Latest Blogs
Can Accreditation Standards Help You Tackle Staffing Challenges?
This blog explores how strengthening HR practices and investing in staff support can enhance workforce readiness and operational health, even for organizations not actively pursuing accreditation. It highlights practical, manageable strategies—like aligning HR policies, rethinking recruitment, leveraging technology, and fostering inclusive communication—that can lead to long-term improvements. Rather than requiring sweeping changes, the blog emphasizes how small, targeted efforts can stabilize teams, reduce stress, and create momentum for broader organizational growth. It also offers actionable tools to guide these efforts and encourages organizations to view workforce challenges as opportunities for positive transformation.
From Good to Great: How Accreditation Transforms Human Service Organizations
Pursuing national accreditation is a meaningful step that reflects a deep commitment to quality, transparency, and continuous improvement. This blog explains how accreditation goes far beyond meeting minimum requirements—it strengthens leadership, improves daily operations, enhances risk management, and builds credibility with funders and partners. From better outcomes for clients to long-term financial and strategic benefits, accreditation helps organizations become more resilient, efficient, and trusted.
The Power of Preparation: How a Mock Survey Strengthens Your Accreditation Readiness
A mock accreditation survey helps organizations identify gaps, test real-world readiness, and build confidence before the official review. It ensures policies aren’t just on paper—they’re in practice. With expert guidance, staff and leadership are fully prepared to demonstrate compliance and excellence when it counts.
No Surprises: How Smart Succession Planning Protects Your Mission
Leadership transitions are inevitable—will your organization be prepared? Without a plan, instability and disruptions can follow. This blog outlines five key steps to ensure a smooth transition, from developing internal talent to creating emergency plans.
Smart Tech, Smarter Organizations: Aligning Technology with Behavioral Health and Human Service Accreditation
This blog explores the transformative role of technology in behavioral health and human service organizations, emphasizing its necessity for efficiency, compliance, and improved care outcomes. It delves into strategic steps for technology integration, such as safeguarding data, aligning tools with accreditation goals, and leveraging AI for predictive insights and resource optimization.
From Vision to Action: The Power of Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is essential for behavioral health and human service organizations to achieve stability, growth, and meaningful impact. This blog explores how a well-crafted plan aligns operations with mission-driven goals, addresses key challenges like staff burnout, leverages technology, and ensures adaptability in an ever-evolving field. Learn actionable steps to engage your team, set measurable objectives, and prepare for accreditation with confidence.
The Rise in ASAM Criteria Adoption for SUD Treatment: Enhancing Quality and Accreditation Readiness
Discover how ASAM is transforming addiction treatment and behavioral health organizations! This blog explores how these comprehensive guidelines enhance treatment outcomes for patients, streamline operations for service providers, and pave the way for national accreditation.
The Importance of Proactive Accreditation Maintenance Between Surveys
Proactive accreditation maintenance is essential for organizations to ensure ongoing compliance and quality care. It transforms accreditation from a one-time achievement into a continuous process, fostering a culture of improvement. Read on to learn more!
Accredited to Succeed: Elevating Employee Satisfaction and Leadership
How can accreditation boost employee satisfaction and strengthen leadership? In this blog, we explore how going through the accreditation process does more than improve external credibility—it transforms your workplace from the inside out. Discover how setting clear standards, fostering transparency, and building strong leadership frameworks can lead to a more engaged, motivated workforce and ultimately drive organizational success.
From Invitation to Impact – What to Consider Before Joining a Nonprofit Board of Directors
Congratulations! You’ve just received an invitation to join the board of directors at a well-respected nonprofit. How exciting is that? Nonprofit organizations provide vital services to those in need, the community at large, the environment, animals and more, and strive to make our world a better place, so the offer is undoubtedly flattering. As it should be!
I Don’t Want to Get Accredited… Here’s Why!
