Online Travel Training (OTT) and the Medical Tourism Association (MTA) have signed an agreement for phase two partnership with a goal to educate and engage travel agents in the UK in medical tourism.

The first agreement customizing the Certified Medical Tourism Professional® (CMTP) certification program for the UK travel trade was launched last month. The CMTP course is the first course offered to over 90,000 UK travel trade professionals through OTT.

The Certified Medical Travel Professional® (CMTP) is a training program and certification that provides participants with a comprehensive overview of the medical tourism industry, latest trends, key stakeholders, best practices and business models. Launched in 2012, the CMTP program is available online or as a live workshop and is the premier medical travel certification for professionals in the industry. Managed by Global Healthcare Accreditation, CMTP certifications are renewable each year with certified professionals having access to the online e-learning program for continuing education courses.

According to Ms. Karen Timmons, GHA's chief executive officer, "Delivering an outstanding medical travel experience on a consistent basis is not something that can be improvised; it requires in-depth knowledge of your customers' needs and expectations.  There are considerations regarding culture and language, care management, travel coordination, risk mitigation and legal and privacy issues. Travel agents bring their own unique expertise and experience that can be leveraged within the medical travel industry to support traveling patients, health and wellness travelers and the providers who serve them."

MTA President Renee-Marie Stephano says: "For a travel agent to become a medical travel facilitator it is important to understand the patient's journey; from identifying the need for medical care to recovery and returning home. It is important that the travel agent is aware of the regulations and responsibilities they are taking on and how best to handle them." 

The Medical Tourism Ecosystem will be offered by PulseProtocol, LLC. Pulse is a multi-sided marketplace that helps providers, vendors, hospitals, and other businesses engage in medical tourism. The platform features many innovative features, such as Integrated CRM & pipeline management, integrated payment solutions with escrow, 24-hour multi-lingual customer service support, and more.

"Medical tourism has vast potential but too many industry players are struggling with building their provider networks and not using good technology. By providing an ecosystem for OTT members to access top quality, reliable care, Pulse aims to support the travel trade through risk reduction, secure payments, and access to a network of top healthcare providers," said Robert Page, founder of Pulse.

Managing Director of OTT, Julia Feuell added: "OTT is proud to be chosen to partner with the Medical Tourism Association to create a new, well trained distribution channel for medical tourism. This is an exciting new business stream for travel agencies to embrace and we're looking forward to supporting this specialist sector with training, seminars and announcements to our 101,000 UK members."

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