Whistleblowers, Incident Reporting and Incident Management…Is your Health Care Organization Ready?

A previous Lessons Learned Blog mentioned the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and a special bounty program within the Act for whistleblowers.  Did you see it? 

An attorney at the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute legal update says healthcare providers may be heading into a storm of whistleblower suits that could cause serious problems for the unprepared. 

The attorney predicts the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could lead to an explosion of whistleblower lawsuits because the new law does not require the plaintiff to have direct knowledge of alleged fraud to file a suit.

So if you are involved with healthcare industry…are you ready? 

Healthcare organizations to make sure they are ready for whistleblower related challenges:

• Do employees have access to trusted tools to report suspicious actions?
• Do third-parties/business associates have access to trusted tools to report suspicious actions?
• Do patients have access to trusted tools to report suspicious actions?
• Are assessment teams defined and trained on how to respond to incident reports?
• Do assessment teams have tools to access, track and document their actions and decisions?
• Do organizations have a customized compliance program implemented and documented?

The short list above represents some but not all of the challenges healthcare leadership should be targeting as soon as possible to ensure legal defensibility for your leadership and your organization…are you ready?