“GHA brings a wealth of expertise and specialized knowledge to help healthcare organizations develop robust medical travel strategies that are sustainable and patient-focused.”
HOSPITALS Magazine is excited to interview Renée-Marie Stephano, CEO of Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA), known for its focus on medical travel. In this discussion, Stephano highlights how GHA’s accreditation enhances patient experiences and improves healthcare offerings worldwide. She explains GHA’s mission and how it helps healthcare organizations develop effective medical travel strategies. Stephano outlines the ways GHA improves the patient journey, manages risks, and builds trust with international patients. She also shares success stories that showcase the measurable impacts of GHA’s guidance. Let’s explore her insights on GHA’s transformative role in healthcare.
Who is GHA and what is your mission?
Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) was founded in 2016 with a clear vision: to establish best practices in medical travel that enhance quality, improve patient experience, and mitigate risks across the entire care continuum. However, we see ourselves as more than just an accreditation body—we’re strategic partners dedicated to advancing global healthcare practices.
Our team brings together expertise from top accreditation agencies, healthcare innovators, and seasoned medical travel executives. This unique blend of knowledge allows us to offer customized solutions for governments, healthcare organizations, and industry leaders worldwide.
Our mission extends beyond traditional boundaries, aiming to raise healthcare standards globally by bridging the gaps between medical tourism, healthcare services, hospitality, and wellness. We have also developed programs for key stakeholders in the medical travel industry, including physicians, facilitator agencies, hotels, and telehealth programs, to promote a safe and quality patient experience across all touch points.
We are proud to count among our accredited clients, some of the top hospital brands in the world, underscoring the value we bring to our clients.
Healthcare organizations partnering with GHA often see increased patient volumes and higher satisfaction scores. Moreover, our accreditation process and strategic guidance contribute to the overall enhancement of business strategies, positioning our partners at the forefront of the global healthcare market.
It’s important to keep in mind that today’s traveling patients are more discerning than ever when considering their healthcare options. Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) sets the standard for organizations that are ready to build patient confidence and trust in their brand through the implementation and validation of best practices that prioritize quality, safety and patient experience.
What do you see as the primary benefits of accreditation to healthcare providers?
Accreditation, whether for general healthcare services or specialized areas like medical travel, provides numerous benefits to healthcare providers. It demonstrates a willingness to undergo rigorous evaluation by an independent third party, assessing compliance with recognized best practice standards. This process builds trust, enhances the organization’s reputation, and strengthens patient confidence.
It also drives continuous quality improvement, enhances patient safety, and often leads to more efficient operations. For general healthcare, this can result in better clinical outcomes, reduced costs, and improved staff satisfaction. In the medical travel context, accreditation addresses the unique challenges of serving international patients, from cultural competence to continuity of care across borders.
By adhering to recognized standards in both general healthcare and medical travel, providers position themselves as leaders in quality and patient-centered care. This not only has the potential to attract more patients— both local and international—but also contributes to the overall advancement of healthcare practices globally.
Developing a successful medical travel strategy can be challenging. What unique insights and expertise does GHA bring to healthcare organizations looking to create or refine their programs?
GHA brings a wealth of expertise and specialized knowledge to help healthcare organizations develop robust medical travel strategies that are sustainable and patient-focused.
With extensive experience in medical travel, we offer healthcare organizations unique insights into market trends, patient expectations, and best practices. We leverage data, research, and our global network to help organizations understand which services to prioritize and how to attract international patients.
One of our key strengths is the ability to provide customized solutions. Every healthcare organization has its own set of strengths, weaknesses, and target markets. GHA works closely with organizations to develop a strategy that aligns with their specific goals—whether that means attracting patients from specific regions, offering specialized services, or improving operational efficiency.
A successful medical travel strategy isn’t just about marketing; it requires integration across all departments, from admissions to discharge. GHA assists organizations in streamlining their processes to handle the logistical complexities of medical travel, ensuring that the patient journey is seamless at every stage. Our holistic approach ensures that healthcare providers can build or refine their medical travel programs with confidence and measurable success.
Improving the patient experience is a critical aspect of medical travel. How do your programs specifically help healthcare organizations enhance the entire patient journey, from pre-arrival to post-treatment?
Improving the patient experience in medical travel goes beyond providing excellent clinical care; it’s about ensuring a seamless journey from the moment a patient considers traveling for treatment to the time they return home. At Global Healthcare Accreditation, our programs are specifically designed to support healthcare organizations in enhancing this entire process.
