Absolutely. It is important to understand that the GHA program complements existing national and international clinical accreditation programs. While these programs traditionally focus on the clinical aspects of care for the entire organization, GHA conducts a deep review of the International or Global Patient Services program, or the entity within an organization that serves the medical travel patient. Our standards focus on the entire continuum of care, beginning with selection and pre-arrival, through to admission, discharge, and aftercare.  In fact, you will find that a high percentage of our accredited clients already have an existing international or national clinical accreditation.

To pursue GHA accreditation, your organization must have a medical travel program (also known as international department or global patient services program) with one or more individuals identified as accountable for the daily operations of the program and the quality of the services provided. However, the size of the medical travel program is not important – a dental clinic or even a hospital may have only one or two people working with medical travelers while another organization may have 30 staff members assigned to their international office. For those organizations who do not have a medical travel program or an international office, GHA offers a Certification for Excellence in Medical Travel Patient Experience. We can also provide custom advisory services to help your organization develop or improve the medical travel program.

GHA understands that the decision to pursue or not pursue GHA accreditation is often financially motivated, in addition to benchmarking against best practices for medical travel.  While as an accrediting body GHA cannot guarantee increased international patient flow to your organization, the accreditation process is designed to help your organization improve the patient experience and business performance across the entire Medical Travel Care Continuum™. You may be aware that recent studies demonstrate that improving the patient experience correlates to better health outcomes and higher financial margins for hospitals (Accenture – Patient Engagement: Happy Patients, Healthy Margins 2016). Additionally, the GHA Program offers guidance within its standards and requires ongoing reporting of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) unique to medical travel, ensuring that healthcare providers can accurately measure and track the performance of their medical travel program. Moreover, because GHA focuses on the entire continuum, those business functions within an organization that impact the medical travel program, such as Marketing, Finance, and IT are included. This ensures that organizations receive solutions that impact not just patient outcomes, but business performance and the organization’s financial bottom line.

GHA is working diligently to raise awareness of the GHA program and its benefits with insurers and other buyers of healthcare services such as governments and employers. Our advisory board includes representatives from top insurance companies including Cigna, AIG, AXA and Aetna International. In May 2018, Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insurance Company announced that it will pursue contracts with selected healthcare providers accredited by the GHA Program. We are very proud of this collaboration as it aligns with our goal to provide long-term value to our clients who we view as strategic partners.

The GHA Program presently accredits hospitals and outpatient programs such as those provided by ambulatory surgical centers, dental and IVF clinics.

After completing the GHA 0nline Needs Assessment Form, each organization is provided with an individualized quote based on their needs, goals and desired business solutions. We feel our pricing is very competitive for the services and value provided.

Yes, the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua), through its recently formed accrediting arm, The International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association (IEEA), has accredited the Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program Standards.  ISQua is widely recognized as the “accreditor of accreditors” and the reference point for international healthcare accrediting bodies seeking an external validation of their standards. IEEA accreditation provides assurance that the GHA standards meet the highest international benchmarks for accreditation entities.

GHA Program materials are currently only available in English. However, we do have information about GHA available in Spanish including our brochure.

On average, the GHA Accreditation process takes from 2-5 months, depending on your medical travel program’s stage of development and the resources dedicated to the project. The GHA accreditation team will work closely with your team to ensure you are ready for the onsite or remote accreditation visit.

Yes. Due to the COVID-19 Crisis, GHA has developed a Remote (Virtual) Accreditation Process that will allow our surveyors to effectively measure compliance against the GHA standards. This is accomplished through secure document and data review, virtual interviews and meetings, and facility process tracers aided by video. If you are interested in this option, please contact us at [email protected]