As the CEO of a nationally recognized accreditation consulting company, I am often confronted with questions about the benefits of a human service provider becoming accredited or I am asked to address perceived barriers to accreditation. While earning national accreditation from organizations like The Joint Commission, CARF International, COA Accreditation (a division of Social Current)) or Accreditation Commission on Health Care (ACHC) can bring numerous benefits to behavioral health organizations, child welfare organizations, for-profit, nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies. There may be valid reasons why some might choose not to pursue accreditation, and here are my responses to these top five fears:
ASAM Criteria: Paving the Path to Recovery
In the ever-evolving landscape of addiction treatment, staying abreast of the latest advancements and guidelines is paramount to ensuring the highest quality of treatment. The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) stands at the forefront of this mission, providing comprehensive framework through its Criteria. This set of guidelines has become the gold standard in addiction medicine, shaping the way professionals approach assessment, treatment planning, and ongoing care.
Get Accredited Without Breaking the Bank
Human service organizations play a crucial role in meeting the needs of vulnerable populations, and it is essential that they are well-managed and effective in their operations. One way that organizations can demonstrate their commitment to quality is by becoming nationally accredited. However, the costs associated with accreditation can be a barrier for some organizations, especially those with limited resources.
How Accreditation Supports Mergers and Acquisitions
Since 2018, there has been significant merger and acquisition activity in the behavioral healthcare field, but why? Individuals are becoming more aware of healthcare issues; there is less stigma about seeking help for mental health struggles; and more effective treatments are now available. This has created increased demand for and use of mental health and addiction treatment services, as well as channeling more funding towards meeting the demand and growing need. Not only this, but as individuals, including professionals, gain understanding of the link between mental and physical wellbeing, more integration of physical and behavioral health care is occurring. So, where does accreditation come in?
Benefits of Accreditation for Continuing Education and Training Programs
Accreditation is a process by which an educational or training program is evaluated by an independent accrediting body to determine if it meets certain standards of quality and rigor. Accreditation can be an important factor in the success of continuing education and training (CE/T) programs, both for the program itself and for the students (learners) who participate in it. In this article, we will explore the benefits of accreditation for continuing education and training programs, including its impact on employability, reputation, and competitiveness.
New Year – New Accreditation
Ringing in the New Year brings about a mindset of reflectiveness and a desire for transformation. As the calendar changes over, people are given the chance for a fresh start and are once again motivated to push themselves towards goals that had been previously set aside. These objectives are often personal, but what if you want to improve more than just yourself? What if, in 2023, you want to see the whole of your organization grow and flourish in a way that benefits both your employees and your clients? In that case, there’s no better time to start pursuing accreditation!
Is Your Accrediting Body Still the Right Fit?
Your organization is not the same one it was 10 or 20 years ago (or likely even 3 years ago!). New programs/services may have been opened and staff changes have taken place. There are new requirements from payors, licensing bodies, the federal government, etc. Perhaps there has been a merger or acquisition, or new partnerships developed with other entities to ensure the continuum of care. Or, you may have directly integrated physical health care into your service delivery or begun to offer telehealth services as a result of the pandemic.
Five Reasons for Substance Use Treatment Providers to Become Accredited
Substance use disorder treatment providers have many reasons to seek national accreditation and to benefit from this process. Whether seeking accreditation from The Joint Commission, CARF International, Council on Accreditation (a division of Social Current), Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC), or other, here are 5 top reasons to become accredited:
Convenient, Informative Webinars Help Answer Your Questions About Accreditation
Part of our vision at Accreditation Guru is to inform and support organizations that are seeking accreditation. As part of that mission, we were thrilled to co-host a webinar with BestNotes, a healthcare IT software and consulting firm, to explain the accreditation process to their customers.
How Accreditation Supports Recovery Principles
The national accrediting bodies have been among the moving forces in the integration of the recovery model into the care, treatment and services for people with mental health and/or substance use disorders. Recovery principles can now be seen throughout behavioral health standards of accrediting bodies as well as the outlined expectations that an organization will demonstrate conformance/compliance to these standards. And, the integration makes sense – this model not only complements the more traditional model of medication and “talk” therapies, but also expands the focus to include the person’s own goals and strengths and empowers them to be actively involved in the process.