CARF® is a registered trademark of the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. AccreditationInfo.com is hosted and maintained by Accreditation Now, Inc. as a public resource for organizations interested in or looking to maintain CARF® accreditation. Accreditation Now, Inc. is not a partner or affiliated with CARF® in any way. If you are looking for CARF.org please click here

How Do You Obtain CARF® Accreditation?

If your organization is ready to apply for a CARF® survey, it is important to know and understand the accreditation steps provided by the official standards manuals. In many cases, organizations will have to spend a year or more preparing for the survey of their facilities and organization as well as provide ongoing improvement updates after the survey is completed. In this article, we will simplify the steps to obtain CARF® Accreditation and provide an explanation for each step in the process.

  1. Partner with a CARF® Resource Provider – Understanding the requirements needed to obtain CARF® Accreditation is an important first step for organizations. To do this, partner with a CARF® resource provider like a CARF® Consultant and/or an organization like Accreditation Now to receive guidance and/or technical assistance.
  2. Self-Evaluate Your Organization – Once you know the requirements needed to pass a survey, it is important to self-evaluate your organization to see where you currently stand. This can help create a timeline to achieving CARF® Accreditation.
  3. Submit Your Application – Once you feel prepared enough, it’s time to submit your application for a CARF® survey. In this application, you will need to provide information about the leadership of your organization, the services or programs you wish to have accreditation for and the locations your organization operates from.
  4. CARF® Fees Are Invoiced – CARF® will select surveyors based on the needs and size of your organization to provide an accurate invoice. Each fee is fixed and is dependent on the number of surveyors required and the number of days required to complete the survey. Additional programs can lead to additional fees if added later.
  5. CARF® Completes The Survey – During your survey, a team of CARF® surveyors will review your practices and documentation. Throughout this process, it is likely that your persons served and stakeholders will also play a pivotal role. Once the survey findings are completed, an accreditation decision will be passed down.

In most cases, a business will be presented with one of 4 decisions including a three-year accreditation, one-year accreditation, provisional accreditation or nonaccreditation. Once this has been established you can either continue to seek accreditation or work to maintain your accreditation.

This content provided by: Accreditation Now, Inc.

About Accreditation Now

Accreditation Now has been online since 2003 providing organizations access to Policies, Procedures, Plans, Tools, Forms, Surveys and Trainings. With over 500 organizations having subscribed to Accreditation Now for assistance in either gaining or maintaining their CARF® Accreditation – our products have proven over the last decade that they will help organizations meet the standards required by CARF®.

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What our customers have to say

Southern Ohio Behavioral Health has been using Accreditation Now for many years and have found it to be a wonderful service when preparing for national accreditation. We began using the service prior to our 2006 CARF® accreditation survey. Having never gone through a CARF® survey I was very concerned about how to prepare and how to meet all of the policy standards. I discovered that Accreditation Now offered guidance and assistance that allowed us to easily check our current policies and procedures for compliance as well as draft new policies that would meet CARF® approval. I credit Accreditation Now for the excellent marks we received on the 2006 survey.
Dr. W. Michael Dowdy
Dr. W. Michael DowdySouthern Ohio Behavioral Health, Ironton, Ohio
Hello, RRRC just received notice of a three year certification from the CARF® review held on Oct. 15 and 16, 2015. The assistance from your web-site was highly valuable! I plan on continuing to use the resources provided by Accreditation Now!
Nancy Thompson
Nancy ThompsonRose Rock Recovery Center, Vinita, Oklahoma
We were beginning our CARF® accreditation process and did not have the infrastructure in place that Accreditation Now provided. Accreditation Now gives us the ability to track trainings, complaints, surveys, etc. To develop spreadsheets and maintain them would have taken and continued to take a lot of work hours. The data we pull from Accreditation Now is appreciated by all of our surveyors. We would absolutely recommend Accreditation Now to others and we have.
John Nosacka
John NosackaCapital Area Human Services District, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
We chose Accreditation Now as an aid for accreditation as a mechanism to aid in quality control and a quick way to orient new staff in the required domains of CARF® standards. The program allows for documentation and comparative performance over time and provides a timely reminder of performance aspects related to CARF® but more importantly to ensure quality services to clients. We have experienced more timely paperwork, quality assurance, and over time our ability to tune our services and be more aware of client parent and feedback form referrals. Accreditation Now represents an investment and (relative to the cost) is a very worthwhile investment for smaller agencies in particular. Their staff is personable, helpful and approachable and turnaround for assistance is very reasonable.
Robert Kissner
Robert KissnerFocus Foundation of BC, White Rock, British Columbia
When I was asked to write about my experience with Accreditation Now, I immediately said yes! Accreditation Now has designed software that has made my business run more smoothly, increase revenue, improve productivity, and gain efficiency. It has tremendously changed the way I am able to provide Behavioral Health Services. As a current CARF® Surveyor and CARF® Accredited business owner, I utilize the updates, resources, training, and software system to support the daily needs of my staff and clients. I am able to update policies, train staff, and maintain compliancy in multiple areas.
Ashlee Day
Ashlee DayA New Day Counseling, Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
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CARF® is a registered trademark of the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. AccreditationInfo.com is hosted and maintained by Accreditation Now, Inc. as a public resource for organizations interested or looking to maintain CARF® accreditation. Accreditation Now, Inc. is not a partner or affiliated with CARF® in any way.