Should a Rehabilitation Center Be Certified?
A rehabilitation center can aid an individual suffering from addiction to get clean and return to normal life. The process can include therapy, drug detox, holistic practices, and treatment to manage withdrawal symptoms.
Health professionals working in a rehabilitation center should be properly certified. Accreditation and certification of a rehabilitation center gives patients a special assurance that facilities, staff, and services will be up to specified standards.
Requirements for Certification
Each state has its own regulations and laws when it comes to treatment standards. Here are a few with which rehabilitation facilities in the State of Washington must comply:
• Facilities are required to comply with federal, state, and local regulations and statutes regarding accommodations for handicapped persons.
• Rehabilitation programs must have defined intake protocols, admission criteria, methods of and reasons for discharge or termination, after-care procedures, and patient rights.
• Evaluation methods in the program must measure patient progress and results as they relate to written, measurable goals and objectives.
• The facility must ensure that an individualized treatment plan is developed and implemented for each resident based on health assessments on admission and during the duration of the treatment.
• In a residential rehabilitation, patients’ psychological and social needs are required to be assessed as part of treatment.
• Services and therapeutic treatments must be defined and must follow a sequence.
• All medical information must be documented properly and made available to other health care professionals.
• The resident food plan must meet state nutritional requirements.
• The program must establish an emergency plan designed for response to external and internal emergency situations to ensure resident safety and health.
• All staff and independent contractors must be screened for criminal history and undergo background checks.
• The facility must comply with state standards for infectious disease control.
These are just a few of the requirements for a rehabilitation center in Washington. These regulations deal with common sense, procedural, safety, and legal aspects of starting and maintaining a rehab facility. The intention of these strict requirements is that anyone admitted can safely detoxify from alcohol or drug addiction, have a positive experience in learning to deal systematically with addiction issues, and emerge from the program a drug-free individual with a new, healthy outlook on life.
Benefits of Certification
When a rehabilitation center has been certified, it means it has been verified as meeting specifically defined standards set by experts in the field. These standards can be found by accessing state certification standards which are made available to the public.
In addition, the level of quality shown by certification is must be continuously maintained. Certification is only in force for a specific period of time. This means a rehabilitation center must continue to earn its certification. To keep its license, the facility must continue to pay licensing fees, meet legal requirements, and keep up with all required continuing education. Maintaining certification requires remaining accountable to state regulators on consistent basis.
Because of the requirement to stay accountable, the quality of care in certified facilities is usually better than that found in centers which do not have to hold themselves to the comprehensive standards required for certification.
How Can I Find Out if a Rehabilitation Center is Certified?
A good rehabilitation center will be proud of its high standards and will usually display its certification on its websites. You can also call and ask what certification the facility has attained.
Overall, a certified rehabilitation center will maintain standards of continuous quality that centers which are merely licensed do not have to maintain. Certified centers are expected to consistently provide services which adhere to these stringent standards. It makes sense that superior standards and quality will make for happier, drug-free clients.
Lifeline Connections and Certification
Lifeline Connections is a state-certified treatment center located in Vancouver, WA. It is one of a very few options for a non-hospital rehabilitation center in the Portland Metro area. For more info, please call us at (360) 397-8246.
