Behavioral Health Accreditation

The Assertive Community Treatment Team is a comprehensive service delivery model through which integrated, community-based treatment and supports are provided. The interdisciplinary team is available to provide services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The team actively seeks out the service recipient to provide services in his/her natural environment, allowing flexibility and responsiveness to service recipient needs.

Assessment and Referral Services standards are geared toward organizations that provide a separate assessment service, independent from other behavioral health services offered. Comprehensive assessments include evaluations of physical health, mental health, substance abuse, intellectual/developmental disabilities, vocational and/or educational functioning, and areas of co-morbidity. Referrals are made to appropriate service providers based on assessment findings.

Case Management services help service recipients of all ages and disabilities gain access to necessary medical, social, psychological, vocational, financial, educational, legal, and/or other community resources and services, so they can maintain a better quality of life with greater independence and ability to function within their communities.

Community Support services are designed to assist service recipients with mental health, substance abuse, and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities. These services help service recipients achieve, regain, and maintain their highest level of functioning, allowing them to live more independently and participate in the community.

Day Treatment is a structured program that uses service recipients’ personal strengths to address functional problems associated with their complex condition. Services are offered at least two days per week for a minimum of three hours per day during all days of operation.

Integrated Care Services are outpatient services that provide combined behavioral healthcare and physical healthcare services at a single site. There are three basic models of Integrated Care:

• Co-locating a behavioral health-qualified clinician within a primary healthcare site.
• Co-locating a qualified healthcare clinician within a behavioral healthcare setting.
• A fully integrated practice site, where physical health and behavioral health professionals share the same services site, have common systems, (e.g., scheduling, medical records management, and billing), regular face-to-face meeting, mutual consultation, and integrated treatment plans.
  Services provided in the integrated care setting may include: mental health, substance abuse, and health screenings; assessment; psychiatric consultation; physical health consultation; education; diet/nutrition counseling; care coordination; brief psychotherapy or substance abuse intervention; medication management; and referral and follow-up.

Intensive In-Home services focus on a child and his/her family through a team approach to stabilize living arrangements and prevent out-of-home placement for children and adolescents with serious emotional and behavioral needs.

Intensive Outpatient Treatment services provide structured, individual, group, and associated treatment services in an outpatient setting. Services are designed to assist service recipients with a principal diagnosis of mental illness, substance abuse, or co-occurring disorders, begin recovery and learn skills for recovery maintenance. The services are offered at least three days per week, for a minimum of three hours per day, and can be an alternative to either more intensive or less intensive services.

Outpatient Treatment services are provided by qualified clinical personnel, using an array of treatment modalities (e.g., individual, family, and/or group therapy) to assist service recipients of all ages in addressing a variety of behavioral health challenges.

Partial Hospitalization Services are intensive services designed to treat adults, adolescents, or children experiencing emotional difficulties, mental illness, and/or substance abuse problems. Services can be provided under the direction of a physician in a stand-alone facility, part of an existing clinic, or in a school setting for a minimum of three hours a day, five days a week, and twelve months a year. Partial Hospitalization Services offer a variety of structured, therapeutic activities designed to prevent hospitalization.

Personal Support Services provide assistance to service recipients of all ages and disabilities. The services are designed to assist the service recipient with activities of daily living, including tasks such as housekeeping chores, meal preparation, reminders to take medication, or medication administration.

Prevention Services are aimed at identifying at-risk populations and engaging them in activities geared towards avoiding the occurrence of an adverse health or safety event or reducing its consequences once it has occurred. Such activities include screenings, education, wellness programs, and partnering with other community resources.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation is designed to help adults with psychiatric disabilities to better manage the day-to-day activities of life through the acquisition of recovery and self-management skills. These services provide a range of social, educational, and occupational activities to support service recipients with serious and persistent mental illness.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation for Minors is for individuals younger than 18 years old with serious and persistent mental illness. It provides day services based on the principles of recovery and offers a range of social, educational, occupational, and other activities to support service recipients. PSRM is designed to help minors with psychiatric disabilities learn to better manage the day-to-day activities of life through the acquisition of recovery and self-management skills. These skills serve to improve service recipients’ functioning so they can successfully participate in the community, relationships, and activities of their choosing. A PSRM facility may be a drop-in center, a clubhouse, or other facility that provides day services.

Residential Treatment is a specialized, facility-based treatment service provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The service is offered to children, adolescents or adults who are challenged with emotional, behavioral, developmental, addiction, and/or co-occurring disorders. The services are offered in a safe, structured, therapeutic environment that is non-hospital-based. Residential Treatment includes an array of active treatment and rehabilitative interventions based on the service recipient’s needs.

Residential Treatment III.7 services provide subacute medically monitored intensive inpatient services that follow a planned regimen of 24-hour professionally directed evaluation, care, and treatment for adults or adolescents in an inpatient setting. Service recipients appropriate for this level of treatment meet current American Society of Addiction Medicine metrics for Level III.7 Patient Placement Criteria, or their equivalent, as approved by the organization’s administration. This level of service is appropriate for service recipients with severe biomedical, emotional, behavioral, and/or cognitive conditions, including co-occurring disorders, that require highly structured services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Integrated services include direct evaluation, observation, medical monitoring, and addiction treatment for conditions severe enough to warrant inpatient treatment but not severe enough to require hospitalization.
(Pending approval in Maryland.)

Supervised Group Living is a residential service providing 24-hour supervision in a community-based, home-like setting. Services are provided for service recipients who need assistance, supportive counseling, and training to develop and practice skills and new behaviors that lead to greater independence and functioning in their residence and community. The service, frequently referred to as a “Group Home,” can be time-limited or long-term.

Supported Employment Services facilitate competitive employment in integrated work settings for service recipients challenged by mental illness, substance abuse, or intellectual/developmental disabilities. Through various models of Supported Employment Services, service recipients receive consistent support in learning and performing their jobs. Services include assessments of work readiness and interests, development of work plans, on-site job coaching, and routine monitoring of the service recipient’s progress on the job.

This is ambulatory withdrawal management without on-site monitoring. Services include a short, 3- to 5-day program that monitors the decreasing amount of psychoactive substances in the body and manages withdrawal symptoms; provides counseling to participate in appropriate treatment programs for alcohol and other drugs; and offers additional referrals as necessary.

This is ambulatory withdrawal management with on-site monitoring. Services include a short, 3- to 5-day program that provides on-site monitoring of the decreasing amount of psychoactive substances in the body and manages withdrawal symptoms; provides counseling to participate in appropriate treatment programs for alcohol and other drugs; and offers additional referrals as necessary.

This additional recognition focuses on the provision of care to clients/patients with acute or chronic conditions, using telehealth technology that allows monitoring in the clinical or home environment. This technology creates disease management empowerment and independence, improved access to care, increased collaboration among healthcare providers, and improved client/patient outcomes. Standards were based on telehealth clinical guidelines of the American Telemedicine Association.