Clínica de Especialidades Oftalmológicas (CEO) Becomes First Organization in the World Accredited Under GHA Healthcare Organization Standards 1.0 and GHA Integrated Accreditation for Medical Travel
MEDELLÍN, Colombia, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- La Clínica de Especialidades Oftalmológicas (CEO) has become the first organization in the world to be accredited under Global Healthcare Accreditation's (GHA) Standards for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations 1.0 and the first organization to achieve GHA's Integrated Accreditation Program for Medical Travel, marking a historic milestone for the organization, Colombia, and the region.
Representatives from Clínica de Especialidades Oftalmológicas (CEO) and Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) celebrate CEO’s achievement as the first organization in the world accredited under GHA Healthcare Organization Standards 1.0 and the first to complete GHA’s Integrated Accreditation Program for Medical Travel.
The accreditation recognizes CEO's Medellín, Envigado, and Rionegro sites for successfully meeting the requirements of both GHA Accreditation Standards for Healthcare Organizations 1.0 and GHA Accreditation for Medical Travel Services 5.2 through an integrated accreditation process. The latter remains a key differentiator, recognizing excellence across the full international patient journey and reinforcing CEO's position as a trusted destination for medical travelers.
GHA's Integrated Accreditation Program combines clinical quality, patient safety, organizational performance, and medical travel patient experience into a single strategic framework. This pathway allows healthcare organizations to align local and international patient services while reducing duplication, strengthening operational consistency, and demonstrating excellence across both clinical and medical travel standards.
"This international recognition confirms that it is possible to achieve world-class standards in patient safety, clinical quality, and patient experience in Colombia," said José Francisco Bernal Márquez, General Manager of Clínica de Oftalmología CEO. "We are deeply honored to have been selected by Global Healthcare Accreditation as a global pilot institution for this new accreditation model and to become the first organization accredited under the Integrated Accreditation Program. This achievement represents the culmination of a long, demanding, and extremely valuable journey with GHA over the past year and a half, which has included training, Gap Assessments, and our achievement of Certification for Excellence in Medical Travel Patient Experience. Through this process, we have strengthened our quality and safety systems, enhanced the patient experience for both local and international patients, and seen meaningful growth in our international patient volume. Most importantly, this achievement reflects the commitment, discipline, and passion of our entire team to provide exceptional care to every patient."
"CEO has achieved a truly historic distinction as the first organization in the world to be accredited under GHA's Healthcare Organization Standards 1.0 and the first organization to complete GHA's Integrated Accreditation Program," said Renée-Marie Stephano, Chief Executive Officer of Global Healthcare Accreditation. "CEO's achievement demonstrates how a serious medical travel program can strengthen an organization far beyond international patient growth alone. When patient experience, safety, quality, and operational systems are improved across every touchpoint, the benefits extend to all patients. CEO has shown that medical travel, when aligned with clinical quality and patient-centered care, can directly support better outcomes and a stronger healthcare experience for both local and international patients."
As part of the integrated accreditation process, CEO was evaluated against two internationally recognized GHA standards programs. The GHA Accreditation Standards for Healthcare Organizations 1.0 focus on strengthening patient safety, clinical quality, governance, infection prevention and control, medication management, workforce competency, risk management, continuity of care, and continuous improvement. The standards have been accredited by ISQua EEA, providing independent validation that they meet internationally recognized principles for healthcare accreditation programs.
GHA Accreditation for Medical Travel Services 5.2 evaluates the full medical travel patient journey, including inquiry management, pre-arrival coordination, care delivery, discharge planning, follow-up, patient experience, cultural competency, financial transparency, risk management, and sustainable business practices. The program is designed to help healthcare organizations strengthen trust with international patients, insurers, employers, and referring partners while improving the performance and operational effectiveness of their medical travel programs.
"The Integrated Accreditation process is rigorous because it looks at the organization from multiple perspectives, including clinical quality, patient safety, governance, risk management, care coordination, and the full patient experience," said Claudia Jorgenson, Director of Clinical Operations at Global Healthcare Accreditation. "CEO's leadership demonstrated a clear vision for continuous improvement, and their teams showed exceptional dedication throughout the process. What stood out was not only their readiness for accreditation, but their willingness to learn, improve, and strengthen systems in ways that directly benefit the patients and families they serve."
Founded 18 years ago, Clínica de Especialidades Oftalmológicas CEO has established itself as a leading ophthalmology provider in Colombia. The organization is supported by a team of 57 ophthalmologists and performs approximately 1,000 surgical procedures per month. Throughout its history, CEO has completed more than 150,000 ophthalmic surgeries.
During the evaluation process, GHA surveyors noted CEO's strong culture of quality, high level of staff commitment, well-established processes, and patient-centered approach to care. The organization also demonstrated strong clinical and safety indicators, including zero institutional surgical infections over the past eight years, a 0.8% reoperation rate, zero complex adverse events, and a 0.3% minor adverse event rate.
With this significant milestone, CEO reaffirms its commitment to clinical excellence, innovation, patient safety, continuous improvement, and strengthening Colombia's reputation as a trusted destination for specialized healthcare and medical travel.
Global Healthcare Accreditation is an internationally recognized organization focused on improving the quality, safety, and patient experience of medical travel and healthcare services. Through accreditation, certification, training, and advisory services, GHA helps healthcare organizations strengthen patient experience, clinical quality, operational performance, and trust with patients, payers, employers, insurers, and partners worldwide.
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