TJC & CMS News Blog
Information for BH Organizations
To read articles written prior to January 2015, please view our Newsletter Archive.
How to Improve Equity in Behavioral Health – Steps Providers Can Take
Equity in behavioral health is now a foundational requirement. For all settings, the most critical compliance actions you can take are: Assign accountability to a senior leader with authority and budget.Stratify your access and engagement data to uncover disparities....
BEYOND INTENT: The Operational Imperative of Equity in Psychiatric Hospitals
Health Equity Requirements According to the Joint Commission and CMS, they are no longer a mission statement, they are a non-negotiable operational standard on par with infection control. Our decades of experience show that compliance depends on a structured,...
The ROI of Accreditation – When Quality Pays for Itself
Long before “doing more with less” became a leadership cliché, Phillip Crosby, quality guru, known for the concept of Zero Defects and author of the influential book, Quality Is Free, showed that quality doesn’t drain resources — it protects them. Crosby’s classic...
Behavioral Health Staff Education – How to Make Learning Stick
Organizations face a growing challenge: accrediting bodies such as The Joint Commission (TJC) and CARF International require comprehensive behavioral health staff education and competency programs, yet modern adult learners often struggle to retain and apply what...
Beyond Discharge: Psychiatric Hospitals Demonstrate Compliance in Continuity of Care
Continuity of care is the hospital's consistent and coordinated provision of services to a patient over time, across different healthcare settings and providers. When done properly, it improves patient outcomes, reduces costs, and increases patient satisfaction. While...
Resilience in Behavioral Health Care – A Core Operational Requirement
Prefer Video? Video (6 min) Prefer a Podcast? Podcast (6 min) In today’s demanding behavioral health care landscape, resilience has evolved from a desirable trait into a core operational competency. For leaders of Community Behavioral Health (CBH) agencies and...
Parity in Behavioral Healthcare: What Community Behavioral Health Leaders Need to Know
Even with the 2024 rule on hold (see the APA stance below), CBHC leaders have powerful tools to press payers, strengthen contracts, and protect access. Prefer to watch this short video instead of reading? Go to the 6 minutes video version! Parity in Behavioral...
The Leadership Imperative in Behavioral Health
When working with Behavioral Health Organizations nationwide, one pattern stands out: having the most resources doesn't drive success, instead it's by having the strongest leaders. Leadership determines whether staff remain engaged or choose to leave, and whether...
Measuring What Matters: Raising the Bar on Behavioral Healthcare Outcomes
Community behavioral health providers face a growing challenge: not just delivering care under resource constraints, but proving its impact. Measuring outcomes has long been standard in physical health—blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol—but in behavioral health,...
AI Chatbots in Behavioral Health and Acute Psychiatric
The integration of AI chatbots into Community Behavioral Health (CBH) and acute psychiatric care offers a powerful opportunity to extend support and ease workforce strain, but it requires careful navigation of significant risks. Key Considerations Benefits: Chatbots...