SO - Health Care Compliance Association

envelopes. Also, if appropriate, considerdeveloping bilingual posters. Usingthese tools will ensure that your messageis communicated to all employees.Many compliance officers facethe problem of continuallybuilding employee awarenessof their organization’s complianceprogram. The work of communicatingyour compliance program should notend with the training program. The initialcompliance training intro d u c e se m p l oyees to the organization’s complianceprogram, goals, hotline, code ofconduct, and the organization’s commitmentto the program. Many complianceofficers have wallet-size copies of theirCode of Conduct with the hotline numberprinted and distributed to employe e sat the time of the introd u c t o ry training.While this is a good beginning, moreaction will be necessary.Keep the message freshIt is important to constantly reinforceyour compliance commitment withyour employees. To do this, think aboutthe ways your organization communicateswith staff and consider how tobest utilize these methods to communicatecompliance, when appropriate.There are a number of communicationstools available to draw employee attentionto the compliance program. Somemay cost money, while others will not.Be sure to include some funds in yourannual compliance budget for compliancecommunications.After reviewing the communicationtools your organization already has inplace, plan a meeting with your organization’scommunications or public relationsdirector to discuss ways to bestutilize these tools; for example, theemployee newsletter, bulletin boards,Internet and Intranet, Website, email,pay envelopes, and inserts, etc.Some suggestionsAsk that the compliance hotline numberbe published in every issue of theorganization’s newsletter. This not onlykeeps the number out front, it reinforceswith employees your organization’scommitment to compliance. Also,ask that a compliance program updateto be included in the new s l e t t e r. Pu b l i s hthe dates of your compliance training inthe newsletter, post them on yourWebsite and Intranet if your organizationhas one, and email these dates toall employees requiring training.Ask your communications departmentto develop a poster and a tag line (i.e.it’s your responsibility too, do the rightthing, etc.) for your compliance programcampaign. The posters can beused effectively on various bulletinboards, in employee lounge areas, themail room, and other areas whereemployees congregate.Team workWork with your communicationsdepartment and the human resource(HR) department to develop a simplebrochure that can be inserted inemployee pay envelopes and make sureit includes the Code of Conduct, hotlinenumber, and other important complianceprogram information. Again,working with HR, you may also considerhaving the tag line and hotlinenumber reproduced on employee payPens, pads, and mugsDiscuss with your communicationsdepartment what items (pens and pencils,note pads, mouse pads, coffeemugs, etc.) the organization may beplaning to develop and discuss whetheror not the hotline number and/or tagline could be displayed on them. Youmay also want to consider having alogo developed for your complianceprogram that may be used on note padsand employee name badges.Website and IntranetIf your organization has an Intranet, besure to use it. Again, you may posttraining dates, program notices, andother important compliance information.Ask members of your staff towrite an article monthly or quarterly onsome issue you need to communicateto employees and make it available onthe organization’s Intranet. Someorganizations also have devoted spaceon their Website for the complianceprogram. Discuss with your WebsiteManager how you can best use thiscommunication resource.This is by no means a complete list ofcommunication tools. You may havea l ready instituted these tools. If so, don’tthink communicating your compliancemessage is ove r. To keep compliance programawareness needs in the fore f ro n t ,schedule meetings with the director ofthe communications department keepingone item on the agenda–how can wecommunicate our compliance messageto all of our employees? ■21July 2001