Compliance Perspectives

By Adam Turteltaub

You’re all signed up for the Compliance & Ethics Institute or another SCCE or HCCA conference. Now, how do you make the most out of your time there?

Kristy Grant-Hart CEO of Spark Compliance Consulting and a former compliance officer, herself, shares in this podcast several excellent tips for making your conference time truly valuable.

Her recommendations:

Plan out which sessions you want to attend before you arrive. It makes for a much more strategic and less stressful approach than picking sessions hurriedly at the breaks.

Pick the sessions based on both the topic and the speakers you want to listen to and meet.

Map out time to do work and answer email. It’s a lot easier to sit and listen to a session when you have a defined times to work and a defined time to be fully present at the conference.

Start your networking before you go. Announce on LinkedIn that you’ll be there and try to connect with others who will be attending.

Take advantage of vendor receptions and dinners to meet more people.

When you connect onsite, also connect on LinkedIn right then and there.

If you promise you’ll send someone a follow up email, do it that night before you forget.

Don’t be afraid to approach people you don’t know. They’re probably there to meet new people, too.

Put your follow-ups for once you’re back in the office into a list that you can easily find.

Listen in to hear more great ideas for getting the most out of your time at the conference.

By Adam Turteltaub

In 2023 the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) launched a second workshop designed specifically for investigators.  The Experienced Investigator Workshop. Meric Bloch, who is one of the two instructors and Principal at Winter Investigators, explains in this podcast that the workshop is very different from most.

Rather than using a traditional method of instructors in front of the room, it seeks to engage the participants directly and make them a part of the learning. Participants are led through case studies and asked to take an active part in the classroom interactions. This provides an opportunity to explore the issues, consider various ideas and think deeper.

Looking beyond the surface level mechanics of the investigation is a central part of the workshop. Much of the conversation focuses not on the what to do’s, but the why’s: why use a certain technique, why one choice may be better than another.

The workshop also helps its participants to prepare for what he refers to as the “unknown unknowns”. Often investigators plan out an investigation, Meric notes, based on what they know and what they known is as yet unknown. However, as the process proceeds surprises occur, previously unknown unknown elements must now be tracked down.

So who is the workshop best for? Several groups:

* Those who already know the basics and want to get to the next level.

* Individuals seeing to have a wider perspective on cases and become not just an investigator but also a business advisor.

* People who aspire to be a full-time investigator and seek to raise their competence.

* Lifelong learners.

Listen in to learn more, and then take some time learning more about the investigator workshops.

By Adam Turteltaub

First there was Safe Harbor, then there was Privacy Shield, both of which were struck down, leaving an enormous chasm in the rules for sharing data between the EU and the US. Now, explains, Andre Bywater, Partner, Cordery, there is a bridge: the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

The new framework seeks to address the issue that led to the court striking down Privacy Shield: access to data by US intelligence agencies. To allay European concerns the US has now put in place a two-level system to redress grievances. EU citizens can lodge a complaint with the Civil Liberties Protection Office. If not satisfied with the results there, they can escalate to the US Data Protection Court, which has the power to issue orders to have data deleted.

The new framework is likely to be a big step forward, but it’s not the only one data processors will have to take. Organizations will first need to determine if they are eligible to participate. Next, they will need to self-certify their processes for handling EU data, a process that will be overseen by the US Department of Commerce, with enforcement handled by the FTC.

Whether self-certifying for the first time or recertifying, there are countless details to be watched. There are special provisions, for example, when it comes to HR data.

And, of course, there is a question of whether courts in Europe will allow the new regime to stand. There is already speculation that a new case may be brought in January 2024.

For now, though, there is a new EU-US Data Privacy Framework in place. Listen in to learn more about what your organization needs to do to comply.

By Adam Turteltaub

Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance is driven by a set of rules that set a standard of security for any entity that takes, stores or processes credit card data. Any time you or I make a credit card purchase, we rely on PCI compliance by all involved to keep our information safe.

