Steven Baruch - Health Care Compliance Association

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Meet the first CHC-F Candidate: Steven Baruch ...continued from page 15 coming with health care reform, I anticipate a great deal more scrutiny in health care compliance. Keeping up with the changes and the growing workload will be a tremendous challenge for all compliance officers. I’m also interested to learn how reform will truly impact all health care operations budgets in the next few years. DT: What advice do you have for individuals interested in a career in health care compliance SB: Talk to a compliance officer! I’d also definitely consider attending an HCCA Academy. A clinical, legal, or health care administration degree doesn’t hurt either. DT: What do you enjoy most about your job SB: I truly enjoy the variety of tasks that come my way. Very few positions in a hospital allow you to become involved in so many aspects of hospital operations. I’m never bored. I also get to work with many interesting people, with different backgrounds, education, and knowledge. I learn new things every day about clinical issues, hospital operations, regulations, and laws. n The CCB offers certifications in Healthcare Compliance (CHC), Healthcare Research Compliance (CHRC), and the Certified in Healthcare Compliance Fellowship (CHC-F). Certification benefits: n Enhances the credibility of the compliance practitioner n Establishes professional standards and status for compliance professionals in Healthcare and Healthcare Research n Heightens the credibility of compliance practitioners and the compliance programs staffed by these certified professionals n Ensures that each certified practitioner has the knowledge base necessary to perform the compliance function n Facilitates communication with other industry professionals, such as physicians, government officials and attorneys n Demonstrates the hard work and dedication necessary to succeed in the compliance field CCB The Compliance Professional’s Certification The Compliance Certification Board (CCB) compliance certification examinations are available in all 50 states. Join your peers and demonstrate your compliance knowledge by becoming certified today. Congratulations! The following individuals have recently successfully completed the CHC certification exam, earning their certification: Claire A. Arcamone Debbi Mark Christine W. Austin Kimberly L. Brandt Aja M. Brooks Tracey A. Conley Paul G. Daniels Joanne De Sarlo Annemarie Engelhardt Amy E. Freitas Lisa A. Hylton Angie Iturrino Terry P. Matherne Kimberly A. McGuire Kourtney K. Nett Jacqueline S. Petro Joshua L. Proffitt Carla A. Russo Kenneth R. Smoot Brenda Turner Patrick R. Z. Wilder Rachel E. Williams Congratulations! The following individuals have recently successfully completed the CHRC certification exam, earning their certification: Diane M. Bauer Julia M. Campbell Paula Carney Kimberly Dupage Linda M. Gonia S. Rebecca Holland Sheri D. Lindsay James William Luca Stephanie G. Madrigal Blanca A. Malagon Michael K. Meeks Gregory A. Pesely Susan M. Torok-Rood Bruce A. Uveges Kenneth F. Winter Emily B. Wood For more information about certification, please call 888/580-8373, email ccb@hcca-info.org, or visit our website at www.hcca-info.org. December 2010 16 Health Care Compliance Association • 888-580-8373 • www.hcca-info.org
If you have any questions that you would like Roy to answer in future columns, please e-mail them to: roy.snell@corporatecompliance.org. Whistleblower I had an interesting phone call from another association that wanted help telling the government about all the problems associated with the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank bill. The bill says that whistleblowers can receive large cash bonuses for turning in a company, if there is a prosecution. Their concern was that the bill would cause people to bypass the in-house anonymous reporting mechanism, because the government was offering money. My first reaction was one of agreement. Then I realized that we already had a lot of experience with this situation and something didn’t smell right. But, we talked quite a bit before it hit me. I told them that we try to spend the majority of our time helping our members set up compliance programs to find and fix ethics, policy, and regulatory problems, so we don’t really get into regulatory lobbying. I also said that we don’t really want to come down in favor of, or in opposition to, a regulation we may need to enforce. I mentioned how independence is the key to our success, and we really need to be impartial. Then I talked a little about their concerns with her. I really had not thought about their concerns, so it was interesting. At one point I said, you know that those who contract with the government have had this for 150 years, with the False Claims Act. It was set up to fine those who billed the government for horses but delivered donkeys during the Civil War (true story). If you pointed out a false claim, you got bucket loads of money. The False Claims Act was not used for years, and then an enterprising prosecutor dusted off the 150-year-old law. Soon there were hundreds of prosecutors using it. For the last 16 years, the government had been actively using the False Claims Act to fine those who have billed them for things that they didn’t deliver, such as toilet seats, hammers, and medical services. In fact, so far this year, the government has received several billion dollars in fines and penalties with the use of the False Claims Act. Much of that could have had a significant payout to whistleblowers, if the government started the case on a tip. The reward is typically in the mid-teens to low twenty percent range. A couple of cases resulted in payments to whistleblowers in the tens of millions of dollars. I told my caller that we have a lot of experience with this, but that something didn’t seem right about their concern that this caused people to go to the government first. We have had a lot of experience with the potential problems associated with paying whistleblowers, and what impact it has had on the use of internal reporting mechanisms. The conversation that followed was quite interesting. I said that although all industries have not had this experience, many have. I told her, off the top of my head, that few people have ever complained about the problem of bypassing the internal reporting mechanism. I told her that I think most people would say that most employees give them a chance before they report to the government. I said that almost all the stories I hear about a whistleblower who went to the government came with a tearful story about how the company ignored them, or worse. I’ll share a story I had as a consultant. I got a call from someone who wanted me to educate their leadership. I wanted the job, so I sent them a price so low that they couldn’t refuse. They refused. Ten months later I got a call to come to them ASAP. I did. After I did the training, they said, “Help us implement a better compliance program ASAP.” I did. While I was there, I inquired as to the reason for the about–face, and I asked where the person was who originally called me. They said that the government had announced that they were going to start an investigation over a potential fraud issue. The person who picked up the compliance job had been going through the desk of the recently departed employee and found my proposal. They told me she left because they would not fix some problems. They told me she went to the government. They ended up being found guilty of fraud and paid a $2 million fine. It was a small company, and the fine had a big impact. Before going to the government, she begged them. She pleaded with them. She went so far as to ask them to go through training so maybe then they could understand her concerns. This is by no means an isolated case. Many whistleblower stories begin with internal discussions and some receive poor treatment. It’s easy to call these people names. But before you do, you might think about what situation we have put them in. Health Care Compliance Association • 888-580-8373 • www.hcca-info.org ROY sNELL Can you imagine knowing about the fraud, wondering if maybe the government would come in and accuse you of knowing about the Continued on page 18 December 2010 17
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Steven Baruch - Health Care Compliance Association

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