Behavioral Health Accreditation Promotes Accountability

December 17, 2025 · Becky Kolinski

As the demand for behavioral health services grows, organizations must adapt to ensure timely access to high-quality care. NCQA recently updated its Behavioral Health Accreditation (formerly Managed Behavioral Healthcare Organization Accreditation) standards to reflect the changing needs and priorities of behavioral health payers, policymakers and the industry at large. The new standards take effect for surveys on or after July 1, 2026.

“We’re listening to the market and adapting our programs to meet the needs,” says Jeni Soucie, NCQA’s Senior Manager of Product Management. “Our intent is to preserve the core elements of the program, while acknowledging that the industry has shifted and we need to focus more on certain areas, like network adequacy and population health.”

Benefits of Accreditation

For policymakers and regulators. Defines high-quality behavioral health services, helps identify organizations that provide value and streamlines oversight processes. “State Medicaid agencies need to get creative and find ways to use their limited resources to address rising behavioral health needs while other health needs remain stable,” says Soucie. “Requiring behavioral health organizations to earn NCQA Accreditation gives states confidence that their vendors meet rigorous standards for quality and access to care.”

For accredited organizations. Provides a framework for evaluating behavioral health quality, access and outcomes. Aligns with Health Plan Accreditation and supports whole-person care. “Updating the behavioral health standards creates synergies and reduces administrative burden when health plans choose to delegate behavioral health services to an NCQA-Accredited organization,” says Maria Diaz, NCQA’s Program Content Engineer.

For consumers. Helps people find the types of practitioners and care they need. “Access to care is a primary concern for people seeking behavioral health services,” says Soucie. “Our standards encourage organizations to closely monitor their networks, identify gaps and resolve them.”

What’s Changed

Beyond the name change, we’ve updated the program standards and scoring. Here is a summary of what to expect.

Network Management Standards

We reorganized standards related to Network Management into a single category and added new standards for Assessment of Network Adequacy and Delegation. As part of the network assessment, organizations must report data for prescribing and non-prescribing behavioral healthcare practitioners, making it easier for people to find the care they need.

“We also added new ways to measure distance that reflect how people receive care,” says Diaz. “We included a category for telehealth providers and added public transit as an option for calculating time and distance.”

Population Health Management Standards

We consolidated standards related to Population Health Management into a single category and added new standards for Population Health Strategy, Population Identification, Population Health Impact and Delegation. These standards help organizations demonstrate the results of population health management activities and identify opportunities for improvement.

“It is important for organizations to proactively gather information—income, race, ethnicity, language spoken—to get a better picture of the populations they serve,” says Soucie. “Many organizations are already performing some form of population health assessment, so now they can be recognized for their efforts.”

Other Changes

• Modified standards for Quality Management and Improvement and Utilization Management.
• Removed the Care Coordination category by retiring some standards and moving others into Quality Management and Improvement.
• Revised the scoring categories—Met, Partially Met, Not Met—to align with Health Plan Accreditation.
• Replaced the one-year Accreditation status with an Interim Accreditation status that focuses on policies and procedures and lasts for up to 18 months.

“NCQA’s standards provide guardrails without being prescriptive, allowing organizations to develop processes and workflows that work best for them,” says Soucie.

Learn More

• Watch our recent webinar, Navigating the Behavioral Health Landscape: Trends, Challenges and Accreditation Updates.
• Learn more about the Behavioral Health Accreditation program.
• Purchase a copy of the Behavioral Health Accreditation standards or the Behavioral Health Accreditation Survey Readiness Package in the NCQA Store.
• Take one of our online education courses: Behavioral Health Accreditation for New Customers or Behavioral Health Accreditation for Renewing Customers.