The Benefits of a Compliance Alert Hotline
Compliance programs are internal plans and policy decisions made by an organization in order to meet standards set by government laws and regulations. For instance, the Accountable Care Act requires that all healthcare providers who receive Medicaid or Medicare payments have a compliance program. An effective compliance program demonstrates an organization is striving to achieve the highest standards of ethical conduct possible.
A compliance alert hotline supports compliance programs by allowing employees and stakeholders to report improper, unethical or illegal conduct anonymously without fear of identification, retaliation or retribution.
How does a Compliance Alert Hotline work?
The Brown Consulting Compliance Alert Line service operates as follows: *Please note, THIS PROCESS IS ENTIRELY CONFIDENTIAL.
- Compliance Alert Line posters describing process are provided to sites.
- Improper, unethical or illegal conduct can be reported 24 hours a day by staff or stakeholders by calling the confidential and toll free Alert Line phone number. These calls can be made privately outside of normal working hours.
- Alerts are transcribed the same day they are received by Alert Line staff. Alert Line staff are experienced Behavioral Health professionals who are trained in fact-only information gathering and report writing. Complaints are transcribed quickly, without any bias or breaching of confidentiality.
- Transcribed alerts are returned to the designated site Compliance Officer for in-house investigation ONLY. At this point, the site determines how best to remedy the complaint in-house.
- Quarterly and annual reports are provided to sites identifying only the number of alerts and category or type of alert.
When ethical and/or legal problems arise in behavioral health organizations, an “Alert Line” option helps Compliance Officers and Supervisors address issues quickly. Complaints can be handled in-house before they spiral out of control and impact organization operations, reputation, and ultimately, overall performance.
Complaints can include, but are not limited to:
- employee misconduct
- discrimination
- sexual harassment
- privacy/security issues
- inappropriate staff/patient relationships
- employee drug use
- medication diversion
- utilization issues
- improper billing practices and/or clinical documentation
Although behavioral health facilities may already have internal complaint processes, many are not large enough nor have the internal structure necessary to ensure the reporting of a compliant anonymously. Therefore, suspected concerns or violations can go unreported, leaving the organization at risk. Providing an Alert Line option to your employees serves as a reminder of your ethical and moral duty as professional behavioral healthcare providers. It also shows your community that your organization is dedicated to providing above par behavioral health services.
A truly beneficial service, the Brown Consulting Ltd. Compliance Alert Line is fully-confidential, cost-effective and a “Best Practice” approach to supporting the ethical integrity of your organizational compliance program. Furthermore, the Alert Line does not replace healthy human contact and conflict resolution, but assists managing supervisors at behavioral health organizations in maintaining Best Practices as well as allowing problems to be resolved in-house.
Think of the Alert Line as a second pair of eyes to help ensure responsibility and accountability in your behavioral health organization.
Interested in learning more about our Behavioral Health Compliance Alert Line? Contact us today: 1-800-495-6786
-Megan Phillips, M.A.
Reference: https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNEdWebGuide/Downloads/MLN-Compliance-Webinar.pdf