How Your Readiness Date Impacts Compliance
By Barbara Provini, RN, BSN, Associate Clinical Director
Barbara Provini leads ACHC’s Home Care, Palliative Care, and Healthcare Staffing Services programs. She also manages the clinical review team for Community Care Services programs. With over 35 years in healthcare, Barbara’s experience guides her in preparing and leading organizations to develop best practices and successful compliance strategies.
Posted: August 4, 2026
You successfully completed your initial Home Care Accreditation survey with ACHC, so I hope you’re feeling confident as your next survey approaches.
Ensure your success by reviewing all the requirements for accreditation. A common stumbling block for agencies at the time of reaccreditation relates to the readiness date they picked for the initial survey.
Defining moment
When you selected your readiness date, you attested that your agency would comply with all ACHC Standards from that date forward. During the initial survey, you would not have been cited as noncompliant for items that occurred prior to your readiness date. Going forward, those items matter!
For example, staff hired prior to your readiness date may not have been trained on all the required orientation topics. They may not have completed a competency that meets ACHC’s requirements or been subject to the prehire background checks that ACHC requires.
The surveyor for your initial survey would have seen that these items were not completed, but he/she would not have noted the deficiencies because of that readiness date.
Another example relates to clients/patients admitted or discharged prior to your identified readiness date. ACHC has specific requirements related to client/patient rights, the initial assessment of the client/patient, and what needs to be included in the plan of care. We also have requirements for your business.
You must audit client/patient and personnel records, track any adverse events or infections for both your staff and your clients/patients, identify areas for improvement, and develop performance improvement plans for areas that do not meet expectations.
Full compliance
After that initial survey, your focus on plans of correction was relevant and appropriate. ACHC understands that you were relieved to be finished with the survey and happy to have achieved accreditation. We hope you continued to build your business.
But that doesn’t mean the items that were missing but not cited because they occurred prior to your readiness date will be forgiven on subsequent surveys. Now, the expectation is for full compliance.
During your reaccreditation survey, your surveyor doesn’t want to find that you continued to omit orientation topics or annual education requirements for staff. We expect you to have embraced the ACHC Standards and met or exceeded the requirements of both ACHC and the state you provide care in.
These are the things that will make you stand out among your competitors. They serve to demonstrate your desire to provide the best care possible.
Your accreditation partner
As your partner, ACHC wants to provide you with the continuous support you need to grow and flourish in your business. We have many tools available, such as our Accreditation Annual Compliance Checklist for Home Care. (Please note, this checklist is current as of the publication date. Log in to your customer portal to access the most updated version.)
This checklist is an easy-to-use compliance resource and has each requirement written out in an abbreviated format. In addition, reviewing the ACHC Home Care Standards in more detail will help with any item you might not be sure of and need more explanation.
Congratulations again for prioritizing excellence by becoming ACHC accredited! Your ongoing success is ACHC’s top commitment.
--
Discover more articles about Home Care Accreditation.