Accreditation: Don't get it and forget it

A. DME accreditation needs to be renewed every three years. With the initial accreditation most DME supplies take the time to prepare and get ready for the survey. Many hire the expertise of a consultant and sweat it out waiting for the site survey. They spend hours preparing to make sure they will pass. They have a policy and procedure manual, forms, and knowledge they learned during the process.

It is expected that you are following all the standards and adhering to the policies you have in place. Although many have great intentions, they get busy running their business and forget some important things that they are supposed to do. Hopefully that is not you but just in case, you need to make sure you put in the time to prepare for your reaccreditation.

Your accrediting body in most cases reaches out to you but I always advise my clients to mark this on a calendar to make sure you do not miss the date. Many accrediting bodies will send reminders early. I would suggest applying and start preparing.

Here are some key things to review and make sure you have kept up to date:

• Make sure any previous deficiencies have been corrected and followed

• Audit your patient files to make sure you are supplying patients with the correct paperwork

• Review your HR files: If you have any change of personnel, make sure you have not only the employee file but and updated organizational chart.  Make sure you have employee evaluations and OIG exclusion checks.

• Review your performance improvement activities/annual program evaluation

It is optimal to keep up monthly with all the accreditation standards but if you have fallen behind, no need to worry but make sure you prepare and save yourself some headaches.