-- Greater New York City Area – A simple method, integrated with a survey-ready team, can bring less recommendations and CARF accreditation, according to R. Scott Graham, PowderHorn Consulting senior consultant. The tool is a Balanced Scorecard, developed originally by Robert Kaplan and David Norton of Harvard Business School. Graham, a ten-year veteran CARF surveyor and author, advanced the technique for rehabilitation facilities to assist with compliance for Sections M – Performance Measurement & Management, and N – Performance Improvement of the CARF Survey Standards. Graham refers to it as the Program Evaluation Management Report.
Balanced Scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that includes multiple functions and goals, including alignment of business activities to the organization’s vision and strategy, and monitoring performance against goals. As it relates to CARF, the scorecard tracks the effectiveness, efficiency, access and satisfaction of a clinical facility, as measured by Section M and N – creating a plan for the future.
“What CARF wants to do is to look at accumulated data, and this helps them to see results more effectively,” says Graham. Using this PowderHorn Consulting method, Channel Marker, a mental health support services facility in Maryland, recently received a three-year accreditation, with no recommendations. “Nearly fifty rehabilitation facilities have used this program since I developed it almost fifteen years ago,” he adds.
CARF requires for each program seeking accreditation to have a tool in place to measure the standards, and it explains why the specially developed scorecard is quite helpful in implementing the process across the board. “An organization has to see what they are doing now to improve for the future,” states Graham, “and organizations that don’t go through the CARF survey process may not know how to improve.”
While the interaction between two humans may be considered immeasurable in the pre-conceived notion of the business world, specific indexes that measure quality of life do exist. Health facilitators can plug in varied outcomes to measure results for several programs. For example, to display effectiveness of outcomes (M) after psychiatric treatment, one measurement may be to determine, “does the former client now have a job?” Other indicators can be as straightforward as the satisfaction of clients with the facility’s food, or as impactful and life-changing as whether or not a client is clean of drugs and/or alcohol, from one quarter of a year after treatment to 10 years.
Establishing a scorecard is a way to look at various data regarding programs over a specified time period. “The information gathered will show when performance went down and why, and will also show how to replicate good performance,” states Graham, who was introduced to the balanced scorecard in the corporate world and adapted it to apply to treatment-centered behavioral health care facilities.
With consultants comprising over 150 years of experience, PowderHorn Consulting specializes in CARF accreditation, and offers a wide range of services to health and human organizations throughout the United States and Canada. Over ten years in business, PowderHorn Consulting has a proven record of accomplishment with a 100% success rate in accreditations. For more information, Tom Sefcik can be reached at 740-272-1935, or at www.PowderHornConsulting.com.
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Release ID: 90959