TJC & CMS News Blog
Information for BH Organizations
To read articles written prior to January 2015, please view our Newsletter Archive.
Governing Forward from the Middle – A Behavioral Health Leadership Shift
Accreditation outcomes in 2026 are being shaped less by formal reporting structures and more by how leadership systems function in real time.Whether governance sits with a board, an owner, a founder, or a senior leadership group supported by clinical advisors, one...
Behavioral Health Accreditation ROI – Designing Readiness That Supports Performance
In 2026, the most resilient Behavioral Health Centers have moved beyond the cycle of preparing for survey and into the era of "operational insurance." In an environment defined by staffing constraints and tightening margins, accreditation readiness is no longer a...
From Reporting to Readiness: How Psychiatric Hospital Boards Should Govern For Readiness in 2026
Psychiatric hospital boards are entering a governance environment where how oversight happens matters as much as what is reviewed. In 2026, accreditation risk is no longer confined to policies, audits, or frontline performance. Instead, it increasingly resides at the...
Scaling Behavioral Health: Why Accreditation Readiness is a Behavior Health Growth Strategy
Behavioral health is growing, and leaders are finding increasingly creative ways to expand. One recent example comes from SUN Behavioral Health’s acquisition of Seaside Healthcare, where a senior executive described the strategy this way: "By combining SUN’s...
Preparing for Behavioral Health Outcomes
In preparation for upcoming accreditation surveys, many community behavioral health leaders are asking the same question: Will surveys look or feel different from 2025? The answer is —- not dramatically! Your 2026 survey will still follow the traditional Behavioral...
What to Expect from Accreditation 360
What to expect from Accreditation 360? It is now fully in effect, completing a multi-year shift in how the Joint Commission evaluates psychiatric hospitals and distinct psychiatric units. While the framework applies across all hospital types, its impact is most...
From Checklist Compliance to a Focus on Outcomes and Value
As we close 2025, the landscape of behavioral healthcare looks radically different from what it did just twelve months ago. This year, we saw the industry move beyond simple "checklist compliance" toward a model focused on systemic accountability, financial...
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...