Accréditation Sans Frontières · ASF Health Standards 9.0
Standard 20 · Medical Tourism
10 criteria · optional module (declare to apply)
Optional module (declare to apply). 10 criteria, of which 8 non-negotiable. Each criterion is numbered 20.Y, with its classification and verification questions.
Criteria
- 20.1 Pricing Transparency for International Patients (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
- 20.2 Remote Records Transfer to Home-Country Physician (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
- 20.3 Language Access for Foreign Patients (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
- 20.4 Travel, Accommodation, and Logistics Coordination (CORE)
- 20.5 Post-Return Complication Tracking (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
- 20.6 Visa and Embassy Support Documentation (CORE)
- 20.7 International Patient Complaint and Redress Process (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
- 20.8 Facilitator and Agent Verification (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
- 20.9 Travel-Associated Infection Risk Protocol (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
- 20.10 Post-Procedure Travel Timing and Venous Thromboembolism Risk (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
20.1 Pricing Transparency for International Patients
NON-NEGOTIABLE
International patients receive a complete, written, all-inclusive cost estimate before travel is booked — covering the procedure, hospital stay, and commonly needed extras — not a partial quote that grows once the patient has already committed to travelling.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Is a complete, written cost estimate provided before the patient books travel?
Before travel is booked, not after arrival — the point where the patient still has a choice. - Does the estimate cover commonly needed extras, not just the base procedure?
Anaesthesia, extended stay, common complications — the items that turn a quoted price into a surprise. - Can a recent international patient confirm the final cost matched the estimate, or that any difference was clearly explained in advance?
Tests whether the estimate was honest, not just early.
20.2 Remote Records Transfer to Home-Country Physician
NON-NEGOTIABLE
A complete, usable record of the care provided is transferred to the patient's home-country physician, in a format that physician can use — not a discharge summary that stays in the treating facility's own system.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Is a complete treatment record transferred to the patient's home-country physician, not just given to the patient to pass along?
Direct transfer, not relying on the patient to correctly deliver and explain their own paperwork. - Is the record provided in a language and format the home physician can use?
Translated where needed, not just exported in the treating facility's own internal format. - Is transfer confirmed as received, not just sent?
A record sent into an unconfirmed inbox provides no more protection than no record at all.
20.3 Language Access for Foreign Patients
NON-NEGOTIABLE
Foreign patients have access to a competent interpreter for consent, treatment discussions, and discharge instructions — not an ad hoc arrangement using whichever staff member happens to speak some of the patient's language.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Is a competent interpreter
professional or trained — used for consent and major treatment discussions? — Not whichever staff member happens to speak some of the language informally. - Are discharge instructions specifically covered through proper language access, not simplified or skipped due to language barriers?
Discharge is a point where miscommunication can cause harm after the patient returns home. - Can the facility name which languages it can support, and what happens when a patient's language is not covered?
A specific, honest answer, not a general assurance that language is never a problem.
20.4 Travel, Accommodation, and Logistics Coordination
CORE
The facility provides or coordinates support for travel and accommodation logistics around the procedure — not leaving an international patient, often recovering from treatment, to navigate this entirely alone in an unfamiliar country.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Does the facility provide or coordinate support for accommodation appropriate to the patient's recovery needs?
Matched to actual recovery requirements, not a generic hotel list handed over without guidance. - Is local transport between accommodation and the facility arranged or clearly explained?
Not an assumption that the patient will work out local transport independently while recovering. - Is there a named point of contact for logistics questions during the patient's stay?
A specific person or service the patient can reach, not a general inquiry line.
20.5 Post-Return Complication Tracking
NON-NEGOTIABLE
The facility actively tracks what happens to international patients after they return home — including complications discovered by a home-country physician — not just relying on a generic follow-up call that a satisfied patient may not bother answering.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Is there a specific, active mechanism to learn about complications discovered after a patient returns home?
Beyond a generic satisfaction call — a channel for the patient's home physician or the patient themselves to report a problem. - Does the facility request feedback from the patient's home physician, not only the patient?
A home physician is often better positioned to identify a complication than the patient describing symptoms informally. - Are post-return complications, when identified, tracked and reviewed as a quality indicator?
Tracking without review misses the chance to improve future international patient care.
20.6 Visa and Embassy Support Documentation
CORE
The facility provides the specific documentation international patients need for medical visa applications and embassy requirements, correctly and promptly — not generic paperwork that leaves the patient to figure out what is required themselves.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Does the facility know the specific visa and documentation requirements for the countries its patients most commonly travel from?
Specific, current knowledge, not general awareness that visas are sometimes needed. - Are required documents provided correctly and promptly, avoiding delays that could affect a patient's ability to travel in time?
Timeliness matters especially for clinically urgent cases. - Is there a named person responsible for visa and embassy documentation support?
Specific ownership, not a task that falls to whoever happens to have time.
20.7 International Patient Complaint and Redress Process
NON-NEGOTIABLE
International patients have access to a complaint and redress process reachable from their home country, with evidence complaints are addressed — not a process that functionally only works for a patient still physically present in the country.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Can an international patient submit a complaint from their home country, in a language they can use?
Reachable remotely, in a language the patient can communicate in. - Is there evidence international patient complaints are reviewed and result in a response?
Not just receipt acknowledgment — a substantive response addressing the actual concern. - Does the process account for the practical difficulty of an international patient providing follow-up information or documentation from abroad?
A process designed only for local patients can create unreasonable barriers for someone no longer in the country.
20.8 Facilitator and Agent Verification
NON-NEGOTIABLE
Any third-party medical tourism facilitator or agent the facility works with is verified and held to a defined standard of conduct — not an unregulated intermediary operating without any accountability to the facility or the patient.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Does the facility maintain a list of verified facilitators and agents it works with?
A specific, maintained list, not an open, unmonitored referral relationship with anyone claiming to be an agent. - Is there a defined standard of conduct facilitators must meet, covering accurate representation of costs, risks, and outcomes?
A specific, communicated standard, not an assumption that facilitators will represent things accurately on their own. - Is there a process for addressing a facilitator found to have misrepresented information to a patient?
A defined consequence, not an unaddressed pattern of misrepresentation.
20.9 Travel-Associated Infection Risk Protocol
NON-NEGOTIABLE
International patients are assessed for travel-associated infection risk specific to their journey and country of origin, with appropriate screening and precautions applied — not treated identically to a local patient with no recent travel history.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Is there a specific screening protocol for travel-associated infection risk applied to international patients?
Beyond standard admission screening — specific attention to recent travel and country-of-origin risk factors. - Does screening account for country-specific resistance patterns where relevant?
Generic screening can miss risks specific to certain regions or recent healthcare exposure abroad. - Are appropriate precautions applied based on screening results, not just documented and set aside?
Findings that do not change practice provide no protection.
20.10 Post-Procedure Travel Timing and Venous Thromboembolism Risk
NON-NEGOTIABLE
Every international patient receives a specific, documented discussion of safe travel timing after their procedure — including the elevated blood clot risk from combining recent surgery with air travel — not a general assumption that the patient will figure out when it is safe to fly home.
VERIFICATION QUESTIONS
- Does every international patient receive a specific, documented discussion of safe travel timing for their specific procedure?
A specific, procedure-appropriate discussion, not a generic travel disclaimer. - Is the discussion specific to blood clot risk from combining this procedure with air travel, not general recovery advice?
The specific risk named directly, not folded into general aftercare instructions. - Can the patient explain back the recommended minimum time before flying, specific to their own procedure?
Tests understanding specific to this patient, not general awareness that travel timing matters. ————————————————————