BETH Exclusive: Government decision moves CBAHI beyond domestic accreditation to provide services abroad, opening a new market for Saudi regulatory expertise

Riyadh | BETH Exclusive

BETH has identified a significant shift in one of the decisions issued today by the Saudi Cabinet, allowing the Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions (CBAHI) to provide accreditation services to healthcare facilities outside the Kingdom, in accordance with regulations approved by the Saudi Health Council.

The decision goes beyond expanding the geographical scope of CBAHI’s services. For the first time, it opens the door for Saudi quality and patient safety standards to move from domestic application into international healthcare markets.

CBAHI’s work had focused on evaluating public and private healthcare facilities within the Kingdom and granting accreditation according to national standards. The new decision will gradually transform it into a cross-border service provider capable of evaluating foreign hospitals and healthcare centers and granting them Saudi accreditation.

The significance of the move is further strengthened by CBAHI’s announcement last June that it had been designated a World Health Organization collaborating center, providing it with international support ahead of its expansion abroad. A scientific study published in 2025 also indicated that CBAHI’s methodology for developing standards could benefit countries and institutions seeking to improve their accreditation and patient safety systems.

BETH Analysis

The most important information between the lines of the decision is that the Kingdom is not moving only toward exporting medical services and healthcare investments, but also toward exporting the standards by which the quality of those services is measured.

The expansion could generate service revenue for CBAHI, strengthen its regulatory presence, and enable it to build partnerships with governments and hospitals, particularly in countries requiring accreditation systems suited to their healthcare and cultural environments.

However, its transformation into an international accreditation brand will depend on the forthcoming regulations, international recognition of its certificates, the independence of its assessments, and the selection of the first markets it enters.