Choosing a healthcare consultant can have a significant impact on your organization—particularly in behavioral health, where licensing, accreditation, clinical operations, documentation, and regulatory requirements are often closely connected.
The right consultant should do more than tell you what a regulation says. They should understand how that requirement translates into day-to-day operations and what regulators and accrediting organizations expect to see when they walk through your doors.
So, before signing a consulting agreement, there are a few things worth considering.
DO: Ask About Recent Survey Experience
One of the first questions I would ask is:
“When was the last time you participated in a survey or regulatory audit for an organization like mine?”
There is a difference between understanding standards and seeing how those standards are evaluated in practice.
Survey experience provides valuable perspective on the questions surveyors are asking, the documents they are requesting, how they trace processes through an organization, and where organizations are commonly falling short.
Regulations and accreditation standards are the foundation. Current survey experience adds the practical context.
DO: Make Sure They Understand Your Specific Program
Healthcare compliance is not one-size-fits-all.
A consultant who understands outpatient behavioral health may not necessarily have experience with residential treatment, detoxification, mental health residential programs, or other specialized levels of care.
The same applies to regulatory agencies and accreditation.
Before engaging someone, ask about their experience with:
Your state and licensing authority
Your specific level of care
Your accreditation organization
The population you serve
The operational requirements that apply to your program
You should not have to educate your consultant about the basic regulatory framework governing your organization.
DO: Look for Operational Experience
A technically correct recommendation isn't particularly helpful if it cannot realistically be implemented.
Good compliance work requires understanding how an organization actually functions—from intake and clinical documentation to medication management, staffing, training, quality improvement, safety, and discharge.
When I review an organization, I'm not only asking:
“Is there a policy for this?”
I'm also asking:
“Is this actually happening?”
That distinction matters.
A beautifully written policy sitting in a binder does very little if staff cannot explain the process or the clinical record tells a completely different story.
DO: Choose Someone Who Will Tell You What You Need to Hear
A consultant shouldn't simply confirm that everything looks fine.
Sometimes the most valuable part of an outside compliance review is identifying something the organization doesn't want to hear before a regulator or surveyor identifies it.
If documentation is weak, a process isn't compliant, staff aren't following policy, or an operational practice creates unnecessary risk, your consultant should be willing to say so—and help you fix it.
The goal isn't to make an organization feel prepared.
The goal is to make sure it actually is prepared.
DON’T: Hire Someone Based on Credentials Alone
Credentials and education matter, but they are only part of the picture.
Ask about actual experience.
What types of facilities have they worked with?
Which licensing agencies?
Which accreditation organizations?
When were they last involved in a survey?
What happened afterward?
Healthcare regulations and accreditation expectations evolve. A consultant's experience should reflect the environment your organization is operating in today, not only what they encountered years ago.
DON’T: Buy a Policy Manual and Assume You're Compliant
Policies are important.
But having policies does not automatically create compliance.
Surveyors frequently evaluate whether your written policy, staff practice, documentation, and actual operations align.
If your policy says one thing, your staff describe another process, and your medical records demonstrate something different, that inconsistency can become the problem.
A good consultant should help connect all of those pieces.
DON’T: Wait Until the Survey Is Scheduled
This may be one of the biggest mistakes organizations make.
The weeks immediately before a survey should be used to fine-tune, not build an entire compliance program from scratch.
Training records, personnel files, quality improvement activities, clinical documentation, safety processes, medication management, emergency preparedness, and other compliance systems develop over time.
If those systems are already functioning, survey preparation becomes much more manageable.
Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Healthcare Consultant
Before you engage someone, consider asking:
When was your most recent survey or regulatory audit?
Have you worked with my specific licensing agency or accrediting organization?
Have you worked with my level of care?
Will you review actual clinical and personnel records, or only policies?
Will you help implement corrections, or simply identify deficiencies?
How involved will you be between surveys?
And perhaps most importantly:
What do you do when you identify something that isn't compliant?
The answer should involve more than pointing out the problem.
The Goal Is Bigger Than Passing a Survey
Passing a licensing or accreditation survey is obviously important.
But compliance shouldn't exist only when a surveyor is expected.
The strongest organizations build systems that make compliance part of everyday operations. Their policies match their practices. Their documentation supports the care being delivered. Staff understand their responsibilities. Leadership knows where the organization's risks are—and addresses them before someone else identifies them.
That's ultimately what I believe good healthcare consulting should accomplish.
Not simply helping an organization prepare for its next survey—but helping it operate as though a survey could happen tomorrow.
Kræmmer Consulting, LLC provides behavioral health compliance and regulatory consulting, including licensing, accreditation preparation, survey readiness, corrective action support, policy development, and ongoing compliance oversight.