Atlantic Health StrategiesWest Palm Beach, Florida, USA
- What they do
- Compliance consulting
- Who they help
- Its website offers consulting for CARF, HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, Joint Commission.
- Standards
- Pricing
- Not published
CARF
CARF International is a nonprofit accreditor for human services providers: behavioral health and substance use treatment, opioid treatment programs, aging services, child and youth services, employment and community services, and medical rehabilitation.
CARF uses a peer-review model in which practicing professionals from the field survey the organization against a standards manual that is updated every year. Many states and payers require or reward CARF accreditation for behavioral health and rehabilitation programs.
What an organization needs in writing is substantial: the business practice standards call for documented leadership and governance, strategic and financial planning, risk management, health and safety, human resources, technology, rights of persons served, accessibility, performance measurement, and quality improvement, and each program section adds service-specific policies.
Surveyors expect to see policies, the records that show they are followed, and outcome data that the organization actually uses.
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Policy Acknowledgment Proof
AcknowledgedRights policy v4by name, on record
Three-Year Every Daywith AllyMatter
Survey-Ready the Modern WayEvery CARF policy, acknowledged by the people who deliver the program
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Approve it, lock the version
Non-author approval, obsolete copies blocked
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Every staff member on record
Acknowledgments that survive turnover
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Open the binder before the surveyor asks
From $29/mo, 20 editors, unlimited staff (published)
Who has to comply
Voluntary, but effectively required where a state Medicaid program, licensing board, or payer conditions participation on CARF (or equivalent) accreditation. Common in behavioral health, opioid treatment programs (CARF is a SAMHSA-approved OTP accreditor), residential treatment, and rehabilitation.
What you have to write
Documents on this site that CARF 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
- 42 CFR Part 2 Consent and Redisclosure Policy Healthcare
- Harassment Prevention Policy Workplace
- Health Care Compliance Program Policies and Code of Conduct Healthcare
- Emergency Action Plan Workplace
What the assessor asks to see
Surveyors ask for governance and leadership documents, the strategic plan and budget, the risk management and health and safety plans with drill records, personnel files with credentials, background checks, and training, the rights and grievance policies with records, a sample of person-served records showing assessment, planning, and transition, performance measurement and outcomes reports and how they were used, the accessibility plan, technology and information management policies, and program-specific policies for each service surveyed.
Where the requirement sits: CARF standards manual Section 1 (leadership, legal, risk, health and safety, human resources incl. personnel records and orientation); program-specific sections
Every internal policy in one place
AllyMatter is a full system for every internal policy your company keeps, including the ones CARF 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)
- 42 CFR Part 2 Consent and Redisclosure Policy
- Harassment Prevention Policy
- 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 CARF
A dense ecosystem of CARF consultants offering policy manuals, mock surveys, outcomes systems, and survey-week coaching. Engagements typically run six to twelve months before a first survey: gap analysis, policy build, staff training, a self-study, and a mock survey.
Firms that name this framework in their own material. A listing is not a recommendation. Each firm can confirm its own.
Listed in random order, reshuffled each time the page loads. Firms that pay for a listing are shown at the top, labeled Sponsored.
Circa Behavioral Healthcare SolutionsMission Viejo, California, USA
- What they do
- Compliance consulting
- Who they help
- Its website offers consulting for CARF, HIPAA, Joint Commission.
- Standards
- Pricing
- Not published
MVP Consulting GroupLong Beach, California, USA
- What they do
- Compliance consulting
- Who they help
- Its website offers consulting for CARF, HIPAA, AAAASF, AAAHC, CMS and more.
- Standards
- Pricing
- Not published
Who assesses CARF
CARF surveyors, who are peer professionals employed in accredited or comparable organizations, trained and assigned by CARF. Surveys are scheduled and on site for two to three days. CARF governs its own surveyor selection and training; recognition comes from states, SAMHSA (for OTPs), and payers.
Assessors
Be the first CARF assessor listed here
This page is read by the organizations looking for someone to certify them.
Tools for CARF
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 siteGRC and compliance automation1 tool
Controls, evidence and audit workflows, with a policy module inside.
Compliance training1 tool
Courses and tracking for required staff training.
Related reading
- Industry Accreditations and AffiliationsDescribes the CARF survey sequence and the four possible accreditation decisions, from a body that requires accreditation of its members.National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers
- Is Voluntary Accreditation for CCRCs and Life Plan Communities an Under-utilized Resource?Law academic on why CARF's five-year aging services accreditation and its annual financial review sit alongside weak state oversight.Elder Law Prof Blog
Independent third-party explainers, chosen by hand. Not affiliated with this site and not paid placements. All links are nofollow.
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Find a Consultant for CARF
Tell us what you need done and we will point you to firms that do this work. Your details go to a firm only when you choose it.
From the publisher
Run the Policy Side of CARF in AllyMatter
Approve the policies CARF 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