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Meet Our Newest Team Member!
Please help us give a warm welcome to our newest team member, Dave Branding, PhD!
With more than 40 years of administrative, executive leadership and board governance experience in a variety of health and human service organizations, integrated delivery systems and health plans, Dave has served as a provider, purchaser and funder. He specializes in achieving and maintaining accreditation, improving risk management practices and creating supportive accountability systems.
Is Your Organization Staying Competitive in Today’s Environment?Posted on April 11, 2019
In today’s increasingly competitive environment, health and human service organizations often struggle to distinguish themselves. Providing high quality services is a given, but to establish your brand, you must demonstrate that you make a difference in the lives of those you serve.
Some critical factors that can help maintain your organization’s competitive edge include earning national accreditation, reporting on service outcomes (not just outputs) and recruiting and maintaining a qualified, well-trained workforce.
Team Member Highlight – Tracy Collander
Tracy first became familiar with the accreditation world when she began working for Gateway Foundation in 2007. Gateway Foundation is accredited by The Joint Commission, and she became familiar with TJC behavioral health accreditation during her 6 years as executive director for Gateway Aurora.
Team Member Highlight – Carol Smith
Carol started her accreditation career in 1980 when she implemented a substance abuse outpatient and prevention program for the State of Michigan Office of Substance Abuse Services. For more than a year,
Carol prepared the agency for its first national accreditation survey and began implementing policies and procedures during a time when the behavioral health field lacked clearly defined standards. After
achieving accreditation, she became a consultant and specialized in helping agencies navigate the CARF and The Joint Commission accreditation processes.
The Advantages of Accreditation
Some human service agencies view accreditation as a luxury. Others see it as a hassle. Yet the benefits are undeniable.
Achieving national accreditation announces to the world that your organization strives to be the best it can be. That’s hard work, but the process sets you on the course for long-term greatness.
Meet Our Newest Accreditation Guru Team Member
We are happy to announce that Viviane Ngwa — a Clinical Social Worker, is joining Accreditation Guru as our newest Accreditation Consultant!
Are You Measuring Your Service Outcomes? You Should Be!
According to a recent study in the International Journal for Quality in Health Care, “what cannot be measured, cannot be improved.”
With detailed digital data available just a few clicks away, non-profits are being held accountable for measuring their service outcomes. In fact, all organizations seeking to gain and maintain accreditation are required to record and report outcome statistics as part of their performance improvement programs.
Meet Our Newest Accreditation Guru Team Member
We are happy to announce that Tracy Collander, LCSW a nationally regarded accreditation expert, is joining Accreditation Guru as our newest Accreditation Consultant! A former executive with The Joint Commission, she brings deep knowledge and experience to her position as accreditation consultant.
Succession Planning – It’s Not All About You
At some point, every organization will face the challenges of a change in leadership. Though many of these transitions are anticipated – like when a CEO or board chair retires – other times, agencies are faced with the task of filling an unexpected opening.
![Time is Tight: Seek Accreditation Now for QRTPs [as Mandated by the Family First Prevention Services Act]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66a8fd9895c08b27eff60e35/3cb147eb-9b24-44c2-bcec-2e897f99854e/QRTPs.png)
Time is Tight: Seek Accreditation Now for QRTPs [as Mandated by the Family First Prevention Services Act]
The new Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) has generated many questions about the timing of when each state will decide to implement the regulations and, in turn, when the new category of residential settings called Qualified Residential Treatment Programs (QRTPs) are required to become nationally accredited. Accreditation for qualified residential treatment programs has thus become a hot topic for such centers.
Addiction Treatment Centers Need Certification to Advertise on Facebook
Last year, Google barred advertisements from appearing in search results for addiction treatment centers in the United States. Starting last month, however, the company allowed centers with LegitScript Addiction Treatment Certification to run ads on its platform.
Now, Facebook recently announced that it will also require that addiction treatment centers achieve certification before they are approved to advertise on its properties, including Instagram and Messenger. LegitScript, a verification and monitoring service for online pharmacies, charges $995 for initial certification and $1,995 for annual vetting.
