of world trade center, medical tourism was the third profitable industry after oil and car industries in 2000 [2]. Health tourism is an alternative for people who care more about their health and welfare and are longing to flee from their daily stressful life. For this purpose these people usu- ally travel [3, 4]. Medical tourism is a branch of health tourism, a rapid developing industry which allows the pa- tients to travel beyond the borders to reach desirable or low priced medical care. These include selected surgeries such as cosmetic surgery, hip replacement and bariatric surgery, or essential and special treatments such as chemo- therapy for cancer, major and minor surgeries and dental cares [5,6]. Iran, having the potentials including low medi- cal expenses, high quality medical services, skillful doc- tors and natural tourist attractions is eager to join this in- dustry. But to gain this goal it has to face the challenges [7,8]. Health and cure industry is facing a world competition nowadays. The number of patients traveling from devel- oped countries to developing ones for medical causes is increasing. These patients are not rich, but they are seeking high quality and low price treatments. It is estimated that Bumrungrad hospital in Thailand and Apollo hospital in India will earn over 2.3 billion dollars each year, and Sin- gapore is hoping to host 1 million patients till the end 2012 [3,9]. Medical tourism industry with 5 billion dollars income worldwide in 2005 is one of the biggest world industries. 10% of European patients are seeking treatment across the borders and is estimated that they will spend about 12 bil- lion Euros for this cause [10]. Based on these facts Iran should become the regional medical tourism center and gain 15 million dollars from 20 million medical tourists till 2025. Mentioned facts express the importance of medical tour- ism; but what are the challenges that avoid benefiting an Introduction: Medical tourism is one of the competitive and income industries in world and has the ability to attract tourists in the health sector and international mar- kets are totally dependent on international accreditation. This study has been done to evaluate the capabilities of active public and private hospitals in Shiraz regarding attraction of tourists’ base on accreditation standards. Methods: This is a descriptive-analytic and cross-sectional study which performed on four hospitals which were active in medical tourism in 2012. A checklist of inter- national accreditation standards based on Joint Commission International (JCI) was applied for collecting data. Data were analyzed using descriptive analytic statistical tests. In descriptive statistics, frequency tables and standard deviation were used for scoring the hospitals. Independent student (T-test) was used to compare the mean of public and private hospitals in attracting medical tourists. Results: Hospital No.3 in the Patient-Centered Standards and Health Care Organiza- tion Management Standards was in the best position whilst hospital No.2 in the Pa- tient-Centered Standards was in the worst state and hospital no.1 in Health Care Organization Management was in the worst position. Also there was a significant difference between public and private hospitals in attracting medical tourists accord- ing to Joint Commission International (sig=0.01). Conclusion: Shiraz hospitals have good ability to attract medical tourists; these abilities are very good in most cases and in some cases there is a need to improve. Having recognized the strengths and weaknesses of these hospitals can use SWOT analysis model, which is used in medical tourism program of some countries, for improving their abilities in attracting medical tourists. Keywords: Travel, Medical Tourism, Hospitals, Accreditation, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations 1. Student Research Committee, School of Man- agement and Medical Information, Shiraz Uni- versity of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 2. Health Management and Economics Center (HMERC), School of Management and Medical Information, Isfahan University of Medical Sci- ences, Isfahan, Iran. 3. Department of Health Service Management, School of Management and Medical Information, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 4. Health Research Center, Baqiyatallah Univer- sity of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran. 5. Student Research Committee, School of Man- agement and Medical Information, Shiraz Uni- versity of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. *Corresponding Author Mohammad Kazem Rahimi Zarchi, Student Re- search Committee, School of Management and Medical Information, Shiraz University of Medi- cal Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. E-mail:Rahimi_1399@yahoo.com Received: 22 January 2014 Accepted: 26 February 2014