Student Health and Counseling Services Receive National Accreditation

UC Merced’s H. Rajender Reddy Health Center, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Health Promotion received accreditation from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), distinguishing the university from many other facilities.

The campus received its initial three-year accreditation in July after AAAHC completed a two-day, on-site audit of more than 400 different policies and procedures in patient care, administration, facilities, patient privacy, mental health, counseling, health promotions, quality of care, collaboration, quality assurance and other areas.

“This is the gold standard for student health and counseling, and is a great accomplishment,” medical director Dr. Brandon Boggs said. “It shows we are practicing at the highest level of care in student health, student counseling and health promotion.”

It’s also significant for the campus because not all college health centers have obtained accreditation.

“Getting accreditation this early on in the history of the campus is remarkable,” Boggs said. “It demonstrates the great work the health center, health promotion and CAPS are doing for our students.”

The health center offers on-campus primary care services, psychiatry services and a wide range of other health services to enrolled students. CAPS provides counseling and psychological services to help students cope with issues like relationships, stress, anxiety and depression, so they can be successful academically, professionally and personally. Together, the center and CAPS provided more than 13,000 appointments during the 2015-16 academic year.

Trained peer health educators in the Health Promotion office give students the resources, information and skills necessary to make healthy life choices and work to create a healthier campus overall.

The campus’s accreditation team spent the past two years gearing up for accreditation and is already working on the requirements necessary for reaccreditation in three years.