Compliance Perspectives

By Adam Turteltaub

These days compliance teams play a large role in vetting third parties, especially in high-risk countries and business areas such as sales consultants.  But after the vendor is cleared and it’s time to write up the contract, compliance needs to remain involved, according to Amy McDougal, President of CLEAR Resources and Jason Meyer, President of LeadGood.

As they point out in this podcast, the legal team tends to be focused on the typical legal issues, not on how to reinforce the compliance program, including extending rights to audit.

What’s reasonable to expect from your vendors when it comes to compliance?  They caution against being overly demanding, especially with smaller vendors.  Set to the bar too high and the deal may no longer be worth it for the vendor, or they may sign on the dotted line with no intention of doing what they said they would.  Also, expect some resistance from vendors with well-established programs, who likely won’t want to make changes just because their program differs from yours.

And, expect to include audit rights in the agreement.  They’re critical if an allegation of wrongdoing is made.

Listen in to learn more about how to ensure your organization’s vendor relationships get off on the right foot and stay that way.

By Adam Turteltaub

For too many people LinkedIn is just a tool when looking for a new job.  That’s a huge waste.  The ability to connect with your peers even when you’re happy in your job and not looking elsewhere is enormous.  Both SCCE and HCCA maintain a substantial presence on the site just for this purpose.

LinkedIn’s Matt Ross sat down for this podcast at the 2019 SCCE Compliance & Ethics Institute (apologies for the echo in the room) to share insights into how to gain the most out of this invaluable site.  Listen in to hear his recommendations including:

* Have a photo and headline

* The photo should show you dressed as you would be at work

* Check out strangers before connecting with them

* Take advantage of the content feed to both learn and make yourself known

It’s a valuable conversation, even for those who think they already have LinkedIn down pat.

By Adam Turteltaub

GDPR requires businesses to be transparent, fair, and proportionate in how they collect process and store personal data.  Many in compliance and the business world fear, though, that it also severely hampers the way in which business can conduct internal investigations.

SCCE Vice President, Partner & Notary Public at the UK law firm Bristow’s Robert Bond, though, offers significant reassurances in this podcast.  He shares that there are far too many myths about GDPR.  Contrary to popular belief, GDPR does not necessarily trump other laws.  It is also a myth, he reports, that employee rights under GDPR are absolute.

However, that doesn’t mean an employer can do what he or she wishes.  Compliance teams need to be mindful of the lawful grounds for processing data, including consent and contractual necessity.  In addition, there is a need to conduct a fair assessment of whether there is a legitimate interest in conducting the investigation, one that outweighs privacy rights.  Be sure also, he warns, to document your decision making in each and every case.

And before you think, “Neither the company, nor the employee, are in Europe so we don’t have to worry about this,” don’t forget an increasing number of nations, and the State of California, are adopting GDPR-like laws.

Listen in to learn more about how you can conduct a fair investigation, without running afoul of GDPR.

By Adam Turteltaub

Many companies use employee surveys to better understand the ethical health of the organization.  But what about the health of the relationship with compliance?  Marjorie Maier, Senior Director and Division Compliance and Privacy Officer at HMS, has found that surveys can be useful for that, too.

Listen in to learn how she used regular employee surveys to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the compliance program and how she evolved her efforts to better meet the organization’s needs.  It’s a journey your institution may benefit from.

You’ll also gain from her advice on issues such as whether to survey the entire organization or start with just one part, how to craft questions to get more honest answers, and how to shift perceptions over time.

By Adam Turteltaub

Many companies use employee surveys to better understand the ethical health of the organization.  But what about the health of the relationship with compliance?  Marjorie Maier, Senior Director and Division Compliance and Privacy Officer at HMS, has found that surveys can be useful for that, too.

Listen in to learn how she used regular employee surveys to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the compliance program and how she evolved her efforts to better meet the organization’s needs.  It’s a journey your institution may benefit from.

You’ll also gain from her advice on issues such as whether to survey the entire organization or start with just one part, how to craft questions to get more honest answers, and how to shift perceptions over time.

By Adam Turteltaub

At the 2019 SCCE Sao Paulo Regional Compliance & Ethics Conference, we were fortunate enough to be joined by Pedro Ruske Freitas, the Director of Integrity of the Comptroller General’s Office (CGU) in Brazil.

