By Frank Ruelas
Facility Compliance Professional, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center/Dignity Health
As one who has “compliance” in my job title and one who has duties related to the promotion of compliance within the organization, I like to take the position that my objective is to show how the organization is complying with the rules, regulations, and policies that apply to it in the carrying out of its business.
I often remind folks that I am a “compliance” professional which to me means my job is to show how we are complying. Unlike some compliance professionals who seem to take the position or mindset of an external auditor whose mission or objective is to look for pockets of non-compliance and ignore that which represents compliance, my position is to focus on where compliance is alive and well. The good news, for lack of a better description, is that along the road of finding compliance there will be the occasional speedbump or pothole which represents activity that may be more representative of non-compliant activity which needs to be placed back into the compliant category.
Through the use of this approach, which by the way has made positive inroads in establishing an understanding of open communication and the development of meaningful collaboration with stakeholders throughout the organization, it also helps me to maintain focus in that on any given day I am encountering many more instances showing how the compliance program is working towards the objective of deterring and detecting non-compliant activity than not.
In addition, it is no secret that often compliance (or non-compliance) can be traced back or related to behaviors that represent a choice made by those involved in the activity. The basis for the decisions by those which may move the needle in either a compliant direction or a non-compliant direction is often a multifaceted set of circumstances, case specifics, and an individual’s willingness to select one course of action over another. Sometimes this can be driven internally by the person’s own set of values. It can also be significantly influenced by the “pressures”, both favorable and unfavorable, placed upon the individual by external factors such as the culture of the organization or peer pressure. Whatever the cause, I continue to see which makes me continue to believe that in the end, compliance is a choice.
As a compliance professional I see many more times than not that people are making a choice that falls easily within the range of what an organization would recognize as compliant related behavior.
Is it unrealistic or naïve to think that categorically speaking, if given a choice people would opt for choosing actions that are in the compliant category versus those in the non-compliant category? I don’t think so. In fact, I believe taking such a position helps compliance professionals stay more in tune with the status quo and to also not necessarily over react when we encounter those “You can’t make this stuff up” moments which I am sure many of us have one that comes immediately to mind.
So in the end are you a “non-compliance” officer or a compliance officer? What say you?
[clickToTweet tweet=”Compliance and Non Compliance…Look for One and You Will Find the Other @Frank__Ruelas” quote=”Compliance and Non Compliance…Look for One and You Will Find the Other”]