Serenity Springs is Now Joint Commission Accredited. Here’s What That Means.
What is the Joint Commission?
Formerly and still popularly known as JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations), The Joint Commission was established in 1951 and today is the nation’s leader in the accreditation across the full spectrum of health organizations. Beginning in 1969, The Joint Commission established the Behavioral Health Care Accreditation Program to encourage safe, high-quality care, treatment or services to individuals receiving mental health or addiction treatment services. The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that has accredited and certified nearly 21,000 healthcare programs and organizations across the United States. Serenity Springs Recovery Center is proud to now count itself among this number of high-caliber, safe and effective providers.
What does Joint Commission Accreditation Mean for Me?
Whether it is you or your loved one that is entering a treatment facility, you want to be assured that only the best level of care is provided. The Joint Commission’s vision statement is that “all people always experience the safest, highest quality, best-value health care across all settings.” Serenity Springs has always been committed to this idea since its inception, but our team made the decision to back up our mission statement by making every aspect of our program subject to the rigorous scrutiny that comes with a Joint Commission survey. It is a well-known and unfortunate fact that there are many other treatment centers out there who present themselves as excellent, top-tier facilities when they are anything but. These are the same organizations that would simply fall flat and receive failing grades when subjected to the demanding standards that The Joint Commission asks of its applicants. Plainly put, Joint Commission accreditation is an assurance for our clients and their families that every aspect of treatment received is trustworthy and superior to the industry average.
What is a Joint Commission survey like?
Upon application for Joint Commission membership, a survey date is set and a surveyor, who is a highly trained expert in the field of healthcare, comes out to examine and assess the facility or facilities in accordance with its extensive standards manual. The standards of The Joint Commission are updated frequently to reflect advances in healthcare. The survey is carried out precisely and addresses every aspect of care, including patient rights and education, infection control, medication management, the prevention of medical errors, staff competency evaluation, emergency preparedness, and how the organization collects data on its performance and uses that data to improve itself. While Serenity Springs is very proud to achieve accreditation through its strong survey performance, it only marks the beginning of our commitment to excellence. Serenity Springs will self-assess its performance to monitor its compliance of standards and set goals to exceed standards and provide and even higher quality of safe and effective care.
How did Serenity Springs perform on its survey?
Among the approximately 250 standards that The Joint Commission uses in its evaluation of behavioral health centers, Serenity Springs had 17 findings – none of which were high risk or pertained to client safety. This constitutes a 93.2% rate of adherence to the standards set forth. The survey evaluated the all of the current programs of Serenity Springs, which include our men’s residential center and PHP programs as well as our men and women’s IOP/OP programs. As such, each of these programs bears the seal of Joint Commission approval. Serenity Springs was found to provide quality assessment of the individual and the delivery of care, treatment and services with excellent monitoring of the outcomes of that care. Other areas of high performance include staff competency, risk assessment, emergency planning and preparation, infection control, medication processes and client record keeping.
What does this mean for Serenity’s preexisting CARF accreditation?
Our recent receipt of The Joint Commission seal of approval does not affect our status of a CARF certified center. The two bodies have different standards for accreditation but none of which conflict with one another and demand that facilities choose one or the other. While CARF and JCAHO accreditation are accomplishments on their own and any center should be proud to have achieved either one, the ability of Serenity Springs to secure and maintain both puts it in an elite class normally reserved for larger scale facilities. With its intimate, family atmosphere, high staff-to-client ratio and dual accreditation, Serenity Springs has cemented itself as a unique, high-quality addiction treatment provider.
If you or a loved one is struggling with drug addiction and/or alcoholism, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Find out how Serenity Spring can help you recover with their individualized treatment programs.
