Behavioral Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Requirements & Accreditation

As any business owner knows, an unexpected emergency situation can arise at any time. When it involves a healthcare organization, having adequate emergency management practices in place is imperative. Healthcare emergency preparedness is an important aspect of The Joint Commission standards, which will be the focus of this article.

What is Behavioral Healthcare Emergency Preparedness?

Behavioral healthcare organizations may experience crisis situations or sudden emergency events that can disrupt patient care and safety. The event may be related to a patient’s mental health status that presents an unsafe treatment setting for both patients and staff. In addition, an emergency event may be caused by a natural event, such as an earthquake, fire, tornado, or hurricane.

Whatever the cause of the emergency situation, The Joint Commission has a set of standards in place to guide behavioral healthcare settings. The behavioral healthcare emergency preparedness plan must align with Joint Commission standards to remain in compliance with this accreditation agency.

Creating an emergency preparedness plan for a behavioral health center includes these steps:

• Mitigation. The mitigation phase identifies any risks or areas of concern. These vulnerabilities are what guide the emergency preparedness plan.
• Preparedness. Once the various risks are identified, the behavioral health center creates a detailed actionable emergency preparedness plan.
• Response. Emergency response measures and strategies will differ based on whether it is a residential treatment center or outpatient. Response actions might include the scope of care, treatment, and emergency services, and parameters for rescheduling non-urgent appointments or closing the center temporarily.

Recovery. The final phase of the emergency event entails steps to resume behavioral health services.

5 Emergency Management Components

The Joint Commission has identified five critical areas to be addressed when preparing the emergency management plan. These are:

1. Care, treatment, and services for patients. The plan must provide detailed actions for the care and treatment of patients during an emergency event. This includes special medical services or psychological services that might be needed.
2. Communications. The plan must include a strategy for communicating with patients during an emergency, or notifying family members with updates.
3. Resources and assets. The plan details which resources might be needed during an emergency event, such as first responders.
4. Safety and security. The plan defines how the treatment center will provide safety for both patients and staff during an emergency event. This might include security personnel or law enforcement if needed.
5. Staff responsibilities. This part of the behavioral healthcare emergency preparedness plan designates the roles and responsibilities of staff members during an emergency.

Possible Emergency Situations in Behavioral Healthcare Settings

A sudden emergency situation could occur at a mental health or addiction recovery center, which is why The Joint Commission requires emergency preparedness plans. While a disaster or crisis is often hard to predict in advance, having a preparedness plan in place helps ensure safety.

There are various types of events that may constitute an emergency situation in a behavioral health setting. Some are human events and some are natural disaster events. Examples include:

• Mental health crisis. Someone may experience a mental health breakdown, which could cause erratic behaviors that put the individual and others in harm’s way.
• Suicide attempt. Someone may attempt or succeed at suicide, which can cause the other patients and clinical staff significant mental distress.
• Overdose. Someone may manage to obtain drugs and overdose while a resident at a behavioral health treatment center.
• Violence. Someone experiencing a psychiatric break may become violent and inflict physical harm on patients or staff.
• Natural disasters. Any type of natural disaster, such as an earthquake, flood, fire, hurricane, or tornado, can cause immense anxiety, destruction, and physical danger. These events may necessitate the moving of patients out of a damaged treatment center to an alternate location.

The Joint Commission Emergency Management Standards

When the Joint Commission set out in 2022 to update its emergency management standards, it sought input from these groups:

• Standards review panel. This is a group of fifty members with roles in emergency management planning and operations. The members of the panel represented various healthcare organizations and hospitals.
• Joint Commission workgroup. This is a group of life-safety cold field directors, standards interpretation professionals, clinical surveyors (doctors and nurses), and others.

The emergency management standards include:

• A comprehensive emergency management program that uses an all-hazards approach to planning.
• Leadership that provides oversight and support of the emergency management program.
• A hazard vulnerability analysis using an all-hazards approach.
• An emergency operations plan based on an all-hazards approach.
• A communications plan that defines how it will initiate and maintain communications during an emergency event.
• A staffing plan for managing all staff members during an emergency or crisis event.
• A plan for patient care and clinical support during an emergency event.
• A plan for safety and security measures to take during an emergency event to protect patients and staff.
• A plan for managing and conserving resources and assets (water, supplies, food, etc.) during an emergency or natural disaster event.
• A plan for managing utilities during an emergency or disaster.
• A continuity of operations plan to define how to continue performing essential services.
• A disaster recovery plan describes how to return to full functioning after the emergency event.
• An emergency management education and training program.

Circa Behavioral Healthcare Solutions Helps Ensure Emergency Preparedness Compliance

Circa Behavioral Healthcare Solutions is a professional consultancy that partners with clients within the behavioral health space. Our compliancy experts can assist you with creating a behavioral healthcare emergency preparedness plan. If you have a plan, we can help you update your existing plan to comply with current Joint Commission standards. Please reach out to us today at (888) 458-6619.