CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) Accreditation Preparation

If your organization delivers behavioral health, substance use disorder treatment, employment, or child and youth services, CARF accreditation can open doors to funding, referrals, and Medicaid contracts - while giving you an outside, expert-backed measure of quality. Ashley Ryan Consulting LLC (ARC) has guided more than 40 agencies successfully through the CARF process. Whether you're preparing for your very first survey or maintaining accreditation you've already earned, we meet you where you are and build a plan around your team's time, budget, and goals.

How the CARF Accreditation Process Works

1. Self-Evaluation: You assess your programs against the CARF standards to identify gaps before CARF ever sees your paperwork.

2. Preparation: You update/create policies and procedures, train staff, and organize documentation so your programs are ready to demonstrate conformance.

3. Application & Scheduling: You submit your survey application to CARF, which assigns a resource specialist and schedules your on-site survey.

4. More Preparation: Continue to implement updated policies, train staff, and organize documentation so your programs are ready to demonstrate conformance.

5. On-Site Survey: A CARF survey team reviews your documentation, observes services, and interviews staff and the people you serve, typically over one to three days.

6. Accreditation Decision: Within six to eight weeks, CARF issues a written report and a decision: one-, three-, or (for some providers) five-year accreditation, provisional accreditation, or nonaccreditation.

7. Ongoing Conformance: Accredited organizations submit a Quality Improvement Plan and, annually, a Conformance to Quality Report to maintain their status between surveys.

ARC LLC Services Available

• CARF Accreditation Process Guidance: Step-by-step support through your initial or renewal survey, from application through the on-site visit.

• CARF Policies Gap Analysis: A structured review of your current policies and practices against CARF standards, with a prioritized list of what needs to change.

• CARF Mock Survey: An on-site simulation of the real survey experience, so your team knows what to expect and where to focus before surveyors arrive.

• CARF Compliance Toolkit: An Excel-based toolkit for personnel training, person-served records, and written document compliance with standards guidance and sample documents your team can use on its own timeline.

• Policies & Procedures Development: We write or edit the policies and procedures your programs need to demonstrate conformance.

• Project Management Support: We can manage the entire accreditation project - timelines, staff assignments, and deliverables - as an extension of your team. 

• CARF Continued Compliance: Some of our clients need longer term support even after a successful survey for continued compliance - and we are able to step in and support you during your three-year accreditation cycle.

How We Work With You

Accreditation consulting can feel like a black box, especially if this is your first survey. Here is exactly what to expect when you reach out to us:

1. Complimentary Consultation (free, about one hour): We learn about your programs, your timeline, and where you are in the CARF process. This call is free and comes with no obligation to hire us.

2. Custom scope of work to meet YOUR NEEDS: After hearing from you, we put together a written scope of work with specific services, a timeline, and the cost. You review it, ask questions, and decide if and when to move forward. Nothing is billed until you sign.

3. Cost and pricing range: By the hour, we charge $60 - $150, depending on what type of work is requested and who on our team is available. Our signature package is a two-day CARF gap analysis for $3,500. This includes limited travel.

4. Engagement Begins: Once you approve the scope of work, we schedule kickoff and get to work, whether that is a single gap analysis or full project management through your survey.

Why should you hire ARC LLC?

• Save time and frustration with expertise support

• Customizable and flexible packages to fit your organization's needs

• Access to experts with experience in nonprofit leadership, CARF surveying, health care compliance, HIPAA privacy and security 

• Save money by outsourcing this service as a limited time project

• ARC LLC acts like an extension of your team for easy integration into processes and your working culture

• Achieve accreditation success and receive a return on your investment which may include new and increased funding streams, compliance with state governing bodies, and verification of your organization's commitment to quality and improvement.  

To get started today, call (440) 223-3679 or email [email protected].  

Need templates but not ready to get started with a consultant? Try our full set of customizable CARF policies and procedures at accrediready.org.