Barrins Bulletin
July 2026
Greetings to Our Colleagues in Behavioral Health!
Dear Readers,
As we move through the second half of the year, now is an excellent time to evaluate your organization’s continuous readiness efforts. Recent survey findings continue to remind us that many of the most frequently cited deficiencies involve processes organizations perform every day—from suicide prevention and treatment planning to environmental safety and documentation. Consistent monitoring, staff engagement, and ongoing performance improvement remain the keys to sustained compliance and safe, high-quality care.
In this issue, we highlight the Joint Commission’s highest-risk behavioral health findings, share practical strategies for recognizing grievances as early warning signs, and provide updates from CMS and other accrediting organizations to help keep you informed and survey-ready.
As always, thank you for allowing Barrins & Associates to be your trusted resource. We appreciate the opportunity to support your commitment to quality, patient safety, and continuous readiness.
Best Regards,
John Berry
RN, MSN, CPHQ, SQIL
Principal Consultant
Trusted Guidance When It Matters Most
Strong behavioral healthcare organizations don’t just prepare for survey — they build systems that support quality care, resilient teams, and long-term success.
Barrins & Associates partners with behavioral healthcare organizations to strengthen operations, optimize workflows, improve quality and patient safety, and build sustainable performance improvements tailored to each organization’s unique goals.
Our consultants help organizations:
- Strengthen operational performance and efficiency
- Improve patient safety and quality outcomes
- Optimize workflows and organizational processes
- Enhance leadership alignment and workforce stability
Learn more about our Operational Excellence services or contact us today!
Every accreditation survey provides valuable insight into where behavioral health organizations continue to struggle. In the June issue of JC News, the Joint Commission highlights several behavioral health standards that continue to receive the highest-risk survey…
Many healthcare construction projects focus heavily on substantial completion and occupancy dates. However, construction teams often discover significant accreditation and regulatory findings during the final stages of construction, often after installing expensive…
Every patient complaint tells a story. Sometimes it’s about poor communication. Sometimes it’s a delay in care, confusion about treatment, or concerns over safety. While an individual grievance may seem isolated, a pattern of grievances often reveals something much…
CARF
CARF Offers Accreditation Training for Child and Youth Services: Organizations preparing for CARF accreditation may be interested in CARF’s CARF 101: Achieving and Maintaining Accreditation in Child and Youth Services training, scheduled for October 22–23, 2026, in Las Vegas. The two-day program covers CARF’s peer-review survey process, standards interpretation, and practical strategies for implementing the ASPIRE to Excellence® framework and supporting continuous quality improvement.
AI in Accreditation: CARF also announced this month that it is the first accrediting organization to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) standards into its accreditation requirements.
CMS
CMS Issues Additional Guidance on Accrediting Organization Final Rule: Last month, we shared a blog summarizing the new CMS Final Rule that places restrictions on consulting services provided by accrediting organizations. This month, CMS released QSO-26-10-ALL, offering additional guidance to Accrediting Organizations and State Survey Agencies on implementation of the rule.
The memo does not introduce significant new requirements for healthcare organizations but reinforces the implementation timeline and CMS expectations. If your organization is received consulting services through a deemed accreditor, continue watching for updates about how these changes may affect accreditation and consulting services. As always, Barrins will keep you informed as additional guidance becomes available.
Audit What Surveyors Are Finding
If you only have time for one focused readiness activity this month, review this issue’s article on the Joint Commission’s highest-risk behavioral health findings and select one frequently cited standard for a targeted internal audit. Observe staff practices, review documentation, and verify that processes are consistently followed—not just written in policy.
Start with high-risk areas such as suicide risk screening and assessment, environmental risk assessments, or treatment planning documentation. Addressing one high-risk area each month is a simple but effective way to strengthen continuous readiness and improve patient safety.
- Behavioral Health Survey Findings: Are You Monitoring Your Highest-Risk Standards?
- Hospital Construction Compliance: Building Walkthroughs You Don’t Want to Miss
- Grievances as Early Warning Signs: What Surveyors and Healthcare Leaders Want Organizations to Recognize
- Accreditor Insights & Updates: CARF, CMS
- Tip of the Month: Audit What Surveyors Are Finding
Congratulations Corner
We applaud our clients who have recently and successfully completed their accreditation or regulatory survey. The achievement of such indicates an aptitude for quality and safety of care. Congratulations to your organization and staff!
Brighter Days Ahead
Why Choose Us?
“They were extremely thorough in their review and identified numerous areas which our team began addressing immediately. We were better prepared for our Joint Commission survey but, moreover, we were armed with new knowledge to help us ensure improved patient care and safety.“
CEO
Behavioral Health Hospital
Are You Survey Ready?
We can assist you to achieve and sustain accreditation and regulatory compliance in adherence to the JC, DNV, CHIQ, ACHC, CARF, COA, QUAD-A, and CMS, standards for psychiatric hospitals and community behavioral health and human services providers. Inquire today about our consulting services. We continue to support your journey toward accreditation and regulatory compliance.
Inquire today about our consulting services.
We continue to support your journey toward accreditation and regulatory compliance.
888-742-4621 x 702
