European countries have joined hands to create a platform for debate and guidance for all involved in cross border health care. Christened European Cross-Border Health Care Organization (ECHO), the newly formed organisation will bring together regulatory and supervisory bodies in EU, health insurance companies, health care professionals, medical travel agents and quality and accreditation bodies. There has long been a lacuna in this area, reports the International Medical Travel Journal.
ECHO comes from a belief of Europeans in medical tourism that existing international organizations neither understand nor well serve the region at a time of great change.
ECHO will have three advisory councils for standards and practice, ECHO development and legal. There will be working groups on hospitals and clinics, agents, spas, insurance and government bodies. ECHO will be headquarted in Brussels, Belgium, with local offices in La Coruna, Spain and Bielefeld, Germany.
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