American run hospital in Panama achieves JCI certification

In Panama City, a hospital run by Johns Hopkins Medicine has become the first in the country to receive JCI international accreditation. Hospital Punta Pacifica (HPP) in Panama City, Panama, has been awarded the official accreditation of Joint Commission International (JCI).

In Panama City, a hospital run by Johns Hopkins Medicine has become the first in the country to receive JCI international accreditation.

Hospital Punta Pacifica (HPP) in Panama City, Panama, has been awarded the official accreditation of Joint Commission International (JCI). Johns Hopkins Medicine International – the Baltimore, Maryland, USA-based international arm of Johns Hopkins Medicine — assisted Hospital Punta Pacifica in its preparation for the JCI accreditation review by providing rigorous training for the staff in quality, patient safety, infection control, leadership, nursing and human resource management, and by conducting assessments and mock surveys. HPP is a 74-bed hospital opened in March 2006, and managed by Johns Hopkins Medicine International since 2008.

Steve Thompson of Johns Hopkins Medicine International says, “Hospital Punta Pacifica has reached a very important milestone. This accreditation validates the efforts that our medical and management teams have undertaken throughout the years to position HPP as a model private health care institution, to raise the standards of the health care in the region and to deliver world-class medical care.”

Guatemala is fast emerging as a medical tourism destination as it offers lower prices than in Mexico and Costa Rica, a favorable US dollar exchange rate, short flights from the USA, doctors trained in Europe and North America, hospitals with JCI accreditation in process, plus hospitals in a residential area near international hotels and only 15 minutes from the airport.

The country already gets medical travellers from Southern Mexico and other countries of Central America. It offers highly affordable prices for anti-aging and wellness treatments, and a wide choice of treatments in alternative medicine (oxygen therapy, homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropraxis). Americans, Canadians and Europeans do not need a visa to visit Guatemala, a valid passport is enough.

While many Mexican hospitals and clinics concentrate on low price, some see that they need to offer more to prevent losing business to even lower cost competitors. Cosmetic surgeon Dr. Alejandro Qurioz of CosMed Clinic is one of the first to offer techniques not yet available in the US. Just minutes from the San Diego border in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, CosMed Clinic provides a convenient medical tourism destination for patients hoping to increase the size of their buttocks or breasts with Macrolane injections.