Stakeholder perspectives on 'Swiss quality' healthcare in the context of inbound medical tourism to Switzerland: An exploratory qualitative study

Background: Global literature on medical travel focuses on patients from high-income countries traveling to middle-income countries reputed for providing high quality care at significantly lower costs. However, little is known about the movement of wealthy foreign patients to high-income countries such as the USA, the UK or Switzerland. Objective: In this paper, we focus on Swiss medical tourism stakeholders and their strategies to attract a niche of self-paying foreign patients to undergo medical treatment in Switzerland. We describes how they harness the label of 'Swiss quality' healthcare to promote Switzerland in global medical travel industry. Methods: We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 30 medical tourism stakeholders including 15 health care professionals (HCPs) treating self-paying foreign patients in publicly funded and privately owned hospitals in French and German-speaking regions of Switzerland. The data were inductively coded using thematic analysis. Results: We present their views on 'Swiss quality' healthcare under three themes: health-related human resources, Swiss medical infrastructure, and foreign patients' perceived trust in the 'Swiss quality' label. Participants equated Switzerland's global image and 'Swiss quality' as a 'brand' and believed that foreign patients' trust in 'Swiss quality' is a unique selling point of Swiss healthcare system. Conclusion: By problematizing the use of 'Swiss quality' label to attract wealthy patients to Switzerland, we highlight a few ethical questions that deserve further scrutiny