What the accreditation and certification marks on a clinic's website mean
An accreditation logo can be a useful starting point when you are considering treatment abroad. It identifies a claim that you can check with an outside organisation. The important questions are who issued it, what was assessed, which site it covers and whether it remains current. Accreditation does not guarantee your individual result. A hospital award also does not automatically cover every treatment advertised on its website. The Joint Commission explains its role
Why do different marks mean different things?
Start with the object of the assessment. Hospital accreditation concerns an organisation or defined service against programme standards. Management-system certification concerns the system described on the certificate. Laboratory accreditation concerns a laboratory and its covered activities. Government licensing or authorisation concerns permission to operate under the relevant rules. These are different kinds of evidence, even when their logos appear together. The Joint Commission explains its role ISO 9001 quality-management requirements
A membership usually confirms participation in an organisation. An award recognises a recipient in a particular category and year. Neither should be read as continuing clinical accreditation. The Medical Tourism Association offers paid annual membership. Historical IMTJ awards are industry awards. For a current claim, ask the organiser to confirm the edition and award. Check the category and year before interpreting the claim. Medical Tourism Association membership LaingBuisson’s historical IMTJ award announcement
Medical-travel certification also needs a precise label. GHA has distinct accreditation, patient-experience and facilitator programmes. Temos assesses healthcare providers and medical-travel coordinators under different programmes. A certificate held by a coordinator does not automatically cover the hospitals it uses. Likewise, an individual medical-travel professional credential does not make its holder a licensed doctor. GHA’s programme information Temos medical-travel coordination programme
Who runs the international programmes?
The principal international brands are not government licensing authorities. JCI belongs to the nonprofit Joint Commission enterprise. Accreditation Canada is a nonprofit affiliated with Health Standards Organization. ACHS International is a subsidiary of the nonprofit Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. Their names do not mean that the US, Canadian or Australian government has licensed a foreign clinic. The Joint Commission explains its role Accreditation Canada’s international directory
Other operators have different structures. Temos is a German private company. GHA operates as a private company. AACI, CHKS and DNV have separate corporate arrangements. Check the legal issuer named on the certificate. COHSASA is a nonprofit external evaluator. Ownership tells you who runs a scheme; it does not provide a ranking of schemes or predict a patient's outcome. Read each programme's assessment scope and current recipient record. Temos healthcare-assessment programmes GHA’s programme information
QHA Trent needs particular care. Its branded website remains available, while a Temos source reports its closure in October 2020. Ask the claimed issuer to confirm its current legal identity and the validity of the particular award before relying on it. Also avoid extending the private-sector description to all national schemes: Spain's ACSA is a public regional agency, and several national systems are government-run. QHA Trent’s branded website ACSA’s public healthcare-quality programme
What does ISQua or IEEA recognition add?
ISQua and its External Evaluation Association, IEEA, should not be confused with the organisation that awarded a clinic's certificate. IEEA evaluates external evaluation organisations and other defined categories, including standards. Its awards directory identifies the recipient, category and period. To assess a claim, compare all three with the wording used by the accreditor. An organisation award and an award for standards answer different questions. IEEA’s explanation of its role
That distinction changes how some familiar claims should be read. GHA and DNV’s confirmed IEEA recognition concerns standards, rather than an organisation-level award. ACHS International's organisation-level recognition is under the ACHS parent. Temos is listed in an assessed-organisation category that should retain that wording. None of these entries means that IEEA has separately accredited every clinic using the operator's logo. IEEA’s awards directory
What should I look for in the destination country?
Start with the local system as well as any international badge. Mexico has CSG certification. Colombia has its national health-accreditation system, operated through ICONTEC. Thailand has HAI, and India has NABH programmes. Czech SAK, Polish national accreditation and Germany's KTQ are further examples. Their methods and award periods differ. A period confirmed for one programme should not be copied into another programme's claim. Mexico’s CSG certification model Colombia’s accredited-institution directory
For example, the current Polish national accreditation period is four years, while SAK and KTQ use three-year cycles. NABH's official FAQ says most accreditations are valid for three to four years, with a mid-cycle surveillance assessment. Read the actual certificate and its programme name to establish the applicable period. An institution can advertise a related certification or preliminary status that has a narrower meaning than full accreditation. Poland’s Ministry of Health accreditation decisions NABH’s hospital FAQ
Some national checks concern operating permission. Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic have habilitation mechanisms. Spain's REGCESS consolidates authorisations, Cyprus regulates private hospitals, and Hungary has facility operating-permit records. For any additional national accreditation claim, ask for the scheme name and current award. In Greece, ODIPY runs a quality framework. Ask for the specific facility decision before treating participation as hospital accreditation. Costa Rica’s health-service habilitation guidance Panama’s health-service habilitation manual
Turkey requires several distinctions. SKS concerns government quality standards. TÜSKA's SAS accreditation is a separate programme. International health-tourism authorisation has separate lists for facilities and intermediaries. Check the particular permission or award being claimed. A tourism authorisation for an intermediary does not establish the licence of the treating doctor or the accreditation of every destination facility. Turkey’s SKS quality-standards information TÜSKA’s accredited-organisations directory
What do ISO and laboratory claims cover?