Now, the standard is evolving to PCI 4.0, explains Mark Schreiber, Senior Counsel at McDermott Will & Emery. PCI 4.0 is far more robust and clarifies the misunderstandings in the previous standard. It also imposes more than 50 new obligations.

Most notable of the changes is the new emphasis on third parties and the need to monitor them. Now, merchants must maintain lists and descriptions of all third-party providers, have written agreements with them that accounts for security standards and includes a process for due diligence before engaging with them.

Central to the process is a responsibility matrix, which outlines which party is responsible for each aspect of credit card security.

Perhaps needless to say, this is not likely to be a quick process. Also likely to be time consuming is the mandatary self-assessment questionnaire.

Listen in to learn all that PCI 4.0 requires and to hear an important warning: just because you outsource your credit card processing, doesn’t mean you outsource the risk.

By Adam Turteltaub

Stamford Health has just a bit less than 4000 employees spread out in over 40 local offices. For some that would be a nightmare when figuring out how to put together a celebration of Corporate Compliance & Ethics Week, but it’s not for Cheryl Gilbert, the director of compliance and privacy.

To make the annual event work she uses a wide range of communications vehicles to get the word out. The organization has a new employee orientation every other week, and compliance is a part of it. The organizational newsletter, which publishes twice each week, is also put to use. So, too, is the compliance intranet site.

What aren’t used? Posters. The team found that the effort involved in creating them, putting them up and taking them down just wasn’t worth it.

To make the week fun they have developed a wide range of activities including a:

Haiku contest. Employees are challenged to write a haiku based on the organizations core values.

Where’s Waldo type game in which employees have to spot all the breaches on a messy desktop.

Question of the day.

Word search, which is probably the most popular of all.

There is also the opportunity to nominate compliance heroes, with rewards to both the hero and the person who nominates them.

While all of these are great for building the relationship between compliance and the rest of the organization, she advises that you shouldn’t let your Corporate Compliance & Ethics Week be the only time a year in which the barriers come down. She recommends investing wherever possible in face-to-face interactions. You would be amazed, she tells us, at what a coffee cake can do to help.

Listen in to learn more about how to make your Corporate Compliance & Week celebration a success.

By Adam Turteltaub

Cancer is not just a diagnosis between a patient and physician. In this podcast Jeremy Laws, Operations Supervisor at the Ohio Cancer Incidence Surveillance System, explains that a cancer diagnosis triggers state-by-state reporting requirements for healthcare providers.

In general, there are two areas of reporting: cancer information and patient information. Cancer information generally includes where it is on the body, the type of cancer, what type of tissues is affected and how the cancer is behaving. Patient information includes name, age, sex, race, address, date of diagnosis and date of first treatment.

And, for those concerned about HIPAA, he points out that there is a public health exception that his falls squarely under.

The data provided feeds into the US Cancer Statistics Report that is published annually. It is also used by policy makers and researchers.

Compliance teams need to ensure that their facilities are reporting the data, which many fail to do. There is a tendency to believe that, for example, the lab is reporting the results and so the physician does not need to. That’s not the case, he explains. Worse, many facilities do not even know that they need to report cancer findings.

Listen in to learn more about how to ensure your health care facilities are meeting their cancer reporting requirements.

By Adam Turteltaub

When it comes to networking and sharing ideas with other compliance professionals, people tend to think of attending conferences. That’s not the only way to do it.

In this podcast Steve Pavlicek, Community Engagement Manager at SCCE & HCCA shares the free resources the association provides and how to take advantage of them.

First stop are HCCAnet and SCCEnet. They were created to be a social network just for the compliance community. People post and answer questions, share their opinions and even documents.

To see all that’s there, first login on the SCCE or HCCA site. Next, click the Login button on HCCAnet or SCCEnet. You’ll find approximately 40 different communities discussing issues such as auditing and monitoring, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, privacy and more. There are also communities organized by industry.

If you’re looking for real-time interactions try one of our Meet Ups. You’ll find a schedule of them at HCCAnet and SCCEnet. These sessions take place via Teams. The group selects topics to discuss, breaks up into smaller groups for conversation, then returns for further conversation.

