Breaking Compliance News Blog

The U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, publishes a guidance document: Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (ECCP). The DOJ has updated the guidance multiple times, most recently in March 2023.

This guidance is used in two ways:

• Federal prosecutors conducting criminal fraud or misconduct investigations (including healthcare fraud) use it to evaluate the effectiveness of a corporation’s compliance program. An effective program has the potential to reduce financial penalties imposed.
• Corporations, including healthcare providers, use the ECCP as a resource when implementing or evaluating the effectiveness of their compliance programs.

The DOJ guidance focuses on three questions:

1. Is the corporation’s compliance program well designed?
2. Is the program being applied earnestly and in good faith? (Is the program adequately resourced and empowered to function effectively?)
3. Does the corporation’s compliance program work in practice?

June ECCP 2020 Updates

In June 2020, the DOJ updated the ECCP; a summary of updates follows.

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SNF Compliance Update

April 19, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs

1.5 NAB CEUs

When it rains, we don’t walk around saying “Oh, no! I’m so worried I might get struck by lightning. I better stay inside all day and change my whole day around.”

Nobody says that. When it rains, I DO hear people saying “It’s raining – this is so good for my garden.” Or the grass or the flowers. Or the basil plants.

Why? Because the odds of getting struck by lightning are LOW. The odds of the rain nurturing plants, however, is HIGH. It’s pretty much guaranteed.

Why, then, when we talk about compliance with leadership and the board room, do we tend to focus so much on penalties?

Yes, penalties are a very important reality and leadership does need to know about them. This is especially important for board members, who have a fiduciary duty to ensure an organization’s compliance program is functioning properly, so as to avoid penalties from the DOJ and the OIG.

But the truth remains that the likelihood of receiving a penalty is relatively low (this of course assumes that your organization is diligently operating a compliance program and trying to do the right thing. I think it’s safe to say that if you are reading this blog, you likely fall into that category). So perhaps the focus of our compliance messaging should be less on lightning, and more on helping the flowers grow?

How has your compliance program helped your organization this year?

Odds are, your compliance program bears good news.

Did your hotline encourage employees to report potential false claims internally, so they could be self-reported? Did this hotline call possibly avoid a whistleblower situation?

Did routine compliance audits find a documentation issue – so you could correct it before it became a widespread problem?

Maybe the compliance department collaborated with the HIPAA Security Officer to run a ransomware and phishing campaign, educating employees about potentially hazardous emails and links. As a result, the Compliance Officer and Security Officer received dozens of calls from employees reporting suspicious emails and links that potentially contained ransomware or malware. Can you put a price tag on potentially avoiding a costly ransomware attack?

Did your quality assurance program reduce adverse events? Lower the amount of pressure ulcers? Improve patient care? Did that lead to an increase in census? Higher patient satisfaction? Positive perception in the community?

Perhaps your annual employee compliance survey shows a more supportive workplace due to a recent compliance education effort, and that employee turnover has also decreased.

What else did compliance do? Did compliance boost the bottom line? Make it easier for employees to do their jobs? What processes did compliance improve? How did the compliance department contribute to your organization’s culture? Make your company a better place to work? A better place to receive care?

Once you have taken a moment to tally up everything your compliance program has done for your organization this year, ask a second question:

Who did you tell?

Did you tell your managers, so they can see how the compliance department is working for them?

Did you share the good news with your staff?

I repeatedly hear from compliance officers who have trouble getting money in the budget for compliance. So I ask them: What has compliance done for you lately? A lot, I bet. Who have you told? Did you share the good news with  your senior leadership and board? (Or the president, or CEO, or whomever else is at the helm of your organization?) They are in charge of the budget. Do they know that investments in compliance have yielded greater advances in quality care, patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction, billing accuracy, occupancy, and more.

Because if you don’t tell anyone, no one will know how powerful your compliance effort really is. Spend more time on the good news, and less time talking about lightning.

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Plan a Successful Compliance Week in 2023

February 22, 2023

90 minutes

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1.5 NAB CEUs

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This program has been approved for Continuing Education for 1.5 total participant hours by AB/NCERS—Approval #20240221-1.50-A90033-DL.

