CARF Connection - A sensory approach proves effective in working with persons with autism and challenging behaviors - 2013 - PDF 
Many persons served in the vocational program at Community Work Opportunities (CWO) in Michigan experienced difficulty engaging in their own lives, visiting with family members, meeting appointments, and going out in the community. CWO turned to sensory processing to address the behaviors that make it hard for individuals to participate fully in their lives.
CARF Connection - We too are storytellers - People own the stories told from their perspective - 2012 - PDF
The Spectrum Network in Decorah, Iowa, recognized numerous
and diverse storytelling voices when it published From My Perspective:
Essays About Disability. The
book celebrates the stories of persons with disabilities, their parents and
caregivers, and rehabilitation professionals.
CARF Connection - How Ticket to Work helped a county improve employment outcomes – 2012 - PDF
To paraphrase a popular book title, it takes a village to reduce the
large unemployment rate for persons with mental illness and intellectual or
other developmental disabilities. Increasing employment opportunities for these
individuals is every service provider’s responsibility. Polk County Health
Services (PCHS) in the Des Moines, Iowa, area works
with a network of providers in the community to increase employment
outcomes.
CARF Connection - Mission shapes the focus of a social enterprise - 2012 - PDF
A blend of retail and rehabilitation is a recipe for creating a social enterprise -- a social service organization that operates a revenue-generating business to fund the organization’s mission. Cornucopia, Inc., has been using the model for decades.
CARF Connection - Blind consumers learn not only how to use computers but also how to build them - 2012 - PDF
Bosma Enterprises is removing the fear and mystery of using
computers for persons served. Four years ago, the organization launched a
Build-A-Computer program designed to help persons who are blind or visually
impaired become confident in using computers.
CARF Connection - Going back to school today makes it easier to go to work tomorrow - 2012 - PDF
Recognition of the positive roles that employment and supported education play in promoting recovery for persons with mental illness is increasing among organizations like Optimae LifeServices in Iowa.
CARF Connection - How an organization transformed its vision into reality - 2011 - PDF
Midwest Special Services relied on careful planning, good communication, and support from its stakeholders when it created a program tailored to the unique needs of persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
CARF Connection - The wheel deal - Volunteers refurbish and manufacture wheelchairs for global distribution - 2011 - PDF
Volunteers at Hope Haven help provide mobility and independence to persons with disabilities. The vital role of volunteers is interwoven throughout the CARF standards.
CARF Connection - Go with the flow - How workflows and swimlanes can improve your organization's services – 2011 - PDF
Most professionals are familiar with workflow diagrams -- a sequence of connected steps in a work process. Another tool, called swimlanes, clarifies workflows in that the steps and participants in the process are each assigned a role and responsibility.
CARF Connection - The CARF portable profile - A standard, tool, and process - 2011 - PDF
A
portable profile includes basic health information, such as advance directives,
allergies, functional status, emergency contacts, medical conditions, and
medications. The absence of a health information organizing system makes it
difficult for persons served to participate effectively in their own care. It
also makes it difficult for service providers to respond appropriately to a
person’s total health picture.
CARF Connection - Adult day services -- Finding an anchor in today's healthcare and economic storms
Adult day services (ADS) emerged as an alternative to institutional care more than three decades ago. The activities in adult day centers provide mental, social, and physical stimulation for adults who have lost a degree of their independence because of physical or cognitive impairments or chronic health conditions.
CARF Connection - Think beyond quality -- Think value
In considering a continuing care retirement community, potential residents will view the amenities and services through the lens of enhancing the quality of life. However, agreeing to a picture of quality is challenging, because quality is in the eye of the beholder. Although everyone expects service quality, no two persons perceive quality in exactly the same way. This article explores the perceptions of quality and how adding cost to the equation creates a new formula for consumer value.
CARF Connection - Using technology to even the playing field
Assistive technology can create jobs and careers for persons with disabilities that may not have seemed possible. Unfortunately, all too often, there is a perception that someone with a disability would not be able to perform specific job tasks. The truth is that, in many cases, an individual with a disability or other functional limitation would be able to perform essential tasks -- if given access to assistive technology or job accommodations.
CARF Connection - Shepherd’s Care Foundation is the first Canadian CARF-accredited aging services network
Shepherd’s Care Foundation holds the distinction of being the first organization in Canada to be accredited for its aging services network by CARF International. The accreditation is for three years, the highest level available.
CARF Connection - European providers explain why CARF is our accreditor of choice
When the International Brain Injury Association convened the Seventh World Congress on Brain Injury in 2008, conference participants were aware of sobering statistics in their profession: Of all types of injury, those to the brain are among the most likely to result in death or permanent disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CARF Connection - Call on a resource specialist for accreditation answers
You’ve no doubt received CARF messages that conclude with a familiar sentence, “For assistance, please contact your resource specialist at CARF.” Who are the CARF resource specialists, and what do they do? Support of Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative dovetails CARF’s person-centered mission. Beyond Rehab: CARF thrives in DMEPOS accreditation mix. Annual CARF accreditation gold seal marks an organization’s continued conformance to quality standards. Inter-rater reliability confirms validity of CARF surveys.
CARF Connection - Achieving -- and sustaining -- CARF accreditation
Success in attaining accreditation is not only possible; CARF wants to help you succeed! That is why we urge you to take advantage of our many resources to energize your organization’s efforts to achieve accreditation. These resources can also help your organization sustain the momentum of achievement throughout your accreditation term as you prepare for resurvey.
