Hospitals and Related Institutions - Residential Treatment Centers - Accreditation

This Maryland law expands the definition of accredited residential treatment centers to include facilities certified by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities and the Council on Accreditation, in addition to those previously recognized by the Joint Commission. By updating state statutes, the bill ensures that these additional organizations are treated equivalently to the Joint Commission when determining which centers are subject to specific state inspections and oversight. Consequently, residential treatment centers meeting the standards of any of these three bodies will now be classified as accredited for the purposes of regulatory compliance and deficiency reviews. The changes take effect on October 1, 2024, aligning state definitions with a broader range of recognized accreditation standards for patient care facilities.