How Software Can Create a More Effective Compliance Program

Compliance can be complicated: Keeping up with regulations, protecting your organization from loss of profit or even legal actions. As a result, healthcare organizations are turning to automation to create and manage an effective compliance program.

Software offers a simplified solution to the complexity.

Compliance automation software can help organizations automate the overall compliance process by providing a knowledge base of compliance regulations. These products provide workflow capabilities to assist the organization in managing all aspects of compliance, including:

Training: Many offices now use online training software to educate personnel, employees, leaders, and agents of the organization on the significance of an effective compliance program. The goal is to help everyone in the organization embrace a culture of compliance.

The benefits of software for training include not only the ability to track all training assignments by due date, but also to quickly identify employees who are overdue for training and those who have passed or failed. Such a system also provides unlimited access to training materials and a convenient means to update policies and to alert everyone of any changes.

Reporting and Tracking Incidents: In order to maintain compliance, your organization should encourage open communication and put a non-retaliation policy securely in place to encourage employees to police the organization and report non-compliant activities without fear of retaliation. Best practices for anonymous reporting include a software solution, an effective tool for tracking and following through with incident reports. Otherwise, it’s possible to lose track of a reported issue that might expose your organization to significant liability.

If reports are not seen through to completion, there are no benefits to open communication. Your organization also runs the risk of motivating employees to turn outside the organization for satisfaction. In many cases, the decision by an individual to become a whistleblower, or qui tam relator, is made only after employee concerns were ignored or not investigated properly.

HIPAA Compliance: Additionally, automated compliance software can help manage complex HIPAA requirements. For example, healthcare industries often use third-parties to perform complicated compliance processes. HIPAA requires that organizations understand and mitigate potential risks caused through outsourcing relationships. Software can help guide internal audits by pooling together organization-wide compliance efforts. (Internal Auditor Mag: https://iaonline.theiia.org/the-benefits-and-challenges-of-compliance-automation).

If you’re curious to see how software can simplify your compliance challenges, try Compliance Manager, free for a limited-time.