PEDIATRIC cancer care, medical tourism, and cross-border access to healthcare converge in a newly published 10-year review highlighting international families traveling to the United States for treatment of serious childhood malignancies and blood disorders. In an era of globalized healthcare, this retrospective analysis provides a rare glimpse into pediatric medical tourism and its clinical and systemic implications.
The study analyzed 372 international patients who sought treatment between 2009 and 2019, offering the first dataset of its kind to describe pediatric patients with oncologic and hematologic conditions traveling to a major U.S. pediatric hospital. Patients were either formally referred or arrived unannounced, categorized as “walk-in” cases.
Nearly half (48.7%) of the patients were from Latin America and the Caribbean, and almost the same proportion (48.9%) came from upper-middle-income countries (UMICs). In contrast, only 1.6% were from low-income countries. Most patients identified as White (69.4%) and non-Hispanic (62.4%). While oncologic diagnoses were the leading cause of referral, hematologic malignancies dominated among walk-in patients, making up 81% of that subgroup.
Despite the widespread assumption that U.S. institutions might serve more low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the data revealed greater representation from UMICs, pointing to potential barriers related to cost, access, or international referral pathways for patients from resource-limited settings.
The findings raise questions about equity in global pediatric oncology and reinforce calls for sustained investment in international capacity-building partnerships. For U.S. healthcare professionals, the data underscore a growing intersection between international health policy, institutional readiness, and the ethical dimensions of pediatric care delivery.
As global healthcare networks continue to evolve, understanding patterns of pediatric medical tourism will be critical, not just for clinical planning, but for anticipating how U.S.-based systems can support more equitable global access to life-saving therapies.
Reference: Hashmi SK et al. Pediatric Medical Tourism: International Patients Seeking Treatment in the United States for Malignancy and Serious Hematologic Disorders. A Review of the St Jude Experience. JCO Glob Oncol. 2025;11:e2400454.
