CARF adds screening for suicide risk to its assessment standards

Suicide risk screening requirement added to 2019 Behavioral Health and Opioid Treatment Program Standards Manuals. Data show that a large number of people who die by suicide had prior contact with the behavioral healthcare system. As part of a society-wide suicide intervention and prevention strategy, the need for evidence-based universal screening within behavioral healthcare settings…

New CARF standards address variability of care in office-based opioid treatment settings

More than 170 advisory council participants and field review respondents provided feedback to create the first national best-practice framework. A new medication-assisted treatment (MAT) setting, called an office-based opioid treatment (OBOT) program, has arisen in recent years in response to the growing opioid epidemic. OBOT programs offer treatment solely for people with opioid use disorder…