When in ROAM: Health care made easier for foreigners in Korea

Chris Motz, founder of ROAM Medical / Courtesy of ROAM Medical

A usual trip to Korea is often filled with palace visits, Korean street food and the occasional cafe-hopping. But nowadays, typical tourist itineraries are a little different. With K-beauty in the global spotlight, stopping by a medical clinic has become a must for many visitors.

Known for cutting-edge health care technology, Korea is now one of the leading destinations for medical tourism. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2.01 million foreign patients visited Korea last year, the highest since the country began compiling relevant data in 2009.

But foreigners often stumble across common obstacles when seeking treatment in Korea, such as the language barrier and unfamiliarity with a new medical system. London-based Chris Motz, CEO of global medical platform ROAM Medical, experienced this problem firsthand when he first lived in Tokyo.

“The inspiration for building ROAM came when I was living in Tokyo a couple of years ago. I had a minor — but very inconvenient — dental emergency, and I was shocked by how difficult it was to find a good, English-speaking dentist in Tokyo,” Motz said.

Motz saw an opportunity to fill this service gap through ROAM, a web platform that caters to English-speaking travelers and expats all over the world, connecting them with hand-picked health care services. First launched in Japan, ROAM is now seeking to capitalize on Korea’s status as a leading medical tourism destination.

“ROAM is here to make Korean health care accessible to people from all over the world,” Motz said. “We pride ourselves on working with some of the best clinics and hospitals in Seoul.”

ROAM Medical staff visit Medione Medical Center / Courtesy of ROAM Medical

According to ROAM, Seoul medical coordinators visit each partner clinic to check their quality and ensure all information on the website is up to date and accurate.

Patients usually have different requests, Motz said. ROAM’s goal is to tailor each set of treatments to the needs of each client.

“ROAM accomplishes this by pairing our understanding of Seoul’s medical landscape with a comprehensive assessment of the customer’s request,” Motz said.

Booking with ROAM

Since Korea’s health care industry offers a wide range of services, many foreign patients don’t know where to start.

This reporter found the ROAM website easy to navigate. One only needs to visit the ROAM website and fill out the form with basic details and medical or skin concerns to book your choice of clinic. Each clinic profile is tagged with its specialty and expertise. ROAM also lists the location, doctors’ background and the prices and description of available treatments at each clinic.

Within 24 hours, a ROAM representative will contact you and schedule consultations with a licensed health care professional. ROAM will also issue reminders that will serve as your guide when preparing for procedures, such as fasting before laboratory tests.

Getting medical treatment, especially in a foreign country, can be intimidating. Extensive reviews and Google ratings for each clinic are easily found on ROAM’s website, giving you a glimpse of what to expect.

ROAM also provides in-person translation services upon request.

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Coming from the Philippines, this reporter does not speak Korean and is unfamiliar with most dermatological and medical treatments available in Korea.

According to ROAM, most tourists choose clinics based on convenience and available treatments.

For the foreigner-friendly experience, ROAM recommended two clinics — Beauty Blossom Clinic and Medione Medical Center. Both clinics are conveniently located in the same building near Hapjeong Station Exit 3. Clients can also access a pharmacy with English-speaking services in the same building. For K-beauty lovers, an Olive Young is also a few meters away.

The duration of the visit also influences a client’s choice of clinic, as some tourists only have limited time to spend in Korea. For instance, travelers who have short layovers or are only in Korea for one day usually choose clinics that can accommodate multiple treatments at once and have direct transportation links to the airport.

K-beauty technology

Once you walk into Beauty Blossom Clinic, an English-speaking guide welcomes you and confirms your reservation details.

Be ready with your passport. If you’re a foreign resident in Korea, a Residence Card will do. You’re asked to fill out a form in English confirming the details of your appointment and the treatment you selected.

Beauty Blossom Clinic / Courtesy of Beauty Blossom Clinic

For those unfamiliar with beauty treatments, an option for an AI Skin analysis treatment helps you initially identify skin concerns to help you out during the next step, which involves a personalized consultation with a dermatologist.

This reporter was treated to XERF, a noninvasive lifting treatment where a radio frequency system stimulates collagen regeneration, while also tightening the skin.

