Corporate Compliance

Auditing against the OIG’s Compliance Program Guidance for Hospitals

Healthcare Auditing Weekly, March 28, 2006

This week, we'll continue our discussion of auditing against the OIG's Compliance Program Guidance for Hospitals with strategies for determining whether your hospital has adequate provisions for the compliance hotline and other forms of communication. To accomplish this step, determine whether the hospital has the following provisions in place for a compliance hotline:

  • The telephone number is readily available to all employees and independent contractors

  • Employees are permitted to report matters anonymously

  • Matters reported through the hotline that suggest substantial violations of compliance policies, regulations, or statutes are documented and investigated promptly

  • The compliance officer maintains a log to record calls, including the nature of any investigation and its results

  • Information about hotline activities is included in reports to the governing body, CEO, and compliance committee

  • The hotline communicates that an individual's identity may become known in certain instances when government authorities become involved

      The above tip is an excerpt from the book "Hospital Auditing and Monitoring: Sample Programs for Key Risk Areas." Copyright 2004 by HCPro, Inc. This book is a step-by-step, practical manual that offers sample audit programs for the most troublesome areas that a hospital must audit. The binder and CD-ROM are filled with actual audit programs used by auditors and compliance officers in the field. Click here for more information or to order your copy today.

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