Joint Commission Behavioral Health Update
July 2015
In This Issue:

Greetings to Our Colleagues in Behavioral Healthcare!

Now that summer has reached its peak, we trust that many of you are off on some well deserved vacation. To keep you informed even in this more leisurely season, we are providing information on two topics of interest.

 

Our first article provides highlights of TJC's new proposed standards for eating disorder programs. These are out for field review until August 17th. Our second article shares tips for assessing the competency of staff who facilitate groups. This is an issue that we have seen come up on surveys of both psychiatric hospitals and behavioral health organizations.

 

We value your feedback on the newsletter. Please send 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.

 

Enjoy the rest of your summer and we will be back in touch in September!

 

Regards,

Anne Barrins
President/CEO

Are you a substance abuse provider considering TJC accreditation?

 

Contact us now to learn about our customized consultation for SA agencies. It provides a clear path for achieving TJC accreditation which is increasingly preferred by many insurance companies.

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NEW CLIENTS!
Barrins & Associates is pleased to welcome three new clients this month: A Mission for Michael in Orange County, Calif., Transformations Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center in Delray Beach, Fla., and Silver Rock Recovery in Las Vegas, Nev. We are pleased to be working with all of these organizations on achieving initial TJC accreditation!
Why Choose
Barrins & Associates?
"We used Barrins & Associates for initial TJC accreditation for our substance abuse treatment program in Memphis. Their highly focused approach made the path to accreditation clear and achievable. We were so pleased with their work that we used them again when we opened our next facility. We highly recommend them to any behavioral health organization seeking top notch TJC consultants."

Paige Bottom, CEO

La Paloma Treatment Center

Memphis, Tennessee
Woman in Therapy Session
Eating Disorder Programs
NEW Proposed Standards
The Joint Commission has published proposed standards for accredited behavioral health organizations providing services to individuals with eating disorders. The proposed standards are the result of collaboration between the TJC Behavioral Health Care Accreditation Program and leaders of several prominent eating disorder programs throughout the country. These proposed standards are posted on the TJC website and TJC is eliciting feedback from the field through August 17.

Take a look at these new standards >
Competency Assessment
for group Facilitators
"How do you know this clinician is competent to run these groups?"

That was the question asked by the nurse surveyor during the Human Resources interview on a psychiatric hospital survey. She was reviewing the file of an inpatient therapist who was a licensed clinical social worker. The HR Director responded by showing that all of the therapist's credentials had been verified (license, education, etc.,) but the surveyor kept pushing the issue and asked to speak with the Clinical Director who was the therapist's supervisor.

Continue Reading > 
Congratulations Corner
Barrins & Associates is pleased to welcome three new clients this month: A Mission for Michael in Orange County, Calif., Transformations Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center in Delray Beach, Fla., and Silver Rock Recovery in Las Vegas, Nev. We are pleased to be working with all of these organizations on achieving initial TJC accreditation!
Learn more about these organizations >
Tip of the Month
TJC recently updated its Survey Activity Guide effective July 2015. There are updates on activities related to the Life Safety engineer surveyor. There's also a new Life Safety and Environment of Care Document List and Review Tool, which is a great resource for survey preparation.
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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