If you have your own private practice, or have dreams to own one, you might be wondering what the next steps are after your practice is comfortably established. What are some actions you can take to help you scale? For some, the next step might be increasing the amount of clinicians they have on staff, or ensuring all of their clinicians are credentialed with insurance companies. It is those sorts of things that can really elevate a practice and take it to a new level. 

Becoming a CARF Accredited organization is another option one can take if they are trying to scale their private practice to the next level. CARF International has surveyed hundreds of thousands of programs around the world since it was founded as an independent, nonprofit accreditor in 1966. According to CARF International, “the accreditation signals a service provider's commitment to continually improving services, encouraging feedback, and serving the community. Consumers face a variety of options when deciding what services to use and who should provide them. Accreditation is a sign of quality and is an important consideration in their decision making.” CARF International. (2023, February 14). Why does accreditation matter? [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.carf.org/Accreditation/ 

Consumers look for CARF® accreditation in their choice of treatment for issues affecting mental health such as inpatient and outpatient therapy, addiction and substance abuse, psychiatric rehabilitation program (PRP) and many more. When you are backed by the accreditation, your practice will be looked at as more credible and trustworthy when it comes to quality of care, therefore potential clients may be more inclined to choose your practice over a non-accredited institution. More so, CARF International states that, “the value of accreditation goes beyond a competitive distinction for service providers and a framework for continuous quality improvement. CARF offers a wide variety of value-added benefits and several unique advantages to help providers receive the greatest return for their accreditation investment.” CARF International. (2023, February 14). Why does accreditation matter? [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.carf.org/Accreditation/ 

In order to obtain the accreditation, there are certain requirements and standards that a practice must follow. These standards can be found in the CARF Handbook. In order to satisfy the requirements and standards, written policies must be put in place that are followed practice wide. CARF will schedule a site survey where all practice locations and files are reviewed for adequacy to ensure the compliance of the standards. Based on their findings, they will either award an organization with a 1 year or 3 year accreditation. Lartey Wellness Group was awarded a 3 year CARF Accreditation in 2021. We will be doing a resurvey in the upcoming months to ensure we are still compliant with the standards. 

In summary, there are many things one can do to help scale their practice to the next level. A CARF Accreditation is one beneficial way of achieving that in its ability to establish a practice as credible and trustworthy and therefore increasing the amount of new clients a practice receives. Stay tuned for more information on how to grow your own mental health private practice.