Starting with the pre-arrival phase, we help organizations improve communication and transparency, which is crucial for building patient confidence, especially when they are traveling across borders. This involves guiding healthcare providers in creating clear, culturally sensitive, and multilingual communication strategies. These efforts ensure that patients fully understand their treatment options and have the necessary logistical support for things like visas, accommodations, and travel arrangements.
During the treatment phase, our focus shifts to ensuring that patients feel welcomed and supported within the healthcare facility. This includes not only clinical care but also the overall environment—everything from patient-centered hospitality to addressing any cultural or dietary needs. We help organizations implement processes that foster trust and comfort, ensuring that patients are not just treated but cared for in every sense.
Post-treatment, the patient’s journey continues. GHA assists healthcare organizations in establishing robust follow-up systems to ensure patients have access to necessary aftercare, whether that involves monitoring recovery remotely or coordinating with local physicians in their home country. By improving continuity of care, organizations can reduce the stress and uncertainty that can accompany post-treatment recovery, particularly for international patients. In short, our programs are designed to create a patient-centered experience that extends far beyond the medical procedure itself, ensuring healthcare organizations provide an experience that feels seamless, personalized, and reassuring at every step.
How does GHA help healthcare organizations identify and mitigate risks specific to medical travel patients that might be overlooked in standard healthcare processes?
Medical travel presents unique risks that are often not fully addressed in traditional healthcare processes. At GHA, we help organizations proactively identify and mitigate these risks to ensure patient safety and satisfaction. We guide healthcare organizations in addressing communication barriers and cultural differences, which can significantly affect patient safety. Language misunderstandings or differences in expectations can lead to treatment delays or errors. We help organizations develop strategies to bridge these gaps, including hiring multilingual staff and providing culturally competent care. Traveling patients face additional risks, such as complications from long-haul flights, jet lag, or unfamiliarity with local health systems. Our programs include guidance on mitigating these risks by ensuring facilities have comprehensive pre-travel risk assessments, medical travel insurance partnerships, and protocols for managing complications post-discharge when the patient is far from their home country.
International patients may carry infections from their home country or be exposed to different pathogens during travel. GHA helps healthcare organizations enhance their infection control practices and screen for potential risks that are unique to cross-border healthcare. By focusing on these often-overlooked risks, GHA accreditation ensures that healthcare organizations provide a higher standard of care for medical travel patients.
In terms of patient safety and quality, what are some key areas where GHA’s accreditation makes a measurable impact for healthcare organizations?
GHA accreditation makes a significant impact in several key areas that directly affect patient safety and quality. GHA emphasizes a focus on delivering personalized, culturally sensitive care. Accredited organizations are required to recognize and address the unique needs of medical travel patients, ensuring they feel understood, respected, and well-supported throughout their treatment. We help healthcare providers adopt safety standards that meet the unique needs of medical travel patients. This includes tailored risk management strategies, pre-travel assessment, medication reconciliation across the medical travel care continuum, and enhanced communication protocols to avoid misunderstandings between providers and patients from diverse backgrounds.
One of the main challenges in medical travel is ensuring continuity of care once the patient returns home. GHA ensures that organizations have systems in place for robust post-treatment follow-up, offering remote consultations and partnerships with local healthcare providers to support patient recovery. By addressing these areas, GHA accreditation helps healthcare organizations create a safer, higher-quality care environment, which translates into better patient outcomes and improved organizational performance.
Medical travel involves many stakeholders beyond just hospitals. Can you explain how GHA supports various health and travel stakeholders, such as physicians, facilitators, and even hotels, in aligning for patient success?
Medical travel is a complex ecosystem that involves multiple stakeholders—hospitals, physicians, facilitators, hotels, and even local tourism agencies. GHA recognizes the need for collaboration across these sectors to ensure a safe and positive patient experience. Our programs are designed to be flexible and provide support at various stages of development, whether the organization is just starting to explore medical travel or looking to enhance existing services. This includes comprehensive training, coaching, and advisory services focused on areas like medical travel strategy, wellness, market identification, building strategic partnerships, implementing safety protocols, and improving the overall patient/guest experience.
For example, we provide guidance to healthcare organizations on how to involve physicians in the entire medical travel process. This includes pre-travel consultations, treatment coordination, and post-treatment follow-up. We also offer training and certification programs for physicians to and staff to help them better understand the unique needs of international patients.
