Joint Commission Behavioral Health Update
November 2016
In This Issue:

Greetings to Our Colleagues in Behavioral Healthcare!
Holiday Greetings  to our clients and colleagues across the country! As this hectic season ensues, we have a few important TJC updates for you on changes coming in the New Year.
 
Our first article provides information for behavioral health organizations about the new SAFER matrix that goes into effect for them in January, 2017. (It was effective for psychiatric hospitals in June 2016 and now goes into effect for all programs in the New Year.) 
 
Our second article deals with the changes that also go into effect in January, 2017 related to submitting clarifications to TJC about findings on your survey reports.

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 to your colleagues.

Best regards to you and yours for a Happy Holiday Season! Our newsletter will return in January 2017.    

Anne Barrins
President/CEO
Anticipating a TJC Survey in 2017?
Get ready for the standards that go into effect January 1st and the new SAFER matrix being used by surveyors. Contact us now to schedule a mock survey. We guarantee it's the best preparation for your 2017 survey!
1-877-546-7206
Tip of the Month
Looking for a summary of changes to the standards in 2016 and 2017? 

Check out Joint Commission Requirements on the TJC website. It's a listing of all policy revisions to standards that have gone into effect since the accreditation manual was last issued - a handy reference!
Why Choose
Barrins & Associates?


"We were extremely satisfied with our Barrins & Associates consultant Claire Burchfield. She not only shared a tremendous amount of knowledge but was easy to work with. We couldn't have asked for better preparation for our upcoming survey and will continue to use Barrins & Associates to keep us TJC-ready."

Vanessa Eckenrode, LCSW
Administrator/Treatment Director
Bayes Achievement Center
Huntsville, Texas
BH Organizations: New SAFER Matrix
Effective January 2017 
There are some significant changes to survey reports, scoring of standards, and the post-survey response process that go into effect in January 2017 for behavioral health organizations. These changes have been in effect for psychiatric hospitals since June 2016 and are being implemented in all accreditation programs (including Behavioral Health) effective January 1, 2017.
changes to TJC Clarification Process
Effective January 2017
For many years, TJC has had a process in place whereby an organization can request to "clarify" a survey finding when the organization believes that it was actually in compliance with the applicable standard at the time of the survey and thus should not have been cited as noncompliant. There will continue to be a clarification process but there are some significant changes to the process that go into effect for all accreditation programs effective January 1, 2017.
NEW CLIENTS
Barrins & Associates is pleased to welcome two new clients:
Cottonwood Springs in Olathe, Kansas, and Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead, New Jersey We are pleased to be working with these organizations on regulatory and accreditation compliance. 
Congratulations corner!
Congratulations to our client NorthStar Transitions in Colorado who recently achieved initial 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.