Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic Regulatory Compliance Guide (RCG)

As part of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services – Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) licensing quality initiative, OMHSAS is committed to developing Regulatory Compliance Guides for each level of care they license. OMHSAS is beginning today with the distribution of the Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic Regulatory Compliance Guide (RCG).

Even when the meaning of a regulation is very clear, the purpose and intent of the regulation may not be. There are also different ways to measure regulatory compliance, and both providers and OMHSAS Licensing Representatives need to know how compliance will be determined. This guide is meant to help providers and OMHSAS Licensing Representatives better understand the regulations.

This guide is a companion piece to 55 Pa. Code Chapter 5200; it should be used along with the regulations, not instead of them. The explanatory material in this guide is not meant to be “new regulations” or to extend meaning of the regulations beyond their original intent.

It is the intent of OMHSAS to review the RCG on a bi-annual (every 6 month) basis and update the document as needed. Feedback or questions on the RCG can be sent to  RA-DHOMHSAS-RCG-Com@pa.gov.

Click below to read the RCG: