A new industry, medical tourism, has been created to advise patients on the appropriate facility in the right countryfor their condition, handle all travel arrangements, teleconference with physicians, and send medical records. Torespond to the growth in medical travel, the Joint Commission (formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation ofHealth Care Organizations) initiated the Joint Commission International (JCI) to accredit hospitals worldwide.Although outcome statistics from hospitals outside the United States are rare, first-person reports on quality arenumerous. Making surgery possible for uninsured and underinsured individuals or self-insured state, municipal,and private entities is a major benefit of medical tourism. Mitigating against medical travel are the lack of legalremedies in place for malpractice and the possibility that travel itself can impose risk to patients. For example,lengthy air flights where the patient is in a fixed position for hours at a time can cause embolisms. If the trend towardmedical tourism continues, continuing education, credentialing, and certification services may be required to helpassure patient safety.