JO - Health Care Compliance Association

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Roy Snell and Dan Roach As part of our efforts to improve member services, the HCCA leadership has reviewed all of the evaluations submitted by participants at the Annual Institute in Las Vegas in April. Over the coming weeks, we will be responding to some of the more common questions/concerns raised in your comments. These questions include: 1. How do you pick the city in which to hold the Institute? Picking the location for an Institute is a difficult and risky proposition, made more difficult as we grow. In making the decision, the management and board are weighing three important factors—cost, ease of travel, and the ability to accommodate the meeting. The cost analysis includes the cost of getting to and from the conference, hotel room cost, and the cost of staging the conference. The ease of travel analysis includes the time needed to travel to and from the venue and takes into account both flight length and the number of flights in and out of the city to dozens of destinations. The ability to accommodate the number of registrants is also an important consideration. Unfortunately, when all these factors are considered, there are relatively few cities that work. While New York and San Francisco are easy to get to, they are both prohibitively expensive (close to $300 per night for hotel rooms). Other cities have inexpensive rooms, but are more costly to fly to, and may not have hotels large enough to accommodate our meeting. Other cities are more difficult to get to for a large segment of our members (Orlando and San Diego). While not complaining about our growth, the reality is that there are fewer than 10 cities that have hotels with adequate space (unless we want to move to a convention center). In short, there are less than a handful of cities that have the right mix of cost, accessibility, and space. Both the staff and the board work hard to chose a location and deliver a conference that enables us to cater to a very diverse group of members. Because our conferences are booked at least two and a half years in advance, it is a difficult and somewhat risky proposition. Unfortunately, we will never be able to address the needs of all prospective participants with respect to cost and location. However, we will continue to work diligently to do the very best we can with the constraints and options available. 2. What can we do about the size and weight of the conference materials? We received a significant number of complaints about the size and weight of materials. In fact, we printed millions of pages of handouts for the last Institute, and the HCCA management would love to figure out a way to reduce the volume of materials. Consequently, you will soon be receiving an invitation to participate in an Internet survey that, among other questions, seeks your input on how to most effectively distribute conference materials to the participants. 3. Caesar’s Palace ran out of rooms very early last year. What can be done to ensure that more participants get rooms in the conference hotel? Our 2006 Institute included 400 more participants than in previous years and 800 more participants than we anticipated when we initially booked Caesar’s Palace. When we sign a contract with a hotel, we need to agree on a “room block.” This means that the HCCA needs to guarantee between 4,000 and 5,000 room nights. If we fail to deliver attendees to fill those rooms, we will be stuck paying the hotel for the value of the unused rooms. Particularly in a post-9/11 era, we have tried to mange this risk by agreeing to room blocks that accommodate approximately 80% of our expected attendance. Unfortunately, when we signed the contract with Caesar’s Palace, we did not anticipate the 70% increase in attendance over 3 years. As soon as it appears that we will have a room shortage, we move rapidly to obtain additional rooms in the conference hotel or adjacent hotels. Depending on what other events are happening in the city and adjacent hotels, this may or may not be possible. One thing you can do to help the HCCA manage this problem more effectively September 2006 18 Health Care Compliance Association • 888-580-8373 • www.hcca-info.org
is to make your hotel reservations as soon as possible. Part of the analysis that goes in to selecting a hotel includes the availability of the right room block and the potential availability of additional rooms in adjacent hotels, if we run out of space in the conference hotel. 4. Some of the breakout sessions were very crowded last year. What can we do to accommodate larger breakout sessions? As noted above, the attendance at the Institute last year was substantially more than we anticipated. While we are pleased with the increased attendance, we concede it causes logistics issues. We are working to increase the size of some of the breakout rooms and to more effectively predict turnout at the sessions. Members can help us by giving us an idea, when registering, which sessions they anticipate attending (you will not be held to your choice, however). n Meet Lea Cobb ...continued from page 19 ance areas required by your organization. Find ways to gain buy-in and maintain synergy and support from upper management. Integrate compliance into the employee’s everyday job duties, so compliance is not seen as yet another “thing to do.” Always look for new and interesting ways to make compliance fun and interesting. Network with your colleagues. Continually increase your knowledge of compliance by staying current with news and events. Become certified in compliance to increase your professionalism. And by all means, have fun, have fun, have fun! n 1 JCAHO is the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations 2 CCAC/CARF is the Continuing Care Accreditation Committee/Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities CHC The Healthcare Compliance Certification Board (HCCB) compliance certification examination is available in all 50 states. Join your peers and become Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC). certified in healthcare compliance The Compliance Professional’s Certification Congratulations on achieving CHC status! The Health Care Compliance Certification Board announces that the following individuals have recently successfully completed the Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) examination, earning CHC designation: CHC certification benefits: ■ Enhances the credibility of the compliance practitioner ■ Enhances the credibility of the compliance programs staffed by these certified professionals ■ Assures that each certified compliance practitioner has the broad knowledge base necessary to perform the compliance function ■ Establishes professional standards and status for compliance professionals ■ Facilitates compliance work for compliance practitioners in dealing with other professionals in the industry, such as physicians and attorneys ■ Demonstrates the hard work and dedication necessary to perform the compliance task Catherine Lynn Gibson Nancy Sheftel Nancy R. Vasto Kurt William Wood Rebecca A. Buegel Danny Vaughn Harrison CHC certification, developed and managed by HCCB, became available June 26, 2000. Since that time, hundreds of your colleagues have become Certified in Healthcare Compliance. Linda Wolverton, CHC, says that she sought CHC certification because “many knowledgeable people work in compliance, and I wanted my peers to recognize me as ‘one of their own’.” With certification she is “recognized as having taken the profession seriously, having met the national professional standard.” For more information on how you can become CHC Certified, please call 888/580-8373, e-mail hccb@hcca-info.org, or visit the HCCA Web site at www.hcca-info.org and click on the HCCB Certification button on the left. September 2006 Health Care Compliance Association 888-580-8373 • www.hcca-info.org 19
Page 1 and 2: Volume Eight Number Nine September
Page 3 and 4: ASK John asks the leadership your q
Page 5 and 6: the Health Care Compliance Associat
Page 7 and 8: Health Care Compliance Association
Page 11 and 12: You’re a compliance professional,
Page 13 and 14: A-110, or applicable regulation. n
Page 15 and 16: ogy, human resources, Erickson Adva
Page 17: Health Care Compliance Association
Page 21 and 22: September 2006 Health Care Complian
Page 25 and 26: those that have already enrolled in
Page 27 and 28: New Medicare enrollment regulations
Page 29 and 30: New Medicare enrollment regulations
Page 33 and 34: properly documented IRB or Privacy
Page 35 and 36: ment, on the theory that although d
Page 37 and 38: The Health Care Compliance Associat
Page 39 and 40: Register Today! Physician Practice
Page 41 and 42: They also are extremely credible an
Page 43 and 44: FYI ...continued from page 22 Sterr
Page 45 and 46: ■ William Munson, North Colorado
Page 47 and 48: ® SMART2.o : bringing HIM people a

JO - Health Care Compliance Association

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?