TPS Awarded 3-year CARF Accreditation
From Matt Revis
Very early in my career, I noticed a simple phrase in black and white posted above the desk of a social worker in Buncombe County. “We have done so much for so long with so little we are now qualified to do everything with nothing.” Today I can say that we have done so much work on CARF for so long that we are now qualified to be accredited for three years. Officially, Turning Point Services has been accredited by CARF for a period of three years for Community Services Coordination (which we call Case Management) and for Community Employment Services (known as Supported Employment in North Carolina). This is the longest period of accreditation bestowed by CARF and reflects confidence in our capacity to constantly improve as an agency using CARF standards. As the award letter reads,
“This achievement is an indication of your organization’s dedication and commitment to improving the quality of the lives of the persons served. Services, personnel, and documentation clearly indicate an established pattern of excellence.”
CARF accreditation is just the beginning of an ongoing process of questioning, wondering, tinkering, discovering, planning, tweaking, trying and trying again that results in an agency constantly improving. Turning Point Services has embarked on a long term relationship with CARF, and I am certain both agencies will learn much as a result. I wish to thank everyone who worked on CARF-related projects, and offer special thanks to those of you who were engaged with CARF consultants during the survey.
Quality Management is not a special program or a set of projects carried out by one individual or one section of an organization. It is a way of doing business that engages everyone in an organization or a system, including external partners and other stakeholders.
Service Providers have a complicated role in the quality of service delivery in North Carolina. Turning Point Services is responsible for designing and implementing processes that deliver services according to: (1) definitions; (2) the State's core administrative rules; (3) best practice and national accreditation standards; (4) our own policies; and, (5) the policies and policy interpretations of local management entities. This is a daunting task. To manage quality in this chaotic and conflicting environment, we must collect and interpret data on all our operations, and be prepared to share this data with other partners.