Lee Geon-ho, head doctor at Beauty Blossom Clinic, credits the rise of “hallyu,” or the Korean wave, for the growing global popularity of Korean beauty, encouraging the industry to keep innovating.

“Korea has actually been in the beauty industry for a very long time. Of course it's getting a lot of attention now, but even before that — beauty devices, beauty products, cosmetics, topical treatments — these have been steadily developing here for years,” Lee said.

With K-beauty enjoying global attention, the industry continues to maximize its potential and develop new technologies and products, Lee said.

One such technology is the XERF machine at Beauty Blossom, a Korea-made device with cooling technology that makes the whole process more comfortable. XERF is the latest technology of its kind, and is advertised as less painful than the usual lifting treatments that beauty mavens get.

The whole process took a little more than an hour. The doctor will check in with you to make sure you are comfortable, asking you to signal if you feel pain or discomfort during the treatment. An English-speaking guide is also readily available to answer questions and will brief you about what to do after the treatment.

Beauty Blossom also provides a guide for foreigners who speak Mandarin and Cantonese.

Comprehensive medical checkups

Nowadays, people also invest in their holistic health. Medione Medical Center emphasizes the need for comprehensive checkups, guided by the age-old adage that prevention is better than cure.

The medical center’s crown jewel is a whole-body MRI machine, which was personally developed by CEO Dr. Park Won-jeong with German company Siemens.

Dr. Park Won-jeong discusses patient results at Medione Medical Center in Mapo District, Seoul, July 15. Korea Times photo by Inna Cabel

Park said advanced technology, high-speed results, high-quality care and patient-friendly environments made Korea attractive to medical tourists.

“Most of the doctors in Korea who run a clinic are board-certified, but it's really hard to meet board-certified doctors in Canada or England,” Park said.

“Patients have to pay really high prices in the United States. We noticed that [high-quality yet affordable health care] could be our strength and power point,” Park added.

At Medione clinic, a guide and an English-speaking nurse accompany patients who do not speak Korean, just like this reporter, through the comprehensive medical checkup.

Once you fill out an English form with your medical history, the nurse will guide you to get your vitals checked. The machines at Medione looked brand new, with instructions in English readily available throughout the clinic.

The nurse then guides you to imaging tests, including an ECG and X-ray. You will also be asked to do laboratory tests, such as a blood and urine test.

The whole process took around two hours — the MRI was a 50-minute procedure, followed by an immediate initial assessment of results by the resident doctor.

Detailed and comprehensive results will be sent via email after a week, including medical advice, lifestyle and diet changes. However, there is an additional fee for a personal copy of your X-ray, which will be provided via USB or CD.

Foreigner-friendly

Foreigner-friendly clinics in Korea are usually hit or miss. For Beauty Blossom and Medione, the whole process was smooth, comfortable and convenient, even for a non-Korean speaker. This reporter’s questions were answered by English-speaking guides the whole time, while the doctors were also able to explain the process and results clearly.

“ROAM strives to make the entire health care experience as seamless as possible,” Motz said.

ROAM vets its featured clinics beforehand, maintaining partnerships to ensure clinics provide high-quality health care and maintain high standards. The medical concierge also makes sure all information on its website is up to date, ensuring patients have access to all available treatments and can make informed decisions before heading to Korea.

“Every new customer speaks with one of our dedicated medical coordinators, who guides them through every step of their medical journey – whether that means figuring out the specialty they need, choosing the right clinic, or explaining the treatments offered by clinics,” the ROAM founder added.

At a K-Medical Tourism Roundtable held this month, experts highlighted Seoul’s daunting medical infrastructure, with six advanced general hospitals and more than 2,000 specialized clinics located within a 10-kilometer radius.

Foreign patients usually have a difficult time navigating this, especially with the language barrier. ROAM aims to leverage its growing network and local expertise, recommending clinics to tourists and ensuring personalized health care needs are met.

ROAM aims to expand its medical network across a wide range of specialties, including women's health, ophthalmology, dentistry, general medicine, plastic surgery, wellness and other areas of health care.

“The goal of ROAM is to make health care access ubiquitous for foreigners wherever they are in the world, while also highlighting some of the incredible medical services available abroad,” Motz said.

This is a paid advertorial for ROAM Medical, a global medical concierge. More information is available at seoul.roammedical.com.