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Background Acceptance of Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) as a measure of health summary and progression has increased over the years, which in turn has instigated comparative analysis studies of DALY across time and geography. Thus, it is important to explore methodological underpinnings of comparative analysis. Results A crude comparison of disease burden across time or space may mislead the interpretation of the health system’s performance because the quantum and pattern of DALY can be influenced by the age structure of the society. A significant proportion of this burden is due to the Years of Life Lost (YLL) component. The paper proposes a mathematical exposition to decompose the change in YLL over time or region into burden attributed to a) population age structure, b) death rate, and c) age at death gradient. Conclusion We reasoned that the death rate and age at death burden gradient signify the real contribution of the health systems. Hence, the method of decomposition can be utilized to measure the health service progression of a region in real terms.

Several countries are competing for a higher share in the billion dollar medical tourism market, which is expected to reach USD 28 billion by 2024. The situation is as interesting as it can get. A whole new economy has prospered around medical tourism with various stakeholders including patients, hospitals, insurers, medical tourism facilitators, and the government. The concerns of these stakeholders ought to be diverse but should not be diverging for the industry to function appropriately. The motive of this chapter is to review the economy around medical tourism from stakeholder perspectives and enlist the factors to consider while designing business policies.