OBJECTIVES: We set out to systematically review and summarize the existing literature describing the factors that positively and negatively affect medical tourism in Colombia.

METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted on the factors influencing the growth of medical tourism in Colombia. This review was carried out according to the guidelines established by the PRISMA methodology. The MeSH terms and other relevant keywords were used to search for relevant studies in three academic databases: Scopus, WoS, and PubMed. Studies that directly addressed the factors affecting the development of medical tourism in Colombia were included in the review. In addition to the peer-reviewed literature, we also searched the grey literature using the Google search engine, to find relevant documents, information from governmental websites, and national statistics regarding medical tourism.

RESULTS: This review included 6 peer-reviewed journal articles and 5 websites. Most of the literature focused on the factors favorable to the development of Colombian medical tourism, the economic considerations associated with the growth of the sector, and the specific experiences of healthcare centers that mainly serve patients coming from abroad. There was a lack of analytical or case studies that analyzed in depth the health impact of the development of medical tourism in the country or that compared the benefits with the costs that medical tourism represents for the country.

CONCLUSIONS: The result of this systematic review suggests that the factors that promote the growth of medical tourism in Colombia are not mostly the product of planned policy development with that objective, but rather of socio-economic conditions that make us attractive as a medical tourism destination. On the other hand, the factors that hinder the development of medical tourism in the country do respond to an apparent will of the legislature to limit its growth.