In this guide
Start with accreditation: JCI (Joint Commission International) or a strong national equivalent, verified on the accreditor's own website and still current. Then check the people selling it to you, and walk away from five red flags: guaranteed results, no named hospital or doctor, a single unexplained price, pressure to pay a personal account up front, and no plan for complications.
Part 1: accreditation
What JCI is
Joint Commission International is the international arm of The Joint Commission, which accredits most US hospitals. JCI surveys hospitals on site against standards for patient safety, infection control, medication safety and quality management.
How to check it
- Go to JCI's directory, Find JCI Accredited Organizations, and search for the hospital's name or filter by country.
- Match the exact hospital name and campus. A hospital group may have one accredited campus and others that aren't.
- Check it's current. The directory lists only organizations accredited now, so a hospital missing from it isn't JCI-accredited today, whatever its own website says.
What it doesn't tell you
- It's not a guarantee of outcomes.
- It doesn't rate individual doctors.
- It doesn't cover the agency or coordinator you book through.
National accreditation
Many good hospitals don't hold JCI accreditation but have national accreditation. For example, Korea has a national accreditation body, the Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation (KOIHA), and China grades its hospitals, with "Grade 3A" (三级甲等) at the top. JCI's directory lists no hospitals in mainland China (checked October 2026), so there the national grade is the one to check. Ask which applies, and how to check it.
Part 2: the people selling it
If you use an agency or facilitator, check:
- A license or registration in its own country (Korea, for example, requires agencies that bring in foreign patients to register), and verify it with the issuing body.
- A real address and named staff.
- How it's paid. Does it take a fee from the hospital? Is that disclosed?
- References from past clients, ideally from your own country.
Part 3: five red flags
- "Guaranteed results." No honest hospital guarantees outcomes.
- No named hospital or doctor. You should be able to look up both.
- One price, no breakdown. A real quote lists what's included and what isn't.
- "Pay in full now, to this personal account." Licensed providers take payment through official channels.
- No plan for complications. Ask who handles problems after you fly home.
Bonus red flag: miracle cures. Be very wary of unapproved stem cell "treatments" and similar therapies sold abroad. The FDA has had reports of blindness, tumors and infections after unapproved products like these.
Our standard
Every hospital and partner we introduce is named, licensed or accredited (with a way for you to check), quotes item by item, and has a written plan for abnormal results and emergencies.
Sources
- Joint Commission International: find accredited organizations jointcommission.org
- Journal of Hospital Management and Health Policy: hospital accreditation in South Korea (2025) jhmhp.amegroups.org
- Xinhua: China's 2025 standard for grading top-tier hospitals (in Chinese) news.cn
- FDA: patient and consumer information about regenerative medicine therapies fda.gov
- KLRI: Korean act on attracting international patients elaw.klri.re.kr
Please note. General information, not medical advice.
Reviewed at least every three monthsNo paid placementsInformation, not medical adviceOur editorial standards
Joe Yang, PhD, Economics. Joe Yang holds a PhD in economics from the University of Washington. For four years Joe evaluated the costs and savings of US health programs for insurers and employers at a health-analytics company, and before that studied pricing and demand as an economist at Amazon and a data scientist at Oracle. These guides apply the same discipline to a simpler question: what care really costs, and where.
