Quality policy in creating organizational maturity in a medical tourism enterprise

This article examines the concept of organizational maturity, with particular emphasis on the importance that it can play in medical tourism. First, the concept of organization is subjected to an interdisciplinary interpretation in the light of the Polish and international literature on the subject. The influence of this area of enterprise management on the decisions made and the shaping of the pro-quality policy of the enterprise is considered - noting that the continuous and comprehensive improvement of intra-organizational processes, decisions taken and monitored, and long-term planning are determinants of the level of organizational maturity and contribute to the implementation of planned activities, while effectively responding to the needs of stakeholders. Next, selected results of a qualitative study conducted among selected private medical institutions specializing in medical tourism are presented. Despite the relatively rich literature in the field of tourist and medical services, few studies have looked at the importance of quality in management in private healthcare entities and its significant impact on the purchasing decisions of tourist patients, with a simultaneous emphasis on entities serving foreign medical patients. The survey was carried out in 2021 using the IDI (Individual in-depth Interview) technique, with a purposive sample of Polish and Croatian clinics providing services in the field of medical tourism holding a significant position in their respective market.