According to Biegelman & Bartow (2012) compliance is an extensive program that helps institutions as well as their employees to carry out operations and activities in an ethical manner. Therefore, the program ensures that all people employed in an organization carry out their tasks with the highest level of integrity while adhering to the legal and regulatory guidelines. The objective of this article is to provide an outline of the seven effective steps that ought to be considered while developing a compliance program. Additionally, the article discusses the legal environment regarding the implementation of a compliance program, the benefits of such a program as well as the risks which an organization may expose itself to if it does not implement such a program.
As Oded (2013) states, the first step of a compliance program is the implementation of written procedures, policies, and standards of conduct. This stage constitutes the development of the actual guidelines which the employees are bound by. Secondly, it becomes necessary to establish a compliance committee which is led by the compliance officer. These are individuals who review the guidelines and dictate how employees ought to conduct themselves. The third stage involves training and educating employees to be conversant with the stipulations. It is important to train members so that they understand all the rules to avoid minor conflicts. Fourthly, the program needs to have effective communication lines. That means that in case the employees do not understand some aspects of the program or have any other issues in regard to the program, the compliance officer needs to be accessible to provide the necessary clarification.
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The fifth critical step is conducting of routine monitoring and auditing of the program. The objective of the audit is to investigate whether the employees are adhering to the regulations. If the compliance officer or team establishes that there are faults in the manner in which the employees are conducting themselves corrective action can be taken or the regulations are revised. The sixth stage is enforcing the standards through well-publicized disciplinary standards. This step is necessary because a majority of employees need to be compelled to adhere to the regulations. Punitive (but fair) measures make members of the staff to be cautious of their conduct. The seventh and last step involves response to any detected offenses. This step involves the procedures of investigating any reports of misconduct as well as the specific actions that need to be taken against offenders.
The implementation of a hospital compliance program is a crucial step to adhering to both the federal and local laws. These laws give general rules, which employees in hospitals are bound by. The first critical aspect that the law defines is the safety of the patients’ information (McCauley, 2009). That means that people working in hospitals ought not to reveal patients’ private information to third parties. In fact that also constitutes ethical conduct of the employees. A patient has the right to sue health workers who give their confidential information to unauthorized people. Secondly, healthcare workers are required by the law to practice safe treatment procedures that do not threaten the lives of patients. Perhaps this regulation was developed following rampant cases of hospital-acquired infections. Some healthcare workers tend to be careless making some patients to contract infections which they did not have at the time of being admitted to hospital. Patients who contract other infections while in hospital can sue the hospital or specific healthcare workers for negligence and carelessness.
Implementing a compliance program has numerous benefits. The first advantage of a compliance program is that gives an institution a positive public image. It is because a compliance program demonstrates that the institution is committed to ensuring that operations are carried out with honesty and integrity. Secondly, the program helps an institution to fulfill its legal obligations to the government or to the local authorities (Jimenez & Foster, 1998). As such, employees are helped to understand the requirements of the legal institutions. Thirdly, the program helps the employees to know what is right and wrong. In that regard, the employees will try as much as possible to keep bad conduct at bay and only engage in activities that enhance positive outcomes of their tasks. The fourth advantage is that the program provides prompt corrective action in case of misconduct. Such measures enhance efficiency. Lastly, a compliance program protects directors or those in top leadership positions from personal liability. It is because the individual employees who cause offenses are held responsible. That eliminates unnecessary costs or legal injunctions on the organization.
Lastly, an organization that does not have a compliance program exposes itself to several risks. The first demerit of not having such a program is that employees may not know what is expected of them. Even if some employees may be aware of what is expected, they may feign ignorance. When an employee is found engaging in gross or undesirable misconduct, the management may not have the right action to take (Holder, 2016). Perhaps the most adverse implication of not having a compliance program concerns the liability of the top management of the organization. If an employee is involved in misconduct, it is the top management of the organization that becomes liable. As a result, the organization spends a lot of time on legal battles on top of incurring costs in legal fees and compensations. Overly, the organization gets a bad public image because of the actions of individuals involved in offenses and misconduct.
References
Biegelman, M. T., & Bartow, J. T. (2012). Executive roadmap to fraud prevention and internal control: Creating a culture of compliance . John Wiley & Sons.
Holder, F. (2016). Integrity in business: developing ethical behavior across cultures and jurisdictions . CRC Press.
Jimenez, M. D., & Foster, D. (1998). The Importance of Compliance Programs for the Health Care Industry. U. Miami Bus. L. Rev. , 7 , 503.
McCauley, K. M., & VanderLaan, K. L. (2009). Health Care Law. U. Rich. L. Rev. , 44 , 473.
Oded, S. (Ed.). (2013). Corporate compliance . Edward Elgar Publishing.
