The Providence Center Receives Highest Level of Accreditation from CARF International
April 25, 2011 (Providence, RI)— The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), an international accreditation organization that evaluates health care organizations’ ability to provide quality, client-focused services using standard outcome measures to determine success, has awarded The Providence Center a three year accreditation, its highest level of accreditation. CARF accreditation is an international indicator of excellence and demonstrates a commitment to efficiency, fiscal health, service delivery, and consumer satisfaction for providers of behavioral health services.
“This accreditation is an indicator of your [The Providence Center] organization’s dedication and commitment to improving the quality of the lives of the persons served,” Brian J. Boon, PhD, President/ CEO of CARF International, wrote in a letter announcing CARF’s decision. “Services, personnel and documentation clearly indicate an established pattern of practice excellence. Your organization should take pride in achieving this high level of accreditation.”
Programs within all Providence Center divisions including Child and Family, Adult Services, Residential Services and Acute Services received a 3 year accreditation including The Providence Center’s Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU). The CSU, which opened in August of 2010, is the only crisis level of care inpatient facility in Rhode Island to receive a CARF accreditation.
The community-based CSU prevents the need for acute inpatient care by providing immediate support to individuals experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, an exacerbation of their symptoms due to their illness. The primary focus is the reduction of symptom distress with the goal of transitioning patients to a lower level of care. The CSU has served more than 300 people since opened its doors in August, providing intensive services for people who would normally have been hospitalized. It is estimated that the CSU has saved the state more than a million dollars by providing a non-hospital level of care for people who frequently use emergency rooms.
“We are very pleased to receive this high level of accreditation for our service provision, system management and organizational leadership,” says Dale K. Klatzker, PhD,
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President/CEO of The Providence Center. “That our CSU was accredited at such a high level within such a short time demonstrates our staff’s commitment to our consumers and the achievement of outcomes that reflect the excellent work that is done every day at clinical, administrative and leadership levels.”
The Providence Center is at the forefront of innovative approaches to behavioral health care designed to meet the changing needs of the more than 10,000 people served each year. Since The Providence Center opened its doors in 1969, it has been a community fixture, providing people from all walks of life with mental health and substance abuse services in their homes, schools and neighborhoods. In addition to comprehensive high quality behavioral health services, The Providence Center gives people the tools they need to change their lives. Through 39 programs and wraparound services, including food and housing, job training, legal services, primary health care and wellness activities, The Providence Center helps the people it serves to succeed.