Medical travel facilitators play a crucial role in coordinating care. GHA offers accreditation and best practices for facilitators, ensuring they have the right systems in place to guide patients through the entire process—from initial inquiry to follow-up care. This ensures a smoother experience for the patient and a stronger partnership between facilitators and healthcare providers. Recognizing that medical travelers often need accommodation and recovery services, GHA helps organizations build partnerships with wellness facilities. GHA’s WellHotel® Accreditation certifies hotels, resorts, and rental properties that provide holistic wellness experiences, including tiers for medical travelers and corporate wellness. These hotels earn the trusted WellHotel® seal through a comprehensive review and site inspection, validating their safety, cleanliness, and ability to meet cultural, dietary, and accessibility needs—enhancing patient/guest trust and experience.
Additionally, GHA’s Telehealth Accreditation program benchmarks excellence in telehealth, evaluating patient experience, care processes, and business practices. By accrediting telehealth services, GHA ensures that the same rigorous standards applied to in-person care also extend to digital health platforms, enhancing patient safety and continuity of care.
By aligning these various stakeholders, GHA ensures a cohesive, patient-centered experience that leads to better outcomes and satisfaction for medical travel patients.
How do GHA’s standards and accreditation programs help healthcare organizations not only attract international patients but also build trust with them throughout their healthcare journey?
GHA’s standards and accreditation programs are specifically designed to help healthcare organizations attract international patients by creating a foundation of trust and reliability. By meeting GHA’s rigorous standards, organizations demonstrate their commitment to providing safe, high-quality care that caters to the unique needs of medical travel patients. This is crucial for patients who are traveling abroad for treatment and may have concerns about the quality of care, cultural differences, or language barriers. GHA accreditation helps build confidence right from the initial stages of inquiry, as patients can be assured that the facility has met international best practices. Additionally, our programs emphasize not just clinical quality but the entire patient experience—ensuring that healthcare providers are well-equipped to manage the logistics, communication, and aftercare needs of international patients. This comprehensive approach fosters trust throughout the entire healthcare journey, from the first point of contact to follow-up care after the patient has returned home.
Can you share any success stories where healthcare organizations improved their medical travel programs or patient outcomes by working with GHA? What measurable changes did they experience?
One of the most compelling aspects of GHA’s work is the tangible success stories from healthcare organizations that have worked with us to enhance their medical travel programs. For example, a hospital in the Middle East that sought to increase its international patient base worked closely with GHA to address several key areas. By adopting our accreditation standards, they improved communication protocols, trained staff to better handle cultural differences, and streamlined their logistics for international patients. Within the first year of accreditation, the hospital saw a 30% increase in international patient inquiries and a significant rise in patient satisfaction scores. Another success story comes from a Southeast Asian hospital that, after working with GHA, reduced its post-treatment complication rate by 15%, due to improved risk management strategies and better continuity of care protocols.
These measurable changes demonstrate how GHA’s programs lead to improved patient outcomes and organizational performance.
What sets GHA apart from other accreditation or consulting organizations in the medical travel space, particularly in terms of the depth of services you provide across the entire patient journey?
What sets GHA apart is our comprehensive, patient-centered approach that goes beyond clinical quality, encompassing every touchpoint of the medical travel journey.
However, we not only evaluate the quality and safety of healthcare services but also the key business areas that drive the success of medical travel programs—like marketing, financial transactions, and IT systems.
This ensures that the entire ecosystem supporting medical travel is optimized for both patient care and operational performance, which ultimately boosts the financial health of the program.
Additionally, GHA offers unmatched post-accreditation visibility and branding opportunities to elevate our clients’ profiles in the global market. Through collaborations with Medical Tourism Magazine—the largest publication in the industry with a readership of over 2 million—we provide clients with strategic media exposure, including interviews and press releases that highlight their success. Our globally recognized seal of accreditation is not just a mark of quality but also serves as a powerful branding tool that enhances trust and credibility among international patients, payers, and stakeholders.
At GHA, we measure our success through the achievements and success of our clients. We strive to be a strategic partner, working closely with healthcare organizations and other stakeholders to ensure their medical travel programs are not only aligned with the highest standards but are also positioned for long-term growth, visibility, and market leadership. This unique combination of holistic evaluation, expert guidance, and global visibility truly sets GHA apart in the medical travel space.
