UAMS KIDS FIRST Program Earns Prestigious Accreditation
| LITTLE ROCK – The groundbreaking KIDS FIRST program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has earned the highest level of accreditation awarded through an internationally recognized accrediting body.
KIDS FIRST, a program of the UAMS Department of Pediatrics, has 11 sites statewide that provide services to more than 700 children with special health care needs and their families.
The three-year accreditation was awarded by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) International. CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body founded in 1966 whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served.
“This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded and shows our organization’s conformance to the CARF standards,” said Carolyn Marsh, KIDS FIRST administrator. “An organization receiving a three-year accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are of the highest measurable and accountable quality.”
CARF International announced that KIDS FIRST has been accredited for a period of three years for its Home and Community Based Rehabilitation (Children and Adolescents) and Outpatient Treatment: Family Services (Children and Adolescents). This is the first time that KIDS FIRST has applied to the international accrediting body that required a three-day survey and included all 11 clinics statewide.
The accreditation follows a survey of compliance with the CARF Behavioral Health and Child and Youth Services Standards. During the survey, four CARF surveyors visited all sites and talked with patient families and other stakeholders to determine their satisfaction with services received.
KIDS FIRST is the only organization in Arkansas accredited in both Home and Community Based Services and Outpatient Treatment Services. It has clinics in Little Rock, Lowell, Fort Smith, Morrilton, Magnolia, Mt. View, Newport, Pine Bluff, Pocahontas, Searcy and Warren.
CARF establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services. For additional information, contact the KIDS FIRST Program Operations Center at (501) 364-3620.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a new 540,000-square-foot hospital, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,775 students and 748 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is the state’s largest public employers with more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.