Joint Commission Behavioral Health Update
June 2015
In This Issue:

Greetings to Our Colleagues in Behavioral Healthcare!

We hope that you have begun to enjoy the summer season in your part of the country!

 

This month, we are very pleased to welcome a new associate to the Barrins & Associates consulting team. Mark Halal, LCSW, has joined us directly from The Joint Commission. Read more about Mark and his background in our introductory article.

 

Our feature article this month covers Waived Testing and the key TJC requirements and survey challenges. Review it carefully to make sure your organization is on top of these issues for your next survey.

 

We value your feedback on the newsletter. Please email us your comments and tell us what topics you would like to see in future issues. We look forward to hearing from you!  Also, feel free to forward this newsletter to your colleagues.  

 

Regards,

Anne Barrins

President/CEO

Looking to develop an internal TJC tracer process?

 

Contact us now to schedule training. You'll get tools and tips on how to use tracers for TJC survey success! 

1-877-546-7206
NEW CLIENTS!
Barrins & Associates is pleased to welcome four new clients this month: Sunspire Health Spring Hill located in Ashby, Mass., Satori Waters located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Chamberlain's Children Center located in Hollister, Calif., and NuLife Treatment Centers located in Woodland Hills, Calif. We are pleased to be working with all of these organizations on Joint Commission readiness!
Tip of the Month
Have questions about a TJC standard?
Check out the Standards FAQs on the TJC website. Many were updated in April 2015 and will give you the latest info on TJC standards compliance.
Why Choose
Barrins & Associates?
"Springstone operates a nationwide network of psychiatric hospitals and we are extremely pleased with Barrins & Associates. The team is razor sharp in identifying compliance issues and helping us solve them. We are looking forward to a long term partnership!" 

Tonya St. Clair, RN, MSN

VP of Operations

Springstone, Inc., Louisville, Ky.
INTRODUCING New Associate
B&A Welcomes Mark Halal, LCSW
Barrins & Associates is very pleased to welcome a new member to our consulting team! Mark Halal, LCSW has joined us directly from the TJC surveyor ranks. He  has hit the ground running in the last month, working with clients all across the country. Mark spent the last six years as a TJC surveyor. In that role, he surveyed hundreds of BH organizations throughout the United States and Europe. Mark also has extensive behavioral healthcare leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. You can see him in action on the TJC website where he is featured in a video on BH accreditation.


 

We look forward to introducing Mark to you and your organization in the near future. Please join us in welcoming him to the Barrins & Associates consulting team.
Nurse counseling patients
Waived Testing
A Refresher on Requirements
We still sometimes see organizations (both psychiatric hospitals and behavioral health organizations) receiving TJC survey findings related to waived testing. So, this month, we are recapping the requirements for waived testing and answering some frequently asked questions from our clients:
  • What exactly does "waived testing" mean?
  • What are the TJC requirements for waived testing?
  • Is Breathalyzer testing a waived test?
  • What types of RFIs do organizations get for waived testing?
  • Do the Waived Testing standards apply when patients/clients are using their own glucometers?

 Learn more about Waived Testing Requirements >
Congratulations Corner
Congratulations to our client Edgewood Center for Children and Families in San Francisco, Calif., who recently achieved initial Joint Commission accreditation! Edgewood provides community based, residential, school based and youth support services for children and families. In addition, the Edgewood Institute conducts research and evaluation nationwide with the goal of continuously improving service to children and families.

Congratulations to the Edgewood team on achieving the gold standard of Joint Commission accreditation!
Barrins & Associates provides Joint Commission and CMS consulting services for the Behavioral Healthcare industry. Our clients include psychiatric hospitals and freestanding Behavioral Healthcare organizations. We specialize in providing Survey Preparation and Continuous Survey Readiness services for the Behavioral Healthcare industry. Barrins & Associates was founded by Anne Barrins who was a Joint Commission surveyor for 13 years.

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