Sites and scenes from... The HIPAA Forum 2002 GAPMS Drafting Committee (below) The GAPMS Committee Meetings GAPMS Steering Committee (above & below) August 2002 4 On June 12 & 13 members of the Drafting and Steering Committees of the HCCA’s public and private sector initiative to develop Generally Accepted Performance Measurement Standards gathered in Boston, MA for a two-day working session. Through these standards the health care industry will measure their compliance program’s performance and quantify their organizations return on the investment made in developing and maintaining compliance programs. Hospital compliance programs are the first segment of the health care industry to be explored. ■
FOCUS ON ETHICS & COMPLIANCE <strong>Compliance</strong>, ethics, and stewardship: Or, why we do what we do By Jeffrey Oak, PhD Editor’s note: Jeffrey Oak, PhD, is on the HCCA Board of Directors and is the <strong>Compliance</strong> and Business Integrity Officer for the Veterans <strong>Health</strong> Administration, an integrated system of over 160 hospitals, 130 nursing homes, and 800 clinics, served by 180,000 employees. He may be reached at 202/273-5662. This article inaugurates a new column in <strong>Compliance</strong> Today. Over the next year, Dr. Oak will periodically contribute articles related to Ethics and <strong>Compliance</strong> to the HCCA magazine. If you have items you would like addressed, please email jeff.oak@hq.med.va.gov “He’s a part of history now.” This is how Mr. Gregory Commons, a former Marine and now a seventh grade history teacher at Carl Sandburg Middle School in northern Virginia, talked about his son, Matthew, the day after Matthew’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. Matthew was an Army Ranger, one of the eight Americans who were killed last March in Afghanistan. He was laid to rest on March 11, 2002, exactly six months to the day after September 11, 2001, the fateful day that changed a generation of Americans. My son sat in the second row of Mr. Commons’ third period class on American history at Carl Sandburg Middle School. And this is the story Nathaniel told over dinner at home some months back. Mr. Commons’ 21-year-old son gave his life in defense of our freedom, gave his life attempting to rescue a comrade who had fallen. And now the history teacher’s son is himself a part of our nation’s history. In February of last year the seventh graders at Carl Sandburg were learning about history through textbooks. By April, they were learning through the tears and sorrow of the plain speaking, no-nonsense, “turn your homework in on time or you’ll be docked a full grade” ex-Marine turned history teacher. It is not only the ones who die, like Matthew Commons, that become part of history. It is also the ones who live, the ones my organization cares for in our hospitals, the ones who willingly participate in research to advance our storehouse of medical knowledge, the ones who get fitted for prosthetics, go for therapy, and come to our clinics; all of these men and women are part of our nation’s history. And they are the ones we are privileged to serve within the Veterans <strong>Health</strong> Administration (VHA): those who are part of history. What does all this have to do with compliance? The answer: stewardship and service. Perhaps like yours, my health system strives mightily for excellence in everything we do. In fact, our vision statement is as simple as it is bold: we want to be the best health system in the world. And what does it mean to be the best? For my organization it means providing: ■ high quality care ■ at the best cost ■ with access for the most patients ■ while earning public trust This is what good stewardship in our health care system means. And this is what good stewardship requires. In his book Stewardship: Choosing Service JEFFREY OAK, PHD Over Self-Interest, management guru Peter Block defines stewardship as a set of principles which transforms the governance of an organization. Stewardship creates a sense of ownership and responsibility, it creates accountability and a sense of partnership. Stewardship is driven by internal standards, not just external requirements. It is focused on service, not self-interest. In short, stewardship is self-governance. In order to be both effective and sustainable, compliance efforts must be closely linked with organizational stewardship, with mission, and with service. When compliance becomes an exercise in “gotcha,” it has lost its credibility. When compliance becomes little more than legal maneuvering, it has lost its way. And when compliance becomes a game of hide and seek, it has lost its soul. <strong>Compliance</strong> is–or should be–an act of corporate stewardship, an exercise in building systems of self-governance, a function ultimately driven by the organization’s mission. <strong>Compliance</strong> is about adhering to the standards (ethical and otherwise) which govern the way we do business, which govern the context in which we render service. Linking compliance, ethics, and stewardship highlights why we do what we do. ■ 5 August 2002
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