ISO publishes standards; it does not itself certify clinics. ISO 9001 concerns quality-management systems, while ISO 7101 addresses healthcare-organisation management. Identify the certification body and the certificate's scope. ISO 15189 concerns medical-laboratory quality and competence. Check the issuing accreditation body and the covered tests rather than extending a laboratory certificate to the entire clinic. ISO 9001 quality-management requirements ISO 7101 healthcare-management requirements
CAP accreditation and US CLIA certification are also laboratory checks with different roles. CAP's programme uses laboratory inspections. CMS provides a public CLIA lookup with certificate information; certain foreign laboratories can fall within the relevant US testing arrangements. Neither label alone approves every treatment offered by the surrounding clinic. For ART or cell-therapy programmes, ESHRE, RTAC and JACIE also have defined scopes that need their own checks. CAP’s accredited-laboratory directory CMS’s CLIA laboratory information
Does my government approve clinics abroad?
Government involvement can mean funding or referral, rather than accreditation. Examples include Ontario OHIP's prior-approved services, the UK's S2 route and Australia's Medical Treatment Overseas Program. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE also have treatment-abroad arrangements. These are case-specific programmes, not interchangeable worldwide quality seals. UK FCDO medical lists provide contacts and expressly do not endorse the listed providers. Ontario’s out-of-country OHIP guidance FCDO medical-facility lists
What do the clinics in our catalogue claim?
We checked the own websites of 574 clinics in our catalogue on 23 October 2026. 245 of them display an accreditation or certification of some kind; 60 cite an ISO certificate and 41 mention Joint Commission International. These are the clinics' own statements. JCI's directory was not available when we checked, so none of the JCI claims has been confirmed yet. We show an accreditation on a clinic's page only after it has been checked against the accreditor's own register.
What can I check in five minutes before paying a deposit?
- Find the exact mark. Record the issuer, programme and certificate number. Establish whether the claim concerns a hospital, laboratory, coordinator or individual. Do not use a logo without its accompanying scope. The Joint Commission explains its role ISO 15189 medical-laboratory requirements
- Find the official register. Follow the issuer's own website. A directory may be searchable, a downloadable list, incomplete or inaccessible. If it fails to load, keep the claim unresolved and ask the issuer to confirm it. The Joint Commission explains its role Accreditation Canada’s international directory
- Search the precise clinic. Match its legal name, city and address. Distinguish the named branch from a parent group or partner. Read the category carefully: membership or preparation for accreditation is not necessarily a current accreditation award. Accreditation Canada’s international directory ACHS International’s programme information
- Check the date and scope. Read expiry, programme, covered services and any limitations. Keep historical entries separate from current awards. Save the official result with the date of your check so that a later change does not become an unexplained discrepancy. GHA’s programme information COHSASA’s programme information
- Check the doctor's licence. Use the destination's official professional route, then verify the exact specialty and any published restrictions. Check foreign credentials with their issuer separately. A US board certificate or UK Fellowship does not itself authorise medical practice in the destination country. Mexico’s professional register Spain’s medical-college lookup
Checked on 23 October 2026.
International accreditors
- What does JCI accreditation tell me about a clinic?
- What does Accreditation Canada international accreditation mean?
- What does ACHS International accreditation mean?
- How should I check a QHA Trent claim?
- What does a Temos award tell me?
- What does Global Healthcare Accreditation mean?
- What do ISQua and IEEA recognition mean?
- What does AACI accreditation tell me?
- What does CHKS accreditation mean?
- What does DNV international hospital accreditation mean?
- What does COHSASA accreditation mean?
- What does Qualicor Europe accreditation mean?
- What does HCAC accreditation mean?
- What does QUAD A accreditation mean?
- What does ACHC International accreditation mean?
National schemes and licensing
- What does Mexico's CSG certification mean?
- What does health-service habilitation mean in Costa Rica?
- What does Colombia's national health accreditation mean?
- What does health-service habilitation mean in Panama?
- What does habilitation mean for a Dominican Republic clinic?
- What does Spain's REGCESS register tell me?
- What does ACSA certification mean in Spain?
- What does an ODIPY reference mean in Greece?
- How do I check a private-hospital licence in Cyprus?
- How do I check a Hungarian clinic's operating permit?
- What does SAK accreditation mean in the Czech Republic?
- What does national healthcare accreditation mean in Poland?
- What does KTQ certification mean in Germany?
- What do Turkey's SKS healthcare-quality standards mean?
- What does TÜSKA's SAS accreditation mean in Turkey?
- What does Turkey's health-tourism authorisation mean?
- What does Thailand's HA accreditation mean?
- What does NABH accreditation mean in India?
Specialised programmes
- What does ESHRE ART Centre Accreditation mean?
- What does RTAC certification mean for a fertility unit?
- What does an SRC surgical designation mean?
- What does JACIE accreditation mean for cell therapy?
Check a doctor, by country
- How do I check a doctor in Colombia?
- How do I check a doctor in Costa Rica?
- How do I check a doctor in Cyprus?
- How do I check a doctor in the Czech Republic?
- How do I check a doctor in the Dominican Republic?
- How do I check a doctor in Germany?
- How do I check a doctor in Greece?
- How do I check a doctor in Hungary?
- How do I check a doctor in India?
- How do I check a doctor in Mexico?
- How do I check a doctor in Panama?
- How do I check a doctor in Poland?
- How do I check a doctor in Spain?
- How do I check a doctor in Thailand?
- How do I check a doctor in Turkey?