Compliance

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Governance Services recently released the results of the 2014 Compliance and Ethics Program Environment Survey. While this is not a healthcare-exclusive study, 31% of respondents were from a healthcare or social assistance organization, making healthcare the largest industry represented.

We recently discussed how often hospitals should run background checks on employees, but what about healthcare organizations in general? Even for non-hospital care organizations, patient care is still a concern. In fact, in its most recent work plan, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) stated it would continue to focus on the safety of long-term healthcare facilities in 2014 and beyond.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (PPACA) includes section 6002, which is also known as the Physician Payment Sunshine Act. This section requires pharmaceutical, medical device, biological, and medical supply manufacturers to report to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) any “payment or other transfer of value” to physicians and teaching hospitals.

Medical malpractice lawsuits can be a nightmare, but fortunately, there are ways to mitigate the risk your organization may experience, says attorney Joshua McCaig of Polsinelli LLC who spoke about corporate negligence and medical malpractice at the 2013 National Association Medical Staff Services Conference. We connected with him recently to talk about mitigating risk and how medical staff services departments can help protect their organizations. In this article, Mr.

June 16 to 20 is Healthcare Risk Management Week, a great time to look at healthcare risk managers and the important and strategic work they perform at their organizations.

On May 21, 2014, PreCheck hosted a complimentary webinar covering the hottest legal issues facing employers in 2014. Guest speakers A. Kevin Troutman and Mauro Ramirez, labor and employment law attorneys from Fisher & Phillips law firm provided tips and best practices to mitigate risk during this educational session. The webinar recording is now available on-demand here.

In March, the OIG published a report titled, “CMS’s Process for Sharing Information About Terminated Providers Needs Improvement.” As the title suggests, DHHS has determined that CMS does not properly share information regarding terminated providers with other states. As we’ve discussed before, section 6501 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires State Medicaid programs to terminate participation of providers if terminated under Medicare, another State Medicaid program, or CHIP.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is one of the major regulatory agencies affecting employers in any field, not just within the healthcare arena. And the Commission has remained highly active through the first part of 2014. Here’s a quick overview of some of the latest developments concerning the EEOC and what they mean for employers.

In observance of Healthcare Compliance & Ethics Week, I thought I would share some takeaways from a recent HCCA regional conference session I attended titled, “How to Manage Being the Compliance Chief Cook and Bottlewasher”. In this session, speakers Dana Bonecutter, Compliance Officer at Connally Memorial Medical Center, and Terry Reeves, Sr Vice President - CCO at Harris County Hospital District, shared how the role of the compliance officer has evolved and what it means to be in healthcare compliance today.

It’s time for healthcare organizations to examine, spotlight and celebrate their compliance programs and personnel as part of Corporate Compliance & Ethics Week, which is May 4-10, according to the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association.