Accreditation of Contractors

Policy (approved January 1999, Revised June 2006):

As part of the Ministry's quality assurance activities, it is Ministry policy that:

• third-party accreditation will be required of all contracted service provider organizations with total annual contracts of at least $500,000 with the Ministry wherever an appropriate accrediting body is available;
• service provider organizations with total contracts with the Ministry of less than $500,000 annually may, upon agreement by the contract spending authority, participate in the accreditation initiative;
• the Ministry will identify acceptable accrediting bodies;
• service provider organizations who fail to earn or maintain accreditation may not be eligible for funding for any additional services and may be subject to contract termination;
• where no appropriate accrediting body is available, the service provider organization must comply with an audit process identified by the Ministry
• The Ministry will assist service provider organizations to pay for the direct costs of accreditation and may pay for other costs related to meeting accreditation standards. Contractors that seek accreditation for services/programs that are not funded by the Ministry, do so at their own expense.

Community Living British Columbia (CLBC) has agreed to apply the Ministry's accreditation policy to all of its service providers with total annual contracts of at least $500,000.

Choosing an Accreditation Body

The ministry has two approved accrediting bodies:

• The Council on Accreditation (COA) http://www.coanet.org
• The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) http://www.carf.org

See "Summary of Differences between CARF and COA" fact sheet.
Choosing an accrediting body is an important decision. If only one accrediting body covers the services you offer, then the decision is easy. If either CARF or COA could accredit your services, you need to decide which one you prefer on the basis of criteria such as:

• Whether the preparation process is formal or informal.
• If there is an agency similar to yours that you would like to work with and that agency has already chosen their accrediting body.
• If you prefer to choose which programs in your agency will be accredited:
• COA accredits the entire agency including all of its programs;
• CARF accredits specific programs within the agency;
• CARF and COA both require agencies to meet organizational standards.

Suggestions

• Make a commitment to pursuing accreditation; keep board, staff, and other stakeholders informed and involved in this process.
• Visit COA and CARF web sites: read web pages and phone accrediting bodies with any questions.
• Contact other agencies that deliver similar services to discuss accrediting body choice.

Questions? Contact the Accreditation Unit, MCFD.

Please let us know when you have decided on your accrediting body.

For more information on COA and CARF please refer to:

• COA and CARF Accrediting Bodies
• CARF Manuals