New standards
apply to 24/7 care in residential and inpatient settings
February 12, 2013, Tucson, Arizona -- CARF International
released standards for accreditation of programs treating persons with eating
disorders in the newly published 2013 Behavioral Health Standards Manual.
The manual is available in electronic and print formats at www.carf.org/catalog 
(in Canada, www.carf.org/catalogue ).
The new CARF standards
for residential and inpatient treatment of eating disorders apply to programs
that serve patients 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, under the supervision of
a licensed healthcare professional who has access to a licensed physician.
Patients served in these facilities have been diagnosed with eating disorders
according to the current DSM and ICD-9, including Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia
Nervosa, and Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified. Symptom management and
interruption require an intensity of service delivery that is beyond an
outpatient or partial hospitalization level of care.
Service providers may
begin applying the new standards in their organization immediately. CARF
surveys leading to accreditation for an eating disorder treatment program may
be conducted as soon as a provider is able to demonstrate six months of
conformance to the standards.
"CARF's
willingness to develop standards for inpatient/residential eating disorder
treatment programs is applauded. This is an important step toward safeguarding
patients with eating disorders and their families who seek programs providing
this level of care," said Mary Tantillo, Ph.D., PMHCNS-BC, FAED.
Tantillo chaired the
Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) Task Force on Clinical Practice
Recommendations for Residential and Inpatient Eating Disorder Programs, which
guided creation of the CARF standards. She is also the director of the Western
New York Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders and associate professor
of Clinical Nursing at the University of Rochester School of Nursing in
Rochester, New York.
The AED Task Force is a
collaboration of the Academy for Eating Disorders, the National Eating
Disorders Association, and the International Association of Eating Disorders
Professionals.
The
task force gathered input from patients, family members, service providers,
government officials, and insurers. The task force was also guided by empirical
data and consensus from the American Psychiatric Association Practice
Guidelines for Eating Disorders, National Institute for Health and Clinical
Excellence Guidelines for Eating Disorders, Australian and New Zealand Clinical
Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa, and American Academy
of Pediatrics Policy Statement on Identifying and Treating Eating Disorders.
The AED Task Force
established recommendations to inform standards development for:
- Safeguarding
patients and families seeking residential or inpatient eating disorder
treatment.
- Reviewing
and improving the quality of care offered by residential and inpatient
treatment programs.
- Providing
a quality of care benchmark for third-party payers to consider when they
collaborate with service providers in developing comprehensive models of care
and reimbursement.
"The AED Task
Force participants are thrilled that CARF stepped forward to advocate for
patients with eating disorders and their families in developing these
accreditation standards," Tantillo added. "The standards facilitate
the creation of key performance indicators and promote continuous quality
improvement."
Nikki Migas, managing
director of CARF's Behavioral Health accreditation area, said, "Many
aspects of the AED Task Force recommendations are embraced in the CARF ASPIRE
to Excellence® and Behavioral Health general and specific program
standards."
CARF International's
leadership in framing standards is backed by its 47-year history of accrediting
health and human services.
Service providers
interested in being accredited for their eating disorder treatment program may
contact a CARF International Behavioral Health resource specialist at www.carf.org/contact-us or toll free (888) 281-6531.
Service providers
seeking accreditation for eating disorder treatment programs are encouraged to
use both the CARF standards and the Clinical Practice Recommendations for
Residential and Inpatient Eating Disorder Programs developed by the AED Task
Force at www.aedweb.org/aed_inpatient_standards.htm .
2/11/2013 12:05:00 AM