CARF Connection - How to craft a marketing plan
Marketing is how you tell your organization's story, how often it is repeated, to whom it is told, and the results of telling the story.
CARF Connection - Choice versus risk - A consumer's perspective
We readily embrace the concept of informed choice for ourselves and the persons we serve. Whether choosing between types of retirement residences, evaluating options in care or therapies, or planning for the future, we believe individuals are entitled to know and weigh all the options before making a choice.
CARF Connection - Competency-based training
Organizations recognize the importance of staff training to enhance service delivery and business operations, and CARF business practice standards reinforce this concept by emphasizing the need for competency-based training. Whether your organization is beginning or in the process of enhancing its competency-based training program, carefully consider three organizational elements: communication, infrastructure, and accountability. Each element can affect the training program’s cost, effectiveness, and sustainability.
CARF Connection - Add value to your CARF accreditation
Your organization can face many challenges in achieving quality services while maintaining a healthy bottom line and ensuring long-term survival. CARF standards can help your organization focus on performance improvement. Lower insurance costs can help preserve quality services. Free online learning provides development opportunities for staff and persons served. More value added to your CARF accreditation.
CARF Connection - Protecting persons served and staff in an extended evacuation
My employer had implemented plans for disaster preparedness and was experienced in conducting evacuations. When a natural disaster threatened our home sites in the past, we typically moved persons served to a temporary location for one or two nights and then returned them to their largely intact homes. However, a new dynamic stormed in with Hurricane Katrina—extended evacuation. Displaced individuals could not return to their homes when the storm passed, and many neighborhoods were so severely damaged that individuals will never be able to return to their homes. In some areas, resources and staff to provide support services remain scarce.
CARF Connection - CPR for sentinel events
What happens when organizational "sudden cardiac arrest" -- a sentinel event -- strikes in your organization? Are your staff members prepared to administer the life-saving techniques of CPR: Actions to improve your organization's chance of survival? Practices to ensure vital communications throughout the organization until more advanced support can be provided?
CARF Connection - Making the most of cultural competency planning
Understanding key elements of group identity might help meet that challenge. In this article, we will provide a workable definition of culture and a framework for cultural competency planning. We will offer a new model that can serve as the foundation for evaluating an organization’s cultural competency and for setting relevant organizational objectives for improvement.
CARF Connection - How corporate compliance helps your organization be accountable
In light of the increasing expectation for corporate accountability and transparency, the CARF standards assist organizations in meeting the requirements handed down by federal regulation and legislation. The intent behind corporate compliance is to protect organizations from potential situations of waste, fraud, and abuse, either intentional or unintentional, especially if it involves a federal audit or investigation. A well-defined corporate compliance program will assist an organization and its employees to deter and detect illegal or unethical activity.
CARF Connection - uSPEQ™ raises a powerful voice for consumers and providers
Where can I get information to compare my organization to others? Can you just recommend a product? Why doesn't CARF develop something for the field?" These questions often arise, especially as a provider prepares for an accreditation survey. Perhaps a quality manager is concerned about her organization's conformance to CARF's information and performance improvement standards or a program director wonders how his organization compares to national norms. "What happens here for people like me?" This key question is posed by people looking for or evaluating their choices for services. Although choice is important to consumers, options may not always be available to them. Nevertheless, people want to know if the services they receive are safe and appropriate and will improve their lives.
CARF Connection - Managing your risk with CARF standards
Risk management is the sound practice of identifying risk and making informed, calculated decisions to avoid or control these risks, thus enabling your organization to minimize or eliminate events that contribute to losses. A risk management program should be the framework used for all risk management decisions made by your organization.
CARF Connection - How to build a performance improvement system in your organization
Managing outcomes and improving the performance of an organization are benefits at the heart of accreditation and, not surprisingly, activities required in the CARF standards. Outcomes management and performance improvement require a mindset that begins with identifying what people want out of your program -- not with simply documenting what and how many services you provide. Of course, it is essential for you to know what services are provided in evaluating the outcomes.
CARF Connection - Realizing a return on investment in accreditation
Organizations that wish to measure their return on investment (ROI) in accreditation should review what areas they currently measure, such as personnel turnover, workers' compensation claims, customer and staff satisfaction, and various operational costs, so that they have a basis for comparing data pre- and post-accreditation. Without reliable measurement systems in place before pursuing accreditation, organizations will find it nearly impossible to have an accurate basis of comparison to determine the true ROI in accreditation.
CARF Connection - How to use technology to carry out your strategic plan
How does an organization like yours determine which technologies are suited to create strategic value? In this article, we showcase several CARF-accredited organizations that are achieving strategic value in different areas of their value chain through innovative applications of technology. CARF's own technology applications are also cited.
CARF Connection - Marking eight years of collaboration between the VA and CARF
At the Veterans Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, January 1, 1997, marked the launch of a historic agreement with CARF. For the first time, the VA's rehabilitation programs began preparing for accreditation surveys by applying the same CARF standards to their own programs that were applied to private-sector providers. For the 1.75 million veterans with service-connected disabilities at that time, the agreement marked a renewed commitment of the VA to demonstrate that the care veterans received at the VA met or exceeded national standards for patient satisfaction, access, and quality.