Accreditation Mandate? Panic or Plan!
Accreditation mandates are all the talk among leaders of human service organizations. Thanks to the recent passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) on the national level and state mandates for accreditation, like one recently instituted for adult foster care providers in Massachusetts, many child, family and behavioral healthcare service agencies are becoming alarmed about having to complete the complex accreditation process within short deadlines. Well, they can either panic or plan!
Celebrating Foster Parents During National Foster Care Month
As I reflect on over 20 years serving as a foster care worker, what comes to mind first are the foster parents. I’ve recruited, trained, licensed, counseled, laughed and cried with foster parents and enjoyed most every moment.
Whether you are reading this as a person interested in fostering, an agency with a foster care program, a professional in the field, a child advocate, or just found this blog searching the web, I assure you my comments come from experience not only as a foster care worker but also as a former foster parent.
Jennifer Flowers Presents to Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D. C
Washington, D.C. (May 1, 2018) — Jennifer Flowers, founder and CEO of Accreditation Guru, delivered a well-attended, well-received seminar to members of the National Child Welfare and Mental Health Coalition at the national headquarters of the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D. C. Several coalition members participated over conference call.Entitled “Family First Prevention Services Act – Accreditation 101: Understanding the Accreditation Process for Qualified Residential Treatment Programs,” the presentation covered the new law’s impact on congregate care programs throughout the United States and outlined the basic steps and considerations these organizations must undertake to comply with the statute.
The Alliance’s New “Operations Support Services”
As a partner of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, Accreditation Guru is excited to share with you their new and game-changing “Operations Support Services” offering for the nonprofit sector. This offering is intended to help leaders address provision of operations support services related to human resources, finance, administrative operations, and more. This is available to ALL nonprofits in the United States, not just Alliance member organizations.
Why Your Organization Needs Hired & Non-Owned Auto Insurance
Hired & non-owned auto insurance is a highly misunderstood coverage and as a result, often gets put at the bottom of the insurance coverage priority list. Hired and non-owned auto insurance provides coverage for bodily injury and property damage losses caused by vehicles you don’t own, vehicles you lease, hire, rent, and/or borrow, but are used for business operations.
For this discussion, we are going to focus on coverage for vehicles not owned by your organization but used for your operations. Typically, these vehicles are personally owned by employees and volunteers—in other words, non-owned auto.
Corporate Social Responsibility—Good for Society, Good for Business
New or small businesses may think of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs as something belonging in the domain of larger companies, but that is not necessarily true. There are many ways that small or mid-sized companies can develop social partnerships that also make good business sense.
News from AG’s Inaugural Company Retreat
The AG team descended on Florida, coming together from all over the country, to have some– ok, a lot of –fun and hone our vision for 2018 and beyond. We have always held ourselves to a higher standard of excellence, and now we have reaffirmed our vision
to be the leader in providing exemplary support throughout the national and international accreditation process by using our expertise to inform, guide and facilitate change so that organizations may better fulfill their own mission.
2017 Blog Recap
Did you miss any of our Accreditation Guru blog posts during the past year? We published nearly 25 informative articles on topics ranging from accreditation preparation to nonprofit management to issues affecting the behavioral healthcare field. Below we have highlighted some of our most popular posts from 2017 that may be worth a second look for your organization as you beginning planning for the New Year. Thank you for being loyal followers in 2017. We look forward to providing you with more informative posts in 2018! Here’s to the happiest of New Years!
Annual Plan is Strategic Plan’s Greatest Tool for Success
Most nonprofit organizations have (or should have!) a long-term strategic plan, one that they have spent a great deal of time and resources to develop. By engaging various staff, board members and stakeholders, the strategic planning process can be an effective way to identify strategies that will support the organization as it strives to fulfill its mission. As stellar as the strategic plan may be, however, unless its strategies are methodically put into action, the plan itself becomes inconsequential to the agency’s operations.