Accreditation Commission for Home Care - ACHC

Updated: March 22, 2022

Learn about the Accreditation Commission for Home Care - ACHC In the early 1980s, several small home health organizations recognized an unfulfilled need for a unique concept accreditation program serving the smaller healthcare provider. Shortly after that time the North Carolina Accreditation Commission for In–Home Aide Services (NCACIAS) was founded. The forthcoming national expansion spawned the name of the organization to be changed to the Accreditation Commission for Home Care, Inc (ACHC). Major health care provider Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina quickly jumped on board and required its contracting providers to seek accreditation for home health and home infusion services.

What followed was the acknowledgment that this unique brand of accreditation was needed nationally; so in the mid to late 1990s the National Commission for Quality Assurance (NCQA) assisted in rolling out the accreditation product to 17 states. In addition to the Home Health and Home Infusion accreditation options, hospice and pharmacy standards were also developed within the national program.

By 2004 the Accreditation Commission for Home Care, Inc. had accredited providers in 45 different states, while serving patients in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Guam. In 2005 the success began to grow exponentially when Wal-Mart Inc. came on board as the nation's largest employer to choose ACHC. ACHC was subsequently selected for highlight on Inc. Magazine’s "Inc. 5000" list of the nation’s fastest growing private companies in America. Since then, ACHC has grown to the point where it has launched a totally inclusive accreditation solution for hospitals.

The Accreditation Commission for Home Care, Inc. currently offers accreditation in eight different programs.

Home Health Care Accreditation
Home health care is a broad and all-encompassing catchphrase used to distinguish nursing, psychiatric care, therapy and social work offerings that are required by the patient on a chronic or time-limited but ongoing basis. Home health nursing and aide services are available for accreditation under ACHC, as are physical, occupational and speech therapy services. In addition, medical social work is available for accreditation with ACHC, as is psychiatric home care.

Hospice Accreditation
ACHC is considered a national leader in hospice accreditation. The accreditation services include hospice care services for those providers offering care at the patient's place of residence. ACHC accreditation is also available for hospice inpatient care providers. This level of ACHC accreditation does not include facility accreditation, but rather focuses on the hospice provider and patient, making ACHC's accreditation offerings unique.

Private Duty Accreditation
Private duty services are typically covered by private payers, however, they are not recognized within the Medicare system. These private duty services are typically based on shift or hourly work and are provided by a Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse, or a Licensed Vocational Nurse. The private duty accreditation through ACHC encompasses the services of nursing, aiding, companion, infusion services, occupational and physical therapy services, private duty speech therapy, and private duty medical social services.

DMEPOS Accreditation
ACHC is a national driving force for the accreditation of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and other medical supplies. This accreditation includes oxygen concentrators. Home medical equipment service providers are responsible for the delivery, setup and maintenance of medical equipment or oxygen therapy. Clinical respiratory care services are also covered under the DMEPOS accreditation process. These providers are typically licensed respiratory care practitioners, respiratory therapists or other licensed respiratory professionals. Their services include the assessment, treatment and disease management of patients with acute or chronic respiratory conditions. Medical supply providers are also eligible for accreditation under DMEPOS accreditation. Complex rehabilitation and assistive technology suppliers, as well as those providing long-term services for patients with physical or anatomical structure deficits, are eligible for accreditation under this program as are fitters for orthotics and prosthetic devices. A community retail program, unique to ACHC, provides accreditation for retail stores that provide prescription medications and durable medical equipment to the consumer. A full list of consumer community retail is available on the ACHC website.

Pharmacy Accreditation
ACHC is a well-respected accreditation body in the area of pharmacy accreditation. All ACHC surveyors are licensed pharmacists engaged to assess and consult with pharmacies seeking accreditation. Pharmacy services provided by pharmacies seeking accreditation by ACHC may include infusion pharmacy, ambulatory infusion providers, specialty pharmacies, diffusion nursing, community retail pharmacy, and long-term care pharmacy. ACHC also offers accreditation for those owning and operating pharmacy compounding accreditation services.

Sleep Accreditation
ACHC offers accreditation for owners and operators of independent diagnostic testing sleep labs, physician testing facilities or hospital-based testing facilities. Also available for accreditation are in-home sleep testing typically available in a freestanding facility or home-based setting.

Behavioral Health Accreditation
For those providers attempting to meet the care challenges of a patient population with a mental health diagnosis, an intellectual or developmental disability or a substance abuse issue, ACHC offers accreditation. Treatment team and assessment and referral services accreditation as well as case management and community support accreditation is available through ACHC. Accreditation in this area is based on day treatment, intensive in-home treatment, outpatient treatment, partial hospitalization services, residential treatment and supervised group living. Prevention services, as well as psychosocial rehabilitation provider accreditation, is also available.

Hospital Accreditation
ACHC has joined forces with DNV GL Healthcare to offer a single accreditation solution for hospitals and healthcare facilities. This collaborative approach assesses patient management as well as effective business practices.

Though a national accreditation body with a full hospital accreditation solution, ACHC prides themselves on placing the significance on the individual provider. ACHC believes that by supporting the individual provider they will ensure quality patient care - which is and always has been the bottom-line of healthcare accreditation.

Click the following link to view our ACHC accreditation. Search AMSR under the company name field.

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Download our Oxygen Therapy Kit

Educate yourself with our Oxygen Therapy Info Kit. It's easy and free. Complete the fields below to download the kit or click the button below to have it sent to your address.