(September 17, CHICAGO) – Today, The Selfhelp Home, a nonprofit Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), announced it is the first in the nation to achieve The Joint Commission’s Assisted Living Community (ALC) Accreditation.
The Selfhelp Home is proud to be the first ALC to participate in the new accreditation program that will help raise the bar for seniors in ALCs across the nation. The program is in response to a shift in the assisted living environment that calls for more oversight and health care standards as seniors are staying in their homes longer and moving into ALCs with more health care needs than in the past.
“This accreditation highlights Selfhelp’s continued commitment to providing the highest quality of service for all our residents throughout the continuum of care in our community,” said Sheila Bogen, executive director of The Selfhelp Home. “Joint Commission Accreditation gives us the same opportunity to certify the quality and value we provide in assisted living that we’ve proven in our skilled nursing unit and demonstrates our commitment to providing the best care to our residents.”
With the assistance of Kathleen O’Connor, president and founder of Achieve Accreditation, a Joint Commission readiness national expert, Selfhelp was able to work efficiently to be the first in the nation to receive this accreditation.
“Achieve Accreditation has been assisting senior living providers with Joint Commission accreditation readiness for over 30 years,” said O’Connor. “It was our greatest honor and privilege to have partnered with Selfhelp to successfully guide them in becoming the first in the nation to achieve Joint Commission Assisted Living Community Accreditation.”
The Joint Commission announced the ALC program in May 2021, the first care continuum expansion in more than 20 years. The need for the program stems from a shift in the assisted living industry from a more hospitality-based environment to a more health care-focused setting that offers services for medication management, skilled nursing and dementia care. This shift in services highlighted the need for national, consensus-based standards and accreditation.
“The Joint Commission commends The Selfhelp Home as the first to achieve our Assisted Living Community Accreditation – demonstrating a commitment to providing safe and quality care for its residents,” said Gina Zimmermann, executive director, Nursing Care Center and Assisted Living Community Services, The Joint Commission. “Being the first community to participate in the new accreditation program serves as an important marker for all assisted living communities to follow Selfhelp Home’s lead, equal the playing field, and ensure consistent and reliable care is delivered for all residents.”
The Joint Commission’s ALC Accreditation standards were developed with consideration of scientific evidence and best practices, as well as state regulations and Life Safety Codes. Experts in the field of geriatrics, dementia care, rehabilitation, infection control and senior housing were actively engaged in a collaborative effort to design standards that align with quality care delivery and safe practices.
The standards address the environment, staffing, emergency management, dementia care, medication management, provision of care and services, process improvement and more. In addition to the standards, the ALC Accreditation program requires organizations to track and report on five standardized performance measures:
- Off-Label Antipsychotic Drug Use
- Resident Falls
- Resident Preferences and Goals of Care
- Advanced Care Plan/Surrogate Decision Maker
- Staff Stability
To learn more about The Joint Commission’s ALC Accreditation program, please visit https://www.jointcommission.org/accreditation-and-certification/health-care-settings/assisted-living-community.
###
About The Selfhelp Home
The Selfhelp Home provides older adults the highest quality of care in a culturally rich Jewish environment. Selfhelp of Chicago, founded in 1938, subsequently established a refuge for Holocaust survivors. Today Selfhelp honors its legacy of empathy and state-of-the-art care as an urban, independent non-profit home offering the continuum of services from residential living to skilled nursing. The Selfhelp Home has earned The Joint Commission Seal of Approval for Post-Acute Care and Nursing Care Center and has received the highest rating of five stars by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for 9 consecutive years and continuously recognized as Best Nursing Home and Short-term Rehabilitation by US News and World Report.
About The Joint Commission
Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 22,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.
