How To License An Addiction Treatment Program
If you want to open an addiction treatment program, you’re going to need a license. But before we get into anything tangible, you should know a few things. First, there is no rule book on how to actually write a license application. Secondly, the process is incredibly tedious and very nuanced. Thirdly, there’s only two places you need to know about for your license, the state and joint commission. Since this is a blog article, not a manual to writing licensure applications, we are going to take a high level view of the process. Let’s take a look at differences between state licensure and joint commission accreditation.
How To Get A State License
To start, a state license is the bare minimum you will need to operate your addiction program. All levels of addiction care have different regulations you need to consider. You can figure out the requirements by looking at your state’s Department of Behavioral Health. For instance, here is the location to find Colorado’s licensure information. If your license is properly submitted, you can expect to receive a provisional license in 6-8 weeks for most states.
Before beginning your application, you’ll need a few things in order to submit your licensure request. The first is a certified addiction counselor who is willing to put their license information on your application. Additionally, you will need the address of whatever place you intend to operate out of.
One last important thing to know is the revenue generation model. With your state license, you can only be paid out of pocket cash rates or take PPO insurance plans. Unless you’ve been operating for several years and have many clients with the same insurance plan, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to take in network insurance benefits.
What’s the Joint Commission?
After your treatment program’s been operating for a while, you should consider applying to the Joint Commission. The main difference between the state license and joint commission is the amount of requirements they each have. If your state has 300 requirements, the Joint Commission has 3,000. For this reason, the Joint Commission is considered the gold standard of business operations.
Now you might be asking yourself, “why would I go through this process if it’s not necessary for me to operate?”
The answer is, insurance!
When you are accredited by the Joint Commission, major insurance carriers are more likely to accept an application from your organization to become an in network provider. In addition to accepting cash payments and PPO, you can now accept HMO policies. This will open the pool of individuals you can now accept into your program, which will increase your revenue and grow your business!
Why Should I Hire Someone Else To License My Facility?
I outlined the answer to this question in the first two points I made earlier.
- There is no rule book on how to actually write a license application.
- The process is incredibly tedious and very nuanced.
Applying for these programs suck! If you incorrectly apply for your license, it could tack on months of additional work and cause you to lose out on prospective revenue. Moreover, the Joint Commission process is so specific and covers a ton of different requirements. It can be incredibly difficult to get right the first time around, let alone the 4th or 5th. That is why an organization like ours exists. We specialize in getting your license the first time around and have done this process dozens of times.
If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about our approach to licensing and accreditation, contact us today!