Press Releases

CMS Approval of Deeming Authority of ACHC for Home Health Agencies

Raleigh, NC. The Accreditation Commission for Health Care, Inc. (ACHC), is pleased to announce that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has approved ACHC for recognition as a national accreditation program for home health agencies seeking to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. The date of this final notice is effective February 24, 2006 through February 24, 2009.

Section 1865 (b) (1) of the Social Security Act states that if a provider entity demonstrates through accreditation by an approved national accreditation organization that all applicable Medicare conditions are met or exceeded, CMS would “deem” those provider entities as having met the requirements. Details of the review of the ACHC application are available on the Federal Register: February 24, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 37).

ACHC will be applying for additional recognition of its hospice program in the spring and similar recognition for its home medical equipment program later in the year. Tom Cesar, President of ACHC, commented, “This is our 20th year of service, what a great way to begin celebrating our anniversary.

ACHC is a not-for-profit corporation and has been a symbol of quality since 1986. ACHC has ten accreditation programs. These include home health, home medical equipment, home infusion, hospice and others.

We felt that our Account Manager did a good job and all of our items and documents were always processed in a timely manner. The survey experience with ACHC was one that reflected a helpful and educational manner. We felt that ACHC has an attitude of wanting their organizations to succeed and do well during the entire accreditation process.

Northampton County Home Health Agency; Jackson, NC