NEWS RELEASE
Behavioral Health Care and Addiction Treatment Programs
Olympic Behavioral Health awarded Behavioral Healthcare Accreditation from The Joint Commission
(West Palm Beach, Florida) – Olympic Behavior Health has again earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Behavioral Healthcare Accreditation by demonstrating continuous compliance with its performance standards. The Gold Seal is a symbol of quality that reflects a healthcare organization’s commitment to providing safe and quality patient care.
Olympic Behavioral Health underwent a rigorous, unannounced onsite review on September 7, 2022. During the visit, a team of Joint Commission reviewers evaluated compliance with Behavioral Healthcare standards, including suicide prevention, environmental risk, leadership, and identification of abuse, neglect, trauma, or exploitation.
The Joint Commission’s standards are developed in consultation with healthcare providers, measurement experts, and patients. They are informed by scientific literature and expert consensus to help healthcare organizations measure, assess and improve performance. The surveyors also conducted onsite observations and interviews.
“As a health care accreditor, The Joint Commission works with health care organizations across settings to help improve patient safety and quality of care through our expert resources and tools, innovative solutions, and rigorous standards,” says Deborah Ryan, MS, RN, interim executive vice president, Accreditation and Certification Operations, The Joint Commission. “We commend Olympic Behavioral Health for its commitment to advancing patient safety and quality.”
The management at Olympic Behavioral Health takes great pride in maintaining the trust of The Joint Commission by successfully renewing their accreditation.
“Joint Commission accreditation is the gold standard for safety and quality of care within the substance abuse and mental health services field. Anyone seeking help for themselves or a loved one should always be certain the facility they choose is accredited,” says Andrew Spahn, the CEO of Olympic Behavioral Health.
Accreditation Preparation
To prepare for the Joint Commission’s assessment, Olympic Behavioral Health thoroughly reviewed our policies and procedures to ensure their effectiveness in mitigating risks related to suicide prevention, environmental risk assessment, and identification of abuse, neglect, trauma, and exploitation. Our team conducted a gap analysis by reviewing the requirements and identifying where we met the standards and where there were gaps. We documented the areas where improvement was needed to help us prioritize our efforts and allocate resources more effectively. This analysis allowed us to focus on bridging the gaps and meeting the necessary standards for success. We are proud of our team’s hard work and dedication to this analysis and were eager to take the necessary steps to improve and achieve our goal of earning accreditation.
In addition to reviewing our policies, we evaluated the performance of our clinicians and other staff members in their execution of our procedures. We provided comprehensive training to ensure that our team members had the knowledge and skills to effectively identify and manage risks related to these critical topics. Our staff was trained to recognize warning signs of suicide, environmental hazards, and instances of abuse, neglect, trauma, and exploitation, enabling them to respond proactively and mitigate risks quickly.
We also conducted a records audit to ensure that our best practices were followed when a patient was identified as high risk for these conditions. Our records audit allowed us to evaluate our procedures’ effectiveness and identify areas where we could improve our practices further. Overall, our commitment to ensuring the care and well-being of our patients is unwavering, and we will continue to implement best practices to mitigate health and safety risks.
For more information, please visit The Joint Commission website.
About Olympic Behavioral Health
Olympic Behavioral Health is a leading addiction treatment center in South Florida. We offer partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient programs, and luxury sober housing for those seeking additional support. Our clinical program includes medical interventions and family therapy to provide high-quality care in a welcoming environment. At Olympic Behavioral Health, we value person-centric language and recognize the complexity of substance use disorders and the need for compassionate support, reducing barriers to addiction treatment and promoting successful recovery. Our commitment is to assist persons with substance misuse disorders and their families in their journey toward healing and provide support throughout their recovery process. We thank our staff for earning The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval®.