The CGU is a part of Brazil’s executive branch and is, amongst other things, responsible for the government’s corruption prevention efforts.  It has engaged extensively with the business community and worked very hard to support compliance efforts, even sending some of its people to the SCCE Basic Compliance & Ethics Academy in Sao Paulo to ensure it fully understood compliance and wrote appropriate regulations.

In this conversation, the Director shares the enormous difference in compliance programs since the adoption of Brazil’s Clean Companies Act.  He also shares the challenges he sees, including a lack of full application of compliance programs and struggles by small and medium-sized enterprises.  In addition, he observes that global companies still need to ensure that they fully localize their program, with messages from both the global and local CEO and codes of conduct in Portuguese.

Listen in to learn more about how to strengthen your compliance program in one of the world’s largest economies.

By Adam Turteltaub

At the 2019 SCCE Sao Paulo Regional Compliance & Ethics Conference, we were fortunate enough to be joined by Pedro Ruske Freitas, the Director of Integrity of the Comptroller General’s Office (CGU) in Brazil.

The CGU is a part of Brazil’s executive branch and is, amongst other things, responsible for the government’s corruption prevention efforts.  It has engaged extensively with the business community and worked very hard to support compliance efforts, even sending some of its people to the SCCE Basic Compliance & Ethics Academy in Sao Paulo to ensure it fully understood compliance and wrote appropriate regulations.

In this conversation, the Director shares the enormous difference in compliance programs since the adoption of Brazil’s Clean Companies Act.  He also shares the challenges he sees, including a lack of full application of compliance programs and struggles by small and medium-sized enterprises.  In addition, he observes that global companies still need to ensure that they fully localize their program, with messages from both the global and local CEO and codes of conduct in Portuguese.

Listen in to learn more about how to strengthen your compliance program in one of the world’s largest economies.

By Adam Turteltaub

When it comes to HIPAA everyone knows about the risks of disclosing Personal Health Information (PHI) improperly.  Also important, but often overlooked, is the need to ensure that when patients want access to their data that they get it in a timely way and in the format that they want.

Cristin Gardner, Director of Consumer Products & Markets at Life Image, warns that this is a significant risk area for healthcare providers.  The regulations stipulate that entities may not require unreasonable measures of patients.  Failing to meet consumer needs can be significant.  As she explains in the podcast, the first settlement for a violation of the regulation came in September 2019, and it cost the hospital $85,000 for just one violation.

So, why aren’t providers meeting their obligations?  Part of it is due to old policies that have not caught up with the time.  Many still rely on faxed and in-person requests.  In addition, they are behind the times in their use of technology, still burning CDs for patients.  This fails to reflect, obviously, the way data is transferred and used.  In addition, it greatly slows down the sharing of critical health information.

Listen in to learn more about the risk and how to help your organization start thinking differently about providing data to patients.

By Adam Turteltaub

When it comes to HIPAA everyone knows about the risks of disclosing Personal Health Information (PHI) improperly.  Also important, but often overlooked, is the need to ensure that when patients want access to their data that they get it in a timely way and in the format that they want.

Cristin Gardner, Director of Consumer Products & Markets at Life Image, warns that this is a significant risk area for healthcare providers.  The regulations stipulate that entities may not require unreasonable measures of patients.  Failing to meet consumer needs can be significant.  As she explains in the podcast, the first settlement for a violation of the regulation came in September 2019, and it cost the hospital $85,000 for just one violation.

So, why aren’t providers meeting their obligations?  Part of it is due to old policies that have not caught up with the time.  Many still rely on faxed and in-person requests.  In addition, they are behind the times in their use of technology, still burning CDs for patients.  This fails to reflect, obviously, the way data is transferred and used.  In addition, it greatly slows down the sharing of critical health information.

Listen in to learn more about the risk and how to help your organization start thinking differently about providing data to patients.

By Adam Turteltaub

Unconscious bias is the predisposition to believe or behave a certain way about certain groups of people.  It creates both negative and positive views that are automatic and unintentional.  And, these biases are highly problematic in the workplace.

Debra Sabatini Hennelly, Founder and President of Resiliti, found that unconscious bias isn’t just an issue for the workforce.  It can affect the compliance team as well.

As she explains in this podcast, these biases stem from our brain’s need to process great amounts of information.  While doing so, the mind can take short cuts that can lead to bad decision making.

To avoid the pitfalls of this largely uncontrolled thinking process, we need to be consciously aware of the need to be rational and objective and have to be mindful of our own limitations.  Listen in as she outlines the problem and ways to mitigate it, starting by simply slowing down to allow information to process more deliberately.