SNF Compliance Update

April 19, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs

1.5 NAB CEUs

This program has been approved for Continuing Education for 1.5 total participant hours by NAB/NCERS—Approval #20240418-1.50-A90034-DL

The Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® has approved these events for up to 1.8 ive CCB CEUs based on a 50-minute hour, each. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor.

When my family gets together, we play games.

Specifically, we play Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition.

In this game, one person selects a black card with a question or incomplete phrase. Everyone else selects a white card, with words or a phrase to complete the question or phrase on the black card. The person with the black card selects the funniest white card/black card combination, and the person who put down that white card is the winner.

The last time we played, someone chose a black card that said: “What really killed the dinosaurs?”

And the top white card for this round said: “Moving to Ohio.”

Other worthy contenders were: “Famous peanut scientist George Washington Carver”; “Math”; “The gym teacher”; and “Getting sucked into a jet engine.”

But, “Moving to Ohio” was the clear winner. These things don’t go together. I’m not a paleontologist, but I can tell you that at the time of the dinosaurs’ extinction, Ohio definitely did not exist. And yet, this nonsensical combination won the game. People laughed. Some people laughed so hard they cried. One person laughed so hard that s/he fell out of a chair.

This can happen at work too. And it can be a good thing.

When bad combinations add up to a win:

Compliance education and… The bathroom

Compliance is serious business. Surely it has no place in the bathroom?

Until the day it makes perfect sense to bring compliance into the bathroom.

A healthcare provider client was struggling to change staff behavior related to social media. They tried posting reminders and flyers by the time clock. The problem? The wall around the time clock was plastered with posters, many of which have not changed in years. Nobody read the posters.

So arose the idea to combine two things that seemingly do not go together: Compliance education, and the bathroom. Compliance reminders were posted in the bathroom stalls. IT WORKED. We know people read the flyers because the Compliance Officer began receiving lots of questions about the content of the posters. There’s nothing else to read in there – your posters will get a read. We also put posters over drinking fountains and on microwaves.

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box, to try new ideas, and even to try nonsensical combinations once in a while. It just might work.

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All webinars start at 11:00 a.m. CST and are presented by Margaret Scavotto and Scott Gima

Plan a Successful Compliance Week in 2023

February 22, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs
1.5 NAB CEUs

SIGN UP

This program has been approved for Continuing Education for 1.5 total participant hours by AB/NCERS—Approval #20240221-1.50-A90033-DL.

SNF Compliance Update

April 19, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs

1.5 NAB CEUs

This program has been approved for Continuing Education for 1.5 total participant hours by NAB/NCERS—Approval #20240418-1.50-A90034-DL

The Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® has approved these events for up to 1.8 ive CCB CEUs based on a 50-minute hour, each. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor.

Sign up for MPA's FREE Compliance & HIPAA webinars:

All webinars start at 11:00 a.m. CST and are presented by Margaret Scavotto and Scott Gima

HIPAA Security Update

January 25, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs

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Plan a Successful Compliance Week in 2023

February 22, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs
1.5 NAB CEUs

SIGN UP

This program has been approved for Continuing Education for 1.5 total participant hours by AB/NCERS—Approval #20240221-1.50-A90033-DL.

SNF Compliance Update

April 19, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs

1.5 NAB CEUs

This program has been approved for Continuing Education for 1.5 total participant hours by NAB/NCERS—Approval #20240418-1.50-A90034-DL

The Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® has approved these events for up to 1.8 ive CCB CEUs based on a 50-minute hour, each. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor.

Sign up for MPA's FREE Compliance & HIPAA webinars:

All webinars start at 11:00 a.m. CST and are presented by Margaret Scavotto and Scott Gima

HIPAA Security Update

January 25, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs

SIGN UP

Plan a Successful Compliance Week in 2023

February 22, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs
1.5 NAB CEUs

SIGN UP

This program has been approved for Continuing Education for 1.5 total participant hours by AB/NCERS—Approval #20240221-1.50-A90033-DL.

SNF Compliance Update

April 19, 2023

90 minutes

1.8 CCB CEUs

1.5 NAB CEUs

This program has been approved for Continuing Education for 1.5 total participant hours by NAB/NCERS—Approval #20240418-1.50-A90034-DL

The Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® has approved these events for up to 1.8 ive CCB CEUs based on a 50-minute hour, each. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor.