Approved: New Requirements for Opioid Treatment Programs
Effective July 1, 2025, The Joint Commission has approved new and revised requirements for opioid treatment programs (OTPs) accredited under The Joint Commission’s Behavioral Health and Human Services accreditation program. The revisions are in response to a final rule released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) regarding medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) that published in the Federal Register on February 2, 2024.
The revisions increase access to lifesaving, evidence-based MOUD and advance retention in care through promoting patient-centered and compassionate interventions. Organizations are expected to be compliant with the final rule changes as of October 2, 2024, as published in the final rule. Organizations surveyed between the compliance date and the effective date of the revised Joint Commission standards are surveyed to the final rule through an interim survey process that was communicated to accredited organizations via letter on October 1, 2024. For questions regarding the interim survey process, contact your organization’s account executive.
As part of the revisions, The Joint Commission moved all OTP-specific requirements to a new Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) chapter in the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Behavioral Health and Human Services (CAMBHC). This chapter replaces the existing OTP chapter and gathers all OTP-specific requirements in one place, rather than interspersed throughout the other chapters. Requirements have been renumbered starting at OTP.01.01.01 and ending at OTP.06.01.01.
The revised requirements are posted on the Prepublication Standards page of The Joint Commission website and will publish online in the spring E-dition® update to the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Behavioral Health and Human Services (CAMBHC).
For more information, please contact The Joint Commission’s Standards and Survey Methods.
Publication Standards:
Prepublication Standards - Effective July 1, 2025