FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 28, 2016
Contact: Molly Mraz, Communications Specialist, 410-877-1045
Harford County Health Department, Division of Behavioral Health Awarded Three-Year CARF Accreditation
Bel Air, MD –September 28, 2016—The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, CARF, announced that the Division of Behavioral Health of the Harford County Health Department has been accredited for a period of three years for its Behavioral Health Program.
This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows the organization’s substantial conformance to the CARF standards. An organization receiving a Three-Year Accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are of the highest quality, measurable, and accountable.
Harford County Health Officer, Susan Kelly, says “Our Health Department was honored to join the elite cohort of nationally accredited public health departments in 2015 and now we have even more to celebrate. We are proud to be recognized for our commitment to quality and performance while delivering critical public health services to our community, especially behavioral health services. This experience was tremendously constructive and informative, as improving the ways we protect and promote the health of the people we serve is the very essence of our existence and this achievement.”
CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.
The Harford County Health Department, Division of Behavioral Health, has been providing Substance Use Disorder (SUD) services since 1968. In 2014, the health department proudly became an Outpatient Mental Health Center and today, the health department is fully integrated in the provision of behavioral health services.
For more information, visit the health department’s website at www.harfordcountyhealth.com
