3 Compliance Responsibilities Nobody Tells You About

1. Influencer not Enforcer: How to Avoid the Dreaded Corporate Cop Image

When it comes to compliance, sometimes image is everything. How you’re perceived in your organization can either work for you or against you. For example, you must avoid the dreaded corporate cop image, or as I like to say, the “hall monitor” role if you want folks to follow your lead when it comes to compliance best practices. In addition, the corporate cop image is misleading in the sense that it gives the impression that the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) is an authoritarian figure and the only person in the organization responsible for compliance, when nothing could be further from the truth. Compliance is a team effort. The CCO may be ultimately responsible for managing the day to day running of the compliance program, but he or she is not solely responsible for each individual's compliance with policies, procedures or compliance culture. Ideally, the CCO should be influential, guiding the organization towards compliant behavior, but ultimately, compliance accountability rests with everyone: individual employees, the board, volunteers, business partners and vendors of the organization.

In addition to being deemed as a corporate cop, sometimes the compliance department is deemed the “office of no.” This perception can lead to noncompliance and a lack of cooperation from individuals within the organization. If this is the perception of your compliance department, it may need a pretty serious makeover. It’s true, there may be times when the CCO’s firm “no” will be required. But long-term management goals should ensure that direct, operational supervisors are the ultimate enforcers of compliance. The CCO is there to influence others, to provide expertise and guidance, while the management team and its executive compliance committees set the tone, vision and strategy for the overall compliance program. While it’s not always easy to influence behavior without authority, there are tactics to help you influence others and win at compliance.

2. Compliance 3.0

A compliance officer’s special skill set is the reason it’s so important to hire the right compliance professionals is the first place. Some of us have heard that when the compliance officer role was created, the responsibility was initially placed upon a nurse who no longer excelled at patient care, or an internal auditor lacked people skills. And I’ve just met with enough organizations to see the lack of strategic thought that went into assigning the role. Rather than carefully selecting leadership, they seemed to be checking off a box on their “things I must do” list. And while that might have worked for Compliance 1.0, right now we’re in Compliance 2.0 or ideally 3.0 and the profession has moved beyond just checking a box so an organization can say they have a compliance officer. Organizations today needs to be thoughtful, visionary and strategic in who they choose as their compliance officer. The modern compliance officer must be competent, hungry, with the ability to influence people at the top of their skill set (or the willingness to develop the skill).

And beyond the CCO, the next level of compliance program effectiveness may include having a compliance expert to assist in board oversight of the compliance program. Some of the more recent OIG corporate integrity agreements (CIA) are requiring that the board receive additional training and/or requiring compliance expertise on the board that is not the CCO.

Take, for example, the following requirement from the Toumey CIA:

“Within 120 days after the Effective Date, the Board shall retain an expert in corporate governance and compliance (Compliance Expert) to assist the Board in fulfilling the responsibilities described in Section III.A.3 of this CIA: At a minimum, the Compliance Expert shall: i. attend each Board meeting at which the Compliance Officer is scheduled to present; ii. be kept apprised of any direct reports that the Compliance Officer otherwise makes to the Board; iii. assist the Board in reviewing and assessing Tuomey’s Compliance Program; iv. offer recommendations periodically, as appropriate, to improve the effectiveness of Tuomey’s Compliance Program; and v. for the first, third, and fifth Reporting Periods, conduct a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of Tuomey’s Compliance Program and prepare a report describing the results of such review (Compliance Program Review Report). A copy of the Compliance Program Review Report shall be provided to OIG along with the Annual Report for the applicable Reporting Period.”

This requirement seems consistent with the general guidance the OIG has provided to all Boards of Health Care Organizations in their published document Practical Guidance for Health Care Governing Boards on Compliance Oversight:

“…a Board can raise its level of substantive expertise with respect to regulatory and compliance matters by adding to the Board, or periodically consulting with, an experienced regulatory, compliance, or legal professional. The presence of a professional with health care compliance expertise on the Board sends a strong message about the organization’s commitment to compliance, provides a valuable resource to other Board members, and helps the Board better fulfill its oversight obligations. Board members are generally entitled to rely on the advice of experts in fulfilling their duties.”The OIG also explained the types of activities that such compliance expertise on the board could bring to an organization:

“Experts can assist Boards and management in a variety of ways, including the identification of risk areas, provision of insight into best practices in governance, or consultation on other substantive or investigative matters.”

3. Influencer: No-Nonsense Ways for Compliance Officers to Increase Their Influence

Over 80 years ago, in 1936, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People was published. It has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Even though our goal as a compliance officers isn’t necessarily to win friends (although being friendly is important), we are in the business of influencing people.

Recently, an interesting Q&A was published in the Sept/Oct 2014 issue of the Journal of Health Care Compliance relating to the importance of influence in the compliance industry. The question was: “What skills are essential to be successful as a compliance officer?” Patrick W. Kelley, Chief Compliance Officer, Office of Integrity and Compliance, Federal Bureau of Investigation, insightfully responded, “Although the question asked what skills are essential, I will limit my answer to what single skill I consider to be the most essential. The most essential skill for a compliance officer, in my view, is the ability to influence people.”

He also explained that a compliance officer rarely has direct operational or managerial control over individuals in an organization. In fact, most compliance officers only have the direct reports from their compliance department reporting to them. So how, then, can a compliance officer get people to do things–often things that people find to be annoying or a waste of time? The answer is by exercising the skill of influence.