Accreditation Explained
What Is COA Accreditation?
The Council on Accreditation — commonly known as COA — is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body for human and social service organizations. Founded in 1977, COA accredits behavioral health programs, addiction treatment providers, and community-based organizations against rigorous standards of practice, governance, and service delivery. COA accreditation signals that an organization has been independently evaluated for quality, accountability, and sound management.
For Patients & Families
Why COA Accreditation Matters
COA accredits more than 1,500 organizations serving over 8 million people each year. For behavioral health and addiction treatment specifically, COA's accreditation process evaluates the organization as a whole — not just its clinical outcomes, but its governance, financial health, staff practices, and the rights of the people it serves.
The accreditation process involves a thorough documentation review followed by an on-site peer review conducted by trained validators. Reviewers assess whether the organization's actual practices match its stated policies — covering everything from how staff are supervised to how client records are protected.
COA accreditation is particularly common among nonprofit behavioral health organizations and community-based providers. For patients, it provides assurance that the facility operates with organizational integrity and a genuine commitment to the wellbeing of the people it serves.
What Gets Evaluated
Key Standards a COA-Accredited Facility Must Meet
Individualized service planning tailored to each client's needs
Staff qualifications, supervision, and ongoing professional development
Rights and responsibilities of the people served
Ethical business practices and conflict of interest policies
Risk management and organizational governance
Cultural and linguistic competence in service delivery
Continuous quality improvement and outcome measurement
Privacy, confidentiality, and records management
Our Process
How We Verify COA Accreditation
When a facility owner claims their listing on our directory, they can upload their COA accreditation certificate directly through their dashboard. The certificate is stored securely in a private bucket — it is never displayed publicly.
Our team reviews the submission manually. Once approved, a COA accreditation badge appears on the facility's listing page and on city-level directory cards. We do not fabricate, assume, or infer accreditation — the facility must provide proof, and we must verify it.
For full details on what "verified" means on our platform and the limitations of our review, see our Verification Policy.
An Important Distinction
Displaying a COA badge on our site means the facility has provided documentation of their accreditation and we have reviewed it. It does not mean we conducted the accreditation review ourselves, nor does it constitute an endorsement of clinical outcomes. COA accreditation is granted by the Council on Accreditation — not by our directory. We display it as a factual credential, exactly as earned.
Official Source
Learn More From COA
COA maintains a searchable directory of accredited organizations on their website. You can verify any organization's accreditation status directly.
Visit coanet.orgFind COA-Accredited Treatment Centers
Browse our directory to find facilities displaying verified COA accreditation. Look for the COA credential on any listing.
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