March Newsletter: TJC and CMS News for Behavioral Healthcare

TJC AND CMS NEWS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

March 2022

Greetings to Our Colleagues in Behavioral Health!

Spring is on the horizon in many parts of the country. So, hopefully, is some return to normalcy as COVID-19 numbers decline in many locations.

TJC is catching up on overdue surveys and so continuous readiness is as important as ever. To support those efforts, we have two important updates this month.

Our first article covers a new session on the Hospital survey agenda. It’s the Grievance Review session where TJC examines how you manage complaints and grievances and how you respond to patients and families.

Our second article provides an update on virtual surveys in the Behavioral Health Care & Human Services Accreditation Program. Those continue to be on the rise at this time.

We’re back out in the field full force nationwide supporting our clients with their survey readiness efforts. It’s great to be working with so many of you in person again!

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

Anne Barrins

President/CEO

JOINT COMMISSION GRIEVANCE REVIEW:

NEW SURVEY SESSION

Heads up! There’s a new session on the Hospital survey agenda in 2022. It’s the Joint Commission Grievance Review session. So, let’s take a look at what’s involved and how you can best prepare.

First, the surveyors will review your Complaint/Grievance policy. That policy is on the Documents List in the TJC Survey Activity Guide available on your Joint Commission Connect site. In addition, surveyors typically request your Grievance Log for a specific period of time. For example, the last six months.

Next they review ...

VIRTUAL JOINT COMMISSION SURVEYS

CONTINUE FOR BH ACCREDITATION

In the Behavioral Health Care and Human Services Accreditation Program, virtual Joint Commission surveys are on the rise. At this point, many of our clients have undergone virtual surveys.

So, we checked in with them to see what their experience was like. We’re sharing their takeaways in case you have a virtual survey on your horizon.

“Master the technology” was the unanimous feedback we received from our clients. They expressed this was a critical feature for a smooth virtual survey. Involving the IT Team early was a common recommendation.

Specifically, they cited ...

NEW CLIENTS

Barrins & Associates is pleased to welcome our new client Clayton Residential Home, a Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Facility in Chicago, Illinois. They provide recovery oriented residential services for adults who live with serious mental illness. Clayton Residential Home is Joint Commission accredited and we’re pleased to work with them on continuous readiness and best practices.

Learn More About Our New Clients >

TJC Continuing to Catch Up

COVID-19 rates are declining in many counties nationwide. As a result, TJC is catching up on overdue surveys. If you’re anticipating a survey later this year, Contact us now to arrange your mock survey as our schedule is tightly booked.

1-877-546-7206

TIP OF THE MONTH

TJC is now surveying deemed status organizations for compliance with the CMS COVID-19 Staff Vaccination Requirements. They've published several helpful FAQs explaining how they survey these requirements. Be sure to review those carefully as part of your survey preparation.

Why Choose Barrins & Associates?

“The Barrins & Associates team was a wonderful resource for our hospital and our ongoing Joint Commission readiness. They identified issues we need to correct and gave us a clear picture of where to focus. Moreover, they gave us an expanded horizon on trends and practices in our industry outside of our own hospital system. We so appreciate their expertise.”

Darcy Lichnerowicz, CEO

Beckett Springs Hospital

West Chester, Ohio