Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC)On the public register
- What they do
- Assessor
- Which standards
- On the public register for ACHC/CHAP, CMS CoPs.
- Standards
- Pricing
- Not published
ACHC/CHAP
ACHC (Accreditation Commission for Health Care) and CHAP (Community Health Accreditation Partner) are two private accreditors with CMS deeming authority for home health, hospice, and home infusion therapy, and ACHC also accredits DMEPOS suppliers, pharmacies, behavioral health, and other settings.
When a Medicare-certified home health agency or hospice is accredited by one of them, the accreditor's survey substitutes for the state agency's certification survey against the Medicare Conditions of Participation. Both are alternatives to the Joint Commission in these settings and are often chosen by smaller agencies.
In writing, an agency needs policies that track the CoPs for its program (42 CFR Part 484 for home health, Part 418 for hospice) and the accreditor's standards: patient rights, plan of care and comprehensive assessment, care coordination, infection prevention, emergency preparedness, QAPI, personnel qualifications and competency, medication management, and clinical records.
Surveyors verify that policies match practice through home visits, record review, and staff interviews.
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Who has to comply
Home health agencies, hospices, and home infusion therapy suppliers that choose accreditation for Medicare deemed status instead of a state agency survey, plus providers in other ACHC or CHAP programs where a payer or state requires accreditation. Accreditation is voluntary but the CoPs are not.
What you have to write
Documents on this site that ACHC/CHAP requires or expects, each with who must have it, the review cycle and the obligations that cite it.
- Accreditation Policy and Procedure Manual (CARF, ACHC, CHAP) Healthcare
- Employee Handbook Acknowledgment Workplace
- Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure Control Plan Workplace
- Health Care Compliance Program Policies and Code of Conduct Healthcare
- Emergency Action Plan Workplace
What the assessor asks to see
Surveyors ask for the agency's license and Medicare enrollment, the policy and procedure manual, governing body and administrator records, personnel files with licenses, background checks, competencies, and evaluations, a sample of clinical records with assessments and plans of care, home visit observations, the QAPI plan and data, infection control and emergency preparedness plans with drills, patient rights and complaint records, and contracts with contracted staff and services.
Where the requirement sits: ACHC / CHAP standards: policy and procedure requirements per section; personnel record requirements; 42 CFR 484 CoPs underlying
Every internal policy in one place
AllyMatter is a full system for every internal policy your company keeps, including the ones ACHC/CHAP turns on. Build the whole library in one place, across every department, and prove who has read what.
Policies you can run here
- Accreditation Policy and Procedure Manual (CARF, ACHC, CHAP)
- Employee Handbook Acknowledgment
- Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure Control Plan
- Health Care Compliance Program Policies and Code of Conduct
How it works
Every document is approved by someone other than its author, versioned, distributed to the people it covers and acknowledged by name. Sign it where a signature is what the standard wants, send a set out together as a package, and export a dated record of who read which version when an assessor asks.
Most of what an assessor reads for this standard is written policy and proof that people acknowledged it. That is the layer AllyMatter owns.
Who helps with ACHC/CHAP
A large ecosystem of home health and hospice consultants offering mock surveys, policy manuals mapped to ACHC or CHAP standards, and startup packages for new agencies. Typical engagement is a readiness review, policy customization, staff training, and a mock survey ahead of the initial or renewal survey.
Firms that name this framework in their own material. A listing is not a recommendation. Each firm can confirm its own.
Consultants
Be the first ACHC/CHAP consultant listed here
The people reading this are working out who can help them get there.
Who assesses ACHC/CHAP
ACHC and CHAP surveyors employed or contracted by each accreditor, typically clinicians with home care or hospice experience. Surveys for Medicare deemed programs are unannounced.
Accredited by CMS grants and periodically renews deeming authority to each accrediting organization after reviewing its standards and survey process; state survey agencies run validation surveys on a sample of accredited providers.
Public register of assessors: cms.gov ↗
Listed in random order, reshuffled each time the page loads. Firms that pay for a listing are shown at the top, labeled Sponsored.
Community Health Accreditation Partner (CHAP)On the public register
- What they do
- Assessor
- Which standards
- On the public register for ACHC/CHAP.
- Standards
- Pricing
- Not published
The Joint CommissionOn the public register
- What they do
- Assessor
- Which standards
- On the public register for ACHC/CHAP, CLIA, CMS CoPs.
- Standards
- Pricing
- Not published
Tools for ACHC/CHAP
Tools that name this framework in their own material.
Grouped by type. Inside each group the order is random, reshuffled each time the page loads. AllyMatter, the publisher of this site, is always first.
AllyMatterPolicy management tool, the policy and acknowledgment layerPublisher of this siteRelated reading
- CMS Renews ACHC's Deemed Status as Hospice AccreditorExplains what deeming authority means and the four things CMS reviews before it lets an accreditor stand in for a state survey.Hospice News
- What Home Health and Hospice Surveyors and Auditors Look ForSets out who can survey an agency, how accreditation surveys differ from state and MAC reviews, and the records each one asks for.Homecare Homebase
Independent third-party explainers, chosen by hand. Not affiliated with this site and not paid placements. All links are nofollow.
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From the publisher
Run the Policy Side of ACHC/CHAP in AllyMatter
Approve the policies ACHC/CHAP asks for, keep every version, and record a named acknowledgment from each person who has to read them.
See how AllyMatter works ↗From $29/mo, 20 editors, unlimited staff