What’s New: Joint Commission Behavioral Health Standards Update
Key Changes & New Requirements
The Joint Commission recently implemented a series of updates to its Behavioral Health and Human Services standards. These changes, which took effect throughout 2025, affect emergency management, restraint and seclusion, infection control, opioid treatment oversight, and administrative participation in accreditation.
For behavioral health organizations, these updates reshape how compliance and quality of care are demonstrated. They also reflect the Joint Commission’s continued move toward simplification, accountability, and safety across diverse care settings.
The most recent updates were designed to reduce redundancy, modernize existing expectations, and improve clarity. They apply across a wide range of behavioral health programs, including outpatient, residential, and substance use treatment settings.
The revisions touch on six major areas:
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Emergency management
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Restraint and seclusion procedures
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Infection control
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Opioid treatment and medication protocols
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Accreditation participation
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Administrative reporting
These changes are meant to simplify documentation, strengthen staff training, and integrate safety and risk management principles into everyday operations.
Emergency Management (EM) Chapter Overhaul
As of July 1, 2025, the revised Emergency Management chapter took effect for all accredited behavioral health and human services programs. This update was among the most significant in years, reworking the chapter’s structure, numbering, and focus areas.
The new EM standards reduce the total number of Elements of Performance by approximately 31 percent. Redundant items have been removed, while others have been clarified and reorganized to make the requirements more practical. The intent is to shift from checklist-style compliance toward a stronger emphasis on readiness, coordination, and recovery.
Key expectations include:
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Integrating risk assessment and mitigation planning into daily operations instead of periodic reviews
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Expanding communication requirements with local emergency agencies, first responders, and community partners
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Strengthening recovery and continuity plans to ensure essential behavioral health services resume quickly after an emergency
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Modernizing documentation to include structured after-action reviews and improvement tracking
Behavioral health organizations are encouraged to use realistic tabletop exercises that reflect actual scenarios in their environments, such as telehealth disruptions, evacuations from secure units, or local public health emergencies. The updated EM chapter highlights a proactive, resilience-based model where emergency preparedness is treated as a shared organizational responsibility rather than a compliance task.
Revised Restraint and Seclusion Requirements
Effective January 1, 2025, the Joint Commission introduced new and revised standards for restraint and seclusion. These standards apply across behavioral health and human services programs and clarify what constitutes a restraint, who may apply it, and how it must be documented.
The update removes the separate section on the physical holding of a child or youth. Instead, these practices are now covered under the general restraint and seclusion framework. The language defining restraint has also been refined to clearly separate therapeutic touch or brief redirection from restrictive intervention.
Training and competency requirements have been strengthened, emphasizing trauma-informed care and de-escalation as primary interventions. Staff must demonstrate annual competency in prevention techniques, safe application of restraint, observation, and documentation. The revised expectations also reinforce timelines for physician notification, family communication, and debriefing after each incident.
These changes continue the shift toward a more safety-focused and person-centered model, reducing variability in practice and ensuring greater accountability in crisis response.
Infection Control Updates
Also effective July 1, 2025, the Joint Commission implemented new infection control expectations for behavioral health programs. These revisions extend infection prevention principles commonly applied in medical settings into behavioral health environments.
The new standards call for expanded surveillance and trend tracking for infections, stronger environmental hygiene procedures, and increased staff education in infection prevention. Programs must maintain detailed infection control plans that address cleaning, ventilation, and water quality. Annual competency assessments are now required for all staff whose roles involve direct client interaction.
The updated expectations also clarify responsibilities for outbreak response, personal protective equipment supply management, and collaboration with local health departments. These measures recognize that behavioral health facilities, especially residential and group programs, face distinct challenges in containing and preventing infectious disease spread.
Opioid Treatment and Medication Standards
New requirements for Opioid Treatment Programs and Medication for Opioid Use Disorder services took effect in alignment with federal updates from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The revisions strengthen clinical oversight of prescribing practices, particularly regarding take-home doses. They also require individualized treatment planning with clearly defined goals, regular reassessment, and documented treatment history collection at intake. The goal is to ensure safe, data-driven treatment decisions that reflect both patient needs and federal expectations.
Behavioral health organizations offering medication-assisted treatment should review their protocols for admission, dosing, and discharge documentation to ensure consistency with these updated standards.
Additional Revisions in Accreditation, Reporting, and Workplace Safety
Several administrative and operational updates have also taken effect. The revised Accreditation Participation standard, APR.01.03.01, requires organizations to demonstrate active participation in accreditation processes throughout the year rather than treating surveys as episodic events.
In the reporting and administrative category, organizations must now notify the Joint Commission within 30 days of any change in ownership, licensure, or key services. Education and clinical performance standards have also been updated to include enhanced hand hygiene monitoring and specific guidance for documenting medication-assisted treatment assessments.
Workplace violence prevention standards, which began implementation in 2024, continue to be monitored for compliance. They require leadership oversight, formal reporting systems, and post-incident staff support, all aimed at fostering safer work environments in behavioral health care.
Transform Your Vision Into a Thriving Behavioral Health Organization
The path to building a successful behavioral health organization isn’t about luck; it’s about precision, foresight, and the right partners at your side. At Atlantic Health Strategies, our team of executives and operators works alongside you to translate vision into reality. We guide mental health, substance use, psychiatric and eating disorder providers through every layer of operational and regulatory complexity; from licensure and accreditation to compliance infrastructure, HR, and IT managed services.
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If you’re ready to elevate your organization with a partner that understands the business, the compliance, and the mission connect with us today.