Receiving accreditation or a specialty distinction or certification is an achievement worth promoting. Sharing the meaning of accreditation and news of your recognition by ACHC can start a cycle of positive engagement within your organization that extends outward into the communities you serve.

A first step is to communicate with employees before your initial or renewal survey. You want staff to view accreditation as an important, ongoing process and not a discrete event. Giving accreditation prominence by explaining why your organization values it also gives employees an ownership stake in the achievement. It serves to make them comfortable sharing their knowledge of your purpose and success with patients and others.

When Indiana-based Paradigm Health added Palliative Care Accreditation to its existing ACHC accreditations for Home Health and Hospice, they didn’t consider it just another credential to add to the list. Instead, they made an announcement at an all-staff meeting, sent out a press release, and encouraged employees to share the achievement on social media.

“Some of the work we do, while incredibly rewarding, is also emotionally draining,” noted Andrew Worswick, Paradigm’s Chief Operating Officer. “To achieve an accreditation that validates the difference we make for individual patients and their families from a business built on the values of compassion and caring is well worth celebrating and sharing.

“Because our Home Health and Hospice staff had already achieved accreditation for their programs, our Palliative Care program staff were eager for the same level of recognition. Sharing the good news with everyone builds motivation, energy, and teamwork. It makes our employees eager to communicate pride about working at Paradigm which, in turn, builds goodwill in the community at large.”