In addition, there are active LinkedIn groups for SCCE and HCCA. Read the messages there, share insights of your own, or use the group to connect directly with other compliance professionals.

In sum, there are a host of vehicles out there for you to connect with and meet the wider compliance community. Be sure to take advantage of all of them.

By Adam Turteltaub

When planning for disasters, organizations are typically focused on things like call trees, backup data servers, and alternative work locations. In the crush to survive the immediate threat it’s easy to forget about compliance, and even during disaster planning, compliance may come last.

That’s a dangerous mistake, explains Laura Fey, Principal, Fey, LLC; Tom Leatherbee, Manager, Recovery Division, Hagerty Consulting; and Jillian Cusack, AVP, Privacy Officer, American Fidelity. Just because normal business operations are interrupted doesn’t mean compliance obligations are also on pause.

Ensuring compliance plays a role in disaster planning is more important than ever. Natural disasters, ransomware attacks, a pandemic and other threats seem to be more frequent and can turn into situations that last days, weeks, months or even years. When they do, not only do existing compliance considerations continue but new ones can arise ranging from OSHA to employee obligations – you still have to pay into pension plans and make insurance payments – to financial reporting.

There may also be state laws and standards under ISO and SOC 2 that may be implicated.

If your institution is a recipient of federal grants, the reporting requirements don’t stop during disasters. Plus, if your organization will be seeking federal disaster grants, there will be compliance obligations there as well, including the need to document the damage.

To ensure the compliance team is a part of disaster planning, establish a relationship with the person in charge of leading that effort. Learn who else they work with and get to know them as well.

Take the time to understand what the risks are using resources such as Ready.gov. Think through what data you will need to collect and track during the pandemic, and be prepared to help your colleagues understand that compliance can play a vital row in disaster planning and recovery.

By Adam Turteltaub

There has been, to say the least, a great deal of controversy over the US Department of Justice’s plan to require compliance officers to provide a certification as a part of corporate resolutions. Many fear that it could lead to significant legal risk for compliance teams and fewer individuals willing to assume compliance roles.

Jonny Frank, Partner, and Kat Nolan, Senior Consultant, at StoneTurn are not concerned.  They point out that in the 20+ years since Sarbanes-Oxley, despite the predictions, there have not been the lawsuits and empty CFO and CEO chairs that some feared.

Instead, they believe, these certifications could lead to increased power and prestige for chief compliance officers.

In the podcast they lay out a five-step process for certification:

Select a framework for the certification criteria that the organization will grade itself against.

Conduct a scenario-based compliance risk assessment.

Assess and design key control activities.

Create a sub-certification waterfall: set accountable owners throughout organization to certify compliance effectiveness in their area.

Arrange for a third party or internal audit to assess the program.

Listen in to learn more, including the importance of documenting your processes.

By Adam Turteltaub

So, you’ve got a global compliance program. But, what do you do when a local team says, “That doesn’t really work here” or “We think it would be better if it were changed to something else for us”?

Kristy Grant-Hart, CEO of Spark Compliance Consulting recommends keeping your values the same wherever you operate. Values are typically based on universal ideas. They and your code of conduct should remain constant wherever possible.

Communications from the CEO and leadership should also be the same everywhere. You don’t want the CEO saying one thing in one country and something else in another.

Categories used for reporting and investigations should also be the same everywhere, otherwise it will be difficult, if not impossible, to track where the issues are. Similarly, root cause analysis and risk assessment methodology must be the same globally.

So where can you localize? She recommends looking at areas such as gifts and hospitalities. What’s reasonable in one region may not be in the other.

Look also at employment practices. Having a policy of non-discrimination is good, but in some regions there may be requirements to hire certain indigenous groups.

To avoid confusion, she advises defaulting to one policy wherever possible, and be sure to have a version control process in place. You don’t want one office to still be operating under an old policy.

Listen in to learn more about how to make thoughtful localization decisions, how to get honest feedback locally, and what to do about facilitation payments.