# How can a brochure’s hospital badge be checked?

> A brochure badge can be checked by matching its scheme, institution and dates to the relevant issuing body’s record.

A recognizable mark is a starting point for reading a claim. The surrounding words and certificate details determine which claim is actually being made.

Written by the Pyojiilgi Care Quality Study Group editorial team on October 29, 2026. Canonical address: https://accreditedhospitalguide.org/articles/checking-brochure-badges.

## What words identify an accreditation badge?

Look for the scheme name and issuing body before interpreting a mark’s appearance.

A brochure may place domestic accreditation, KAHF and JCI together. A general word such as certified does not identify which program or registration is meant. Use the actual scheme name printed beside the mark, in the certificate text or in the associated official record.

The badge reader lets a reader choose a known category and see its responsible body and scope. It does not inspect a logo image or authenticate artwork. If the scheme cannot be identified from the available wording, leave it unidentified and ask for the document details rather than guessing from colour or shape.

The scheme name also distinguishes a registration certificate from an assessment award. A recognizable design without that wording cannot tell the reader whether the document concerns entry requirements, a quality assessment or a named international program.

## Which institution does an accreditation badge refer to?

Match the full institution name, type and location instead of using a shared brand alone.

A short brochure name may differ from the formal name in a Korean record. Keep both labels and compare the identity information that can establish their relationship. An exact or similar name by itself does not determine whether another branch or affiliated organization is included.

The institution named on the certificate should be matched to the location being considered. If an address is absent, the identification question remains open. Another certificate with a familiar name cannot fill that gap unless its own source identifies the same institution and facility.

Retain a certificate or program identifier when it is supplied. It can help the issuer find the particular record while the institution’s name and address identify the entity. A source row number should not replace that document identifier.

**Details to copy from the claim**

| Detail | Question it resolves |
| --- | --- |
| Scheme and issuer | Who made what assessment? |
| Institution, type and location | Which entity and facility? |
| Grade and stated period | Which result and dates? |
| Program or certificate identifier | Which particular record? |

## How should grade wording beside an accreditation badge be read?

Keep the issuing body’s grade wording, especially the distinction between accreditation and conditional accreditation.

The Medical Service Act distinguishes three domestic grades, and KOIHA explains the four-year accredited and one-year conditional terms. A brochure that omits conditional from an award description would remove a material part of its grade. Read the complete wording and period rather than only the largest text.

A description of an application or survey is also different from an awarded grade. Check whether the wording says the institution applied, underwent assessment or received a result. A final accreditation claim needs the corresponding result; an earlier stage should retain its own description.

A source decision should not be made more positive or more negative to simplify the brochure. Keep the published result distinct from an application stage or an unavailable result, because those describe different information.

## Which dates should an accreditation badge show?

Use the stated certificate period and later decisions, keeping upload and portal-update dates separate.

A photograph or image can retain an old certificate after its original publication. The date the brochure was uploaded is not a substitute for the award period. Compare the stated start and end dates with the issuing body’s matched record and note the date on which that check was made.

The date tool prioritizes a supplied end date and labels any calendar illustration as a reference calculation. It does not determine cancellation or reassessment events. For JCI, the effective-date field must retain its original label; a missing end date is a question for the program’s issuing body.

A portal update can change a page without changing an institution’s award. Check the date label in the original source before treating a newly encountered document as a new certificate. The checking date belongs in its own place.

## Does an accreditation badge replace opening or recruitment documents?

Opening documents and recruitment registration concern separate procedures with their own responsible authorities.

Article 33 governs opening notification and permission, while domestic accreditation is addressed in Articles 58 onward. Recruitment registration belongs to Article 6 of the overseas healthcare legislation. A badge record should be used for the procedure it describes, leaving the other document questions to their own sources.

KAHF has a specific relationship with recruitment registration under Article 14(5), including deemed renewal and a period-ceiling provision. That relationship should be checked through the actual KAHF and registration records. It does not make every badge displayed on the brochure a substitute for every required document.

Professional qualifications have another subject: the clinician and specialty. They can be read alongside institutional documents without turning an individual’s qualification into the institution’s opening permission or accreditation grade.

## Which official route matches the accreditation badge?

Use KOIHA for domestic accreditation, MedicalKorea for recruitment and KAHF, and JCI’s international directory for its programs.

Begin with the scheme-specific entry point rather than a general search result about the hospital. Official searches can require a category, name or other identifying field. Read the instructions and compare the actual result to the brochure’s wording, preserving the source’s scope.

JCI’s international directory should be distinguished from the United States domestic search linked on the same site. MedicalKorea’s registration and KAHF lookups also address different credentials. Keeping the route name with the result makes it clear which question the search actually answered.

The official entry point is useful even if a page view fails, but the route itself is not a matched institution result. A reader should record whether the record actually loaded and which returned fields were available.

**Scheme-specific checking routes**

| Claim | Route | Compare |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Domestic accreditation | KOIHA status | Institution, grade, period |
| Recruitment registration | MedicalKorea | Entity and registration record |
| KAHF | MedicalKorea KAHF lookup | Identity and certificate details |
| JCI | International directory | Program, facility, decision |

## What if an accreditation badge still cannot be verified?

Keep the specific unanswered field and ask the relevant body with the document’s identifying details.

An unclear institution identity, an absent certificate period and a failed page load are different unresolved conditions. Describe which one occurred. None of them should be silently replaced with a positive or negative accreditation decision that the source did not return.

Retain the brochure wording and the official fields that were actually read, with the checking date. A later clarification can then be compared against a specific question. This approach avoids inventing a missing award, merging institutions or treating an old image as a promise about the current record.

A later answer can resolve one field without resolving all of them. Keep the issuer’s response attached to the same institution, scheme and document so that an answer about identity does not become an invented answer about dates or grades.

## What else do people ask about accreditation badge?

### Can an accreditation badge be authenticated from its appearance here?

The reader classifies wording and official routes; it does not authenticate artwork.

### What if the institution uses a brand name?

Compare the full official name and location.

### Is a brochure date the certificate period?

Keep publication and certificate dates separate.

### Which route checks JCI?

Use the international organization directory, with program and facility details.

### Does an unreadable result establish no award?

It leaves the result unresolved at that checking time.

## What should you read next?

- [Is Korean hospital accreditation a licence to operate?](https://accreditedhospitalguide.org/articles/accreditation-vs-license)
- [What does conditional hospital accreditation mean?](https://accreditedhospitalguide.org/articles/conditional-accreditation)
- [Korea hospital accreditation badge reader](https://accreditedhospitalguide.org/tools/badge-reader)
- [Korea accreditation records by institution type](https://accreditedhospitalguide.org/statistics/accreditation-by-type)

## Where do these numbers come from?

- [Medical Service Act](https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsInfoP.do?lsiSeq=290667) - National Law Information Center
- [Legislation on overseas healthcare and foreign-patient recruitment](https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsInfoP.do?lsiSeq=279693) - National Law Information Center
- [Accreditation results and grades](https://www.koiha.or.kr/web/kr/assessment/accResult.do) - Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation
- [Official accreditation status search](https://www.koiha.or.kr/web/kr/assessment/accStatus.do) - Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation
- [Foreign-patient recruitment registration](https://www.medicalkorea.or.kr/korp/intro/registration.do) - Korea Health Industry Development Institute
- [KAHF evaluation and accreditation](https://www.koiha.or.kr/web/kr/assessment/accKahfStatus.do) - Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation
- [Find JCI Accredited Organizations](https://www.jointcommission.org/en/about-us/recognizing-excellence/find-accredited-international-organizations) - Joint Commission International