JCI Accreditation

JCI accreditation is the overseas arm of The Joint Commission, which accredits American hospitals. A hospital outside the United States that holds JCI accreditation has been measured against more than 1,400 standards covering infection control, surgical safety, medication handling, patient identification and staff credentialing, and is re-surveyed.

Where it hits the ground: it is the first filter on any care abroad. Four hundred hospitals across eighty countries hold it, which sounds like a lot until you compare it to the number of hospitals that market to foreign patients. One thing to be precise about: JCI accredits the hospital, not the individual surgeon. A JCI seal tells you the building runs to a standard; it does not tell you that the doctor holding the scalpel has the training for your particular operation. Those are two separate questions and both need answering.

The takeaway: treat JCI as the floor, not the finish line. Confirm the accreditation, then ask separately about the surgeon's training, board certification and how many of your operation they do in a year.