Compliance programs are evolving rapidly, says HCCA
The health care industry already has gone from "concept" to "development" in its compliance efforts and is now moving to "managing program effectiveness." That is the conclusion reached by the Philadelphia-based Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) following its second annual survey of health care compliance programs.
"The fact is that over one-half of the participants are setting training goals, and four in 10 are planning to conduct audits or implement measures in the short range," says HCCA. The association also points to the finding that more than half of the organizations that responded (55%) reported an active compliance program already in place while another 39% say the have a program under development.
"We are moving away from enforcement- driven’ compliance to what I like to refer to as process improvement’ compliance," says HCCA President Brent Saunders. "You may not see that jump off the page just by looking at the numbers," he adds. "But when you look at what is behind those numbers and look at the industry I think that is what we are seeing."
At least one hard number strongly bears that out. The top three goals listed by health care organizations are program development and implementation (52%), education and training (51%), and monitoring/auditing (41%); while only one in 10 cite compliance with government regulations.
The survey was distributed to all HCCA members as well as the CEOs, CFOs, and COOs contained in the database of Tyler & Co., a national executive search firm based in Atlanta, and administered by Walker Information, a survey research firm in Indianapolis.
"You are going to see a bias towards organizations that are thinking more about compliance rather than less," concedes Saunders, "because obviously a hospital or health care organization that has not contemplated anything with respect to compliance is not going to respond to the survey." But he says the scope of the survey makes it a good snapshot of current compliance efforts.
Other key findings included in the HCCA survey include the following:
- 95% of compliance officers report to either the CEO of CFO.
- 71% have developed a compliance officer job description (compared to 57% in 1998).
- 56% of compliance officers have a stand-alone department with budgetary responsibilities and staff.
- 39% of compliance officers qualify for incentive compensation.
For a copy of HCCA’s 2nd Annual Profile of Health Care Compliance Officers, visit HCCA’s Web site at www.hcca-info.org.
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