PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., May 1, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The European Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress closes up its agenda and convenes in Athens in just two weeks. This VIP event of the year brings together public and private sector buyers of European health services. In partnership with CIGNA and Athens Medical Group, the event will be held in Athens, Greece on May 14-15th, 2018.

Athens Medical Group CEO, Dr. Vassili G. Apostolopoulos, had this to say about the upcoming event: "We welcome Global Healthcare Resources to Greece, the place where medicine was born and also the place where medical miracles still happen every day in a broad range of disciplines. Europe, Middle East, and North Africa are at a significant crossroad, to follow the path of transformation in healthcare, whereby value for money treatment in medical excellence centers is nowadays the rule, and emerge from the current scenario where state healthcare systems are drifting to stagnation and definite decay."

An exciting agenda includes a number of highly-informative private summits focused on topics such as: how insurance is disrupting medical travel, governments and hospitals leading population health, public private partnerships, and a multidimensional marketing workshop with speed meetings between providers and a host of hand selected referrers and buyers of European health services from Russia and CIS, to Middle East, GCC and Europe.

"Cigna International's role in the global healthcare market benefits significantly through partnerships and a highly collaborative approach to population health management. Cigna is engaged in designing, implementing, and managing international group health insurance for health authorities from around the world and the European Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Conference creates the opportune environment to expand our network and reach and truly impact the delivery of health services throughout the world," says Jai Verma, Senior Executive Officer and Global Head B2G, Cigna International.

Renée-Marie Stephano, President of the Medical Tourism Association and CEO of Global Healthcare Resources, recognized gap in connecting European providers and global corporate buyers of health services saying, "We sought local partnership with Cigna International and Athens Medical Group to shine a spotlight on the interconnectedness between insurers and health systems in raising the standard of care worldwide and improving the portability of insurance."

"Athens Medical Group is ready to be a protagonist in this transformation process. We invite you to keep a close eye on this part of the world as Athens Medical Group embarks in an aspirational journey to shake the waters in European Healthcare," says Dr. Apostolopoulos.

"The international partnerships built at this event brings greater focus on the competitive edge Europe has to take advantage of in the global market," says Stephano.

"To increase global reach and marketshare for medical travel, the nations in Europe would greatly benefit from a more collaborative efforts to showcase its high quality of care and willingness to provide an elevated level of patient experience.

International certifications, accreditations and participation in related medical travel events can support more sustainable programs as defined recently through a European Parliament Study on Health Tourism."

Some of the companies participating in the high level event include:

-- Cigna International (Dubai, UAE)

-- Athens Medical Group (Greece)

-- Ministry of Health (Dubai, UAE)

-- European Union of Private Hospitals (Belgium)

-- Medbliss Consultants (India)

-- Institute of Life (Greece)

-- Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insurance (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)

-- Global Healthcare Accreditation (USA)

-- +Medi Prinou (Greece)

-- Iheoo Healthcare Advisory (Nigeria)

-- Cleveland Clinic (USA)

-- Avicenna Medical Travel (Uzbekistan)

-- C3 Medical (France)

-- Representation Plus (UK)

-- Johns Hopkins Medicine (USA)

-- Oman Insurance Company (Oman)

-- Prince Sultan Cardiac Center (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)

-- TebCan Co. (Jordan)

-- Intishar for Tourist Patches (Sudan)

-- LHL (Denmark)

-- Health Flights Solutions (USA)

-- Ukrainian Association of Medical Tourism (Ukraine)

-- Ohio State University (USA)

-- Institute for Advanced Reconstruction (USA)

-- Eurocare Multispecialist Hospital (Nigeria)

-- Crowe Consulting Group (USA)

-- EuroMD (Ukraine)

-- Garmco Gulf Aluminum (Bahrain)

-- Loma Linda University Health (USA)

-- LtD Private Clinic Almaty (Kazakhstan)

-- Gate to Wellness (Qatar)

-- Nicklaus Children's Hospital (USA)