They each test something different: whether the clinic does diagnostic medicine, whether they're transparent on operator and procedure, whether they understand their own product, whether they're honest on outcomes, and whether they're willing to say no. Together they distinguish a clinic from a sales operation.

Should I really ask all five out loud?

Yes. The discomfort of asking is much smaller than the cost of finding out the answers after you've paid.

Are there other questions worth asking?

Many. The full version is in the [How to evaluate a regenerative medicine clinic](/guides/evaluate-a-regen-clinic) guide. The five here are the minimum.

5 Questions to Ask a Stem Cell Clinic Before You Pay

I get a version of this conversation almost weekly: a patient who's been to two or three regenerative clinics already, has gotten three different quotes for three different protocols, and is trying to figure out who's right.

The answer often isn't obvious from the patient's perspective. The clinics all look similar. The pitches all sound confident. The pricing is in the same ballpark. There's no clear external arbiter.

What helps is a small number of pointed questions that test the clinic's actual practice. The five below are the ones I'd ask if I were shopping for this care myself. They each test something a glossy website can't fake.

1. "Will you review my imaging before quoting a protocol?"

The fastest filter. Real clinical work goes from history to imaging to a written plan. A clinic that quotes you a five-figure protocol over the phone, before reviewing your MRI, isn't practicing medicine.

The right answer is some version of "yes, we'd need to see your imaging during the consultation before pricing anything." If the answer is "we have packages starting at $X,000" before they've seen anything, you have your answer.

2. "Who will be doing my injection, and what's their procedural training?"

In Texas, mid-level providers can inject under physician supervision. That's legal. What matters for outcomes and safety is whether the person holding the needle has formal, documented training in image-guided injection of the specific structure you're getting treated.

Ask for the operator's name, their credentials, their training pathway, and roughly how many of these procedures they've performed. Ask if the supervising physician is on site during the procedure. A clinic that can't answer cleanly is one to skip.

3. "What's the cell source, the processor, and the regulatory pathway?"

If the clinic is offering stem cell or exosome therapy, they should be able to tell you in plain English:

The source tissue (umbilical cord, bone marrow, adipose, etc.)
Whether the cells are allogeneic (donor) or autologous (yours)
The processor's name, location, and FDA registration
Which regulatory pathway the product operates under (361 vs 351)
The cell count per dose

If they hand you a marketing brochure instead of answering, the answer is that they don't know, or that they're hoping you don't ask.

At Apex we can show you the documentation, name the processor, and tell you the cell count. Any clinic worth your money should hold the same standard.

4. "What's your re-evaluation process if I don't respond?"

Every regenerative protocol has non-responders. The 60 to 70 percent response rate for a good MSC protocol in moderate knee osteoarthritis is a real number, which means 30 to 40 percent of patients have partial or absent response. Any clinic claiming a 100 percent success rate is either lying or not tracking outcomes.

The right answer includes:

A re-evaluation timeline (typically 12 weeks).
Defined outcome measures (pain scores, function scores).
A path for non-responders that includes alternate modalities, surgical referral, or simply not pursuing more cellular therapy.
An honest discussion of what success and failure look like before you commit.

The wrong answer is "we'll just do another round." Defaulting to a second injection on a non-responder, without re-evaluating whether the protocol was the right tool in the first place, is malpractice with marketing on top.

5. "Have you ever declined to treat a patient who was willing to pay? Why?"

This is the question with the most signal and the least cost to ask.

A clinic that has never declined a paying patient is a clinic where the math always works out in their favor. That's not medicine. We've written a whole post about cases we turned away last quarter because we think this is the single best indicator of how a regenerative practice actually operates.

The right answers sound like: "Yes, we turn away patients for X, Y, and Z reasons. We saw a patient last month who I thought was better served by a surgical consult and we sent them out." If the clinic can't name an example, ask why.

A closing note

These five questions take maybe two minutes to ask, and a credible clinic can answer all of them on the first phone call. A non-credible clinic will deflect, redirect, or treat the questions as adversarial.

You're allowed to ask. You're paying out of pocket for medical care. You should be evaluating the clinic at least as carefully as the clinic is evaluating you.

If you're shopping the DFW market and want to add us to the list, request a consultation. We'll answer all five before you ever step in the door.

Five Questions to Bring to Any Regenerative Consultation