Healthicity Blog

Gone are the days when compliance was viewed as less important than other departments in healthcare. Compliance is vital and with its importance comes great responsibility.

Compliance officers must adapt to the ever-changing rules and regulations.

In this episode of Compliance Conversations, I sat down with Senior Consultant, Brenden O’Neil, who works in Intermountain’s professional coding and reimbursement department. O’Neil and I had a fascinating discussion on CPT codes and the complicated gray area of coding a laminectomy.

“What are the first steps I should take to improve my compliance program right now?”

To put it simply: The more you know, the better off you’ll be. A great compliance program starts with knowledge of compliance, rules and regulations, and best practices.

Often, compliance officers are left alone in their own department to do their own things. It can become a little isolating. So, it’s always important to find a trusted person to talk with about compliance issues.

One of my favorite sayings is that “bedside manner matters.” This comes from my background as a physician. At the end of the day, being knowledgeable doesn’t mean that you work well with people. As a compliance officer, it’s important that you work well with people.

When you discuss the compliance aspect of conflicts of interests with physicians, if it’s anything like my experience, it might go something like this:

Trust is a valuable currency for compliance officers. The more individuals in your organization trust you, the more comfortable they’ll feel in coming to you with compliance violations or other compliance related matters. Some view compliance officers as obstacles in their way.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that compliance involves a lot of moving parts these days. Tracking incidents, training, and monitoring are just a few basics of the position.