TJC and CMS News for the Behavioral Healthcare Industry
April 2019
In This Issue:

Greetings to Our Colleagues in Behavioral Healthcare!
This month marks the ten year anniversary of our newsletter! Over the years, we've found it a great vehicle for staying in touch with our clients and colleagues.
 
It's gratifying when we get feedback that the newsletter is helpful to you. So, keep your questions and comments coming. We'll continue to bring you information and resources to support your regulatory readiness efforts. Also, remember you can access previous editions of our newsletter via the Newsletter Archive on our website.
 
This month, we're answering questions about the revised National Patient Safety Goal on suicide prevention. Our other article this month covers the revised guidelines for CMS surveyors when they cite Immediate Jeopardy for an organization. 

We value your feedback on the newsletter. Please send us your comments and tell us what topics you would like to see in future issues. We look forward to hearing from you! And, feel free to to your colleagues.

Anne Barrins
President/CEO
Trend for "Early Surveys" Continues

Many organizations are getting their triennial surveys 3 - 5 months ahead of their 3 year anniversary.  Don't wait until the last minute for your mock survey.  Contact us now and we'll put you on our schedule.
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1-877-546-7206
Tip of the Month
Be aware that the post-survey instructions for submitting Evidence of Standards Compliance (ESC) to TJC have been updated. The updated instructions also include program-specific examples and FAQs. Very helpful info for ensuring your ESC is sufficiently robust and will be accepted by TJC.
Why Choose
Barrins & Associates?
"We recently had a Barrins & Associates mock survey for our hospital. The most helpful aspect was not only the precision but also the honesty and clarity of the consultants. They advised us about everything that could possibly be an issue on our upcoming Joint Commission survey. It was exactly what we needed to help us prepare and be successful on our real survey!"

Karen Kasten, LCSW
Chief Operating Officer
St. Chares, MO
SUICIDE RISK ASSESSMENT:
Q&a oN JULY 1 REVISIONS TO NPSG 15.01.01
Are you ready for the new Joint Commission requirements effective July 1, 2019 for suicide risk assessment? TJC has revised National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 15.01.01. There are seven new and revised elements of performance.
We continue to receive questions from readers on the details of the new requirements. So, we're sharing those with you to support your efforts on this initiative ...
Continue Reading > 
CMS IMMEDIATE JEOPARDY:
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR SURVEYORS
Are you up to speed on how CMS is instructing its surveyors to cite Immediate Jeopardy? Effective March 5, 2019, CMS revised its surveyor guidelines for citing cases of Immediate Jeopardy.
The goal is to make decisions about Immediate Jeopardy more consistent across different states and regions of the country. Immediate Jeopardy is "a  situation in which entity noncompliance has placed the health and safety of recipients in its care at risk for serious injury, serious harm, serious impairment or death."  
Continue Reading >  
NEW CLIENTs
Barrins & Associates is pleased to welcome three new clients:
High Point Hospital in Middleborough, MA; Kindred Hospital - Chicago North in Chicago, IL; and Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center in Lemont, IL. We are pleased to work with these organizations on regulatory readiness!
CONGRATULATIONS CORNER
Congratulations to our client  Fort Behavioral Health  in Fort Worth, Texas who recently achieved initial TJC accreditation ...
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Barrins & Associates provides Joint Commission and CMS consulting services for the Behavioral Healthcare industry. Our clients include psychiatric hospitals and freestanding Behavioral Healthcare organizations. We specialize in providing Survey Preparation and Continuous Survey Readiness services for the Behavioral Healthcare industry. Barrins & Associates was founded by Anne Barrins who was a Joint Commission surveyor for 13 years.

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