Accreditation and Standards
Accreditation is a quality assurance process under which the services and operations of a health center are evaluated by an external body (The Joint Commission or the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care) to determine if applicable standards are met. This process is voluntary and provides the organization with the ability to measure and compare quality of services and performance against nationally recognized standards.
This page is an index of ACHA and other resources on this topic. Resources include association projects, programs, publications, guidelines, and more. Additional information may be available under “External Resources.”
ACHA Resources
Standards of Practice for Health Promotion in Higher Education [pdf]
These ACHA Guidelines provide measurable guidelines for enhancing the quality of health promotion programs in colleges and universities.
Healthy Campus Coalition
Provides multidisciplinary, multiregional education, advocacy, and research on National Health Objectives.
Vision Into Action
This companion to the ACHA Standards of Practice for Health Promotion in Higher Education, Third Edition
includes tools, strategies, and action steps to
assist health promotion professionals, supervisors, senior
administrators, and others in translating the standards to practice.
ACHA Programs
ACHA's Healthy Campus Framework provides a structure for campuses to advance holistic well-being of their students, faculty, and staff. There are four components of Healthy Campus (Infrastructure, Cornerstone, Community, and Culture), accessible to institutions regardless of size, structure, or resources. Using a collaborative approach, institutions will develop cross-campus coalitions, assess their campuses, and begin building capacity for achieving health and well-being goals.
The ACHA-PSAS gauges patient satisfaction and provides insight into the quality and performance of a college or university health service. Accreditation processes typically entail some form of organizational self-assessment of quality of care or services. The ACHA-PSAS can provide this self-assessment.
ACHA’s College Health and Wellness Consulting (CHWC) for institutional health and wellness services utilizes a team of expert professionals to provide advice on funding models, staffing models, strategies to meet rising student demand for mental health services, and more.
External Resources
ACHA thanks its committee, coalition, task force, and section volunteers for providing resources and links concerning this topic. ACHA does not endorse or accept responsibility for the content or use of external websites.
Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC)
The AAAHC serves as an advocate for the provision and documentation of high quality health services in ambulatory health care organizations. This is accomplished through the development of standards and through its survey and accreditation programs.
International Association of Counseling Services
The International Association of Counseling Services accredits university and college counseling centers and public and private counseling agencies and advances the professional development of counseling services by establishing and encouraging high standards of professional performance and conduct.
The Joint Commission
The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve the safety and quality of care through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations.
Counsel for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS)
CAS has been the pre-eminent force for promoting standards in student affairs, student services, and student development programs since its inception in 1979. The CAS Professional Standards for Higher Education is available at the CAS website.
CAS Standards: The Role of the CAS General Standards [members only]