Newswise — The Joint Commission (TJC) has agreed to add several new requirements to its accreditation review of behavioral health care organizations providing treatment for individuals with eating disorders and their families. These requirements were heavily informed by almost a decade of work done by the AED Credentialing Task Force chaired by Mary Tantillo, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, FAED, and the AED Medical Care Standards Committee chaired by Mark Warren, MD, MPH, FAED. Until recently, the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Behavioral Health Care Organizations (CAMBHC) only contained two standards that applied to eating disorders.
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric illnesses. Additional accreditation standards were needed to safeguard patients and families and ensure the rigor required in treating these illnesses. Supplemental standards include those involving assessment, treatment planning, care components, staff supervision, outcome assessment, transitions of care, family involvement and organizational policies and procedures.
Comprised of members from the AED, the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals Foundation, and the National Eating Disorders Association, the AED Credentialing Task Force began its work in 2004 by gathering together stakeholders including patients, family members, service providers, government officials, and insurers. The task force completed its work in 2013 after developing and distributing its clinical practice recommendations for residential and inpatient eating disorder programs. The AED recommendations were guided by empirical data and consensus from existing eating disorder practice guidelines developed by the American Psychiatric Association, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and American Academy of Pediatrics; recommendations from AED also were based on numerous work group meetings, consultation from the Emergency Care Research Institute and the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission, and stakeholder data. More recently, the AED Medical Care Standards Committee collaborated with TJC on their technical expert panels used to develop the new standards.
“We are excited that TJC has helped advocate for patients with eating disorders by adding these standards because they safeguard patients and families and create key performance indicators that promote continuous quality improvement,” said Dr. Tantillo.” AED is also about to publish the third edition of its own Eating Disorders: Critical Points for Early Recognition and Medical Risk Management in the Care of Individuals with Eating Disorders. Dr. Warren states that this guide “will be translated into a wide number of languages to make it internationally useful. The third edition will be supported by educational programming for wide audiences working with adolescents to enhance its impact.”
The new standards will be published by The Joint Commission in their upcoming edition of the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Behavioral Health Care Organizations (CAMBHC) effective July 2016.
ABOUT The Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) is an international professional association committed to the leadership in eating disorders research, education, treatment, and prevention. The goal of the AED is to provide global access to knowledge, research, and best treatment practice for eating disorders. For additional information, please contact Elissa Myers at (703) 626-9087 and visit the AED website at www.aedweb.org
RSS