Advanced Behavioral Health receives 3 year CARF Accreditation using DrCloudEHR!
October, 2016
This past month one of DrCloudEHR behavioral health provider clients, Advanced Behavioral Health, PA (ABH) was awarded a three-year accreditation by CARF International, the Commission on Accreditation of Outpatient Programs, for its Outpatient and Psychiatric Rehabilitation Programs. ABH, in their press release announcing this important achievement said, “This is an important milestone in the continuing growth and success of our health care organization. Accreditation shows our commitment to providing the highest levels of quality care to our patients, and the same high level of conduct in our business practices. By pursuing and achieving accreditation through the use of DrCloudEHR™ Electronic Health Record solution, ABH has demonstrated that it meets international standards for quality and is committed to pursuing excellence. An organization receiving a Three-Year Accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer-review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors that its Service, personnel and documentation clearly indicated a pattern of established excellence”.
I was visiting the corporate headquarters of DrCloudEHR™ in Beaverton, Oregon when the leadership team shared this news. I was so struck that this large, clearly quality-focused provider would indicate in their press release that their electronic health record– DrCloudEHR™– contributed significantly to their three-year accreditation, I thought we had to hit the brakes in our meeting, pause and reflect on this important occurrence. I made three points to my colleagues at DrCloudEHR which I think are worth repeating in this blog.
First, gone are the days, hopefully, that providers see their electronic health record as a difficult, but necessary tool in behavioral health—a minimum standard to be barely tolerated. It is essential that providers know how today’s robust and flexible electronic health records can support, build, generate revenue, save money and time and improve clinical and recovery practice. In a blog last month, I was privileged to write about the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe’s Behavioral Health Agency which passed their most recent state audit with flying colors due in large part to the ease with which the auditors could navigate client records and measure the completeness of the records using DrCloudEHR™. I have heard numerous stories over the past month of providers taking in-house their billing and claims functions and revenue cycle management due to the enhanced capacity of their electronic health record. And now, ABH announces their three-year accreditation crediting DrCloudEHR™ as an important contributor toward their receiving CARF’s highest three-year award.
Secondly, providers may not yet realize that nearly all third party payers require accreditation by CARF or JCAHO for providers to join their networks. Although there are some exceptions to this—instances where payers will come perform on-site credentialing visits themselves—the trend is clearly toward the requirement for accreditation. Payers want their behavioral health providers to be CARF accredited to reduce risk and to improve accountability. Because CARF accreditation indicates a provider’s demonstrated conformance to internationally accepted standards, it can significantly reduce payer monitoring and highlight a provider’s commitment to continuous process improvement and fidelity to evidence based clinical practices and best operational and fiscal practices as well. This can sometimes speed up the credentialing process significantly and make the contracting and negotiating process smoother for the provider. DrCloudEHR™ helps with the comprehensive accreditation process as evidenced by ABH’s experience.
Thirdly, many congratulations to our friends at ABH! For providers and others who are not yet familiar with the CARF credentialing process, it is extremely rigorous and thorough. A team of up to eight reviewers with significant experience in behavioral health do an on-site survey of the provider’s locations and interview the leadership team and staff members at every level. The CARF survey team analyzes and assesses twenty-five performance categories and hundreds of standards. Nearly all of these are referenced, documented, measured, monitored and managed in DrCloudEHR™ in some way. Further, there are specifically measured categories such as “technology”, “performance measures and management”, “performance improvement”, “person-centered treatment planning”, “transition/discharge”, “records of the person served”, and “quality records management”, whose excellence is tied directly to the capacity, usability and flexibility of the electronic medical record—just to name a few. It is deeply gratifying for us at DrCloudEHR™ whose mission states that we stand at the intersection of technology and human services, to partner with providers like ABH and Muckleshoot to effect positive outcomes for accreditation, regulation and audits, and with third-party payers–all on behalf of the individuals, families and communities they serve. I think that is the purpose of technology when used rightly—serving all of the stakeholders toward the goals of clinical, communal, provider, operational and fiscal wellness, fitness and effectiveness.
Jim Clarkson, MA, LADAC
Chair, National Advisory Board
DrCloudEHR™ (www.drcloudehr.com)
CEO, Via Positiva, LLC
(505) 944 5284
