Ethics Governance
Ethics & Governance - Resources and Articles |
| Articles indexes: a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z | other | |
|
|
| Article - Abstract. To view full article click on the article title. | |
Health Care Service Corporation's Ethics Certification Process Health Care Service Corporation's Ethics Certification Process May/June 2003 - By Andrew W. Singer. Health Care Service Corporation's Ethics Certification ProcessSome of the most rigorous and effective corporate ethics programs have grown out of failure. A seminal case, perhaps, is General Dynamics, which in the late 1980s built a model program upon the ashes of the defense contracting scandals. (See ethikos, March/April 1990.) Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) offers a more recent example. A scandal still shadowed the health insurer at the time of the 1998 merger of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas that formed HCSC.In July 1998, Chicago-based Health Care Service Corporation pled guilty to eight felony counts and agreed to pay $144 million after admitting it concealed evidence of poor performance in processing Medicare claims for the federal government in its Marion, Illinois facility earlier in the decade. Among other things, HCSC signed a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.It was this Integrity Agreement that has informed and spurred development of a program with several interesting elements, in particular an unusually thorough management certification process.Management certificationAccording to the Corporate Integrity Agreement, "every management employee must meet annually with all employees under his or her direct supervision to discuss the Compliance Program and Code of Business Ethics and Conduct (the Code) and to certify in writing that he or she had done so."This is separate and distinct from compliance training and is designed to demonstrate management’s commitment to the compliance program and "foster an atmosphere in the work area that is conducive to compliance and disclosure and ultimately enhance and strengthen the program’s infrastructure," according to the company.During these meetings, which can take place any time during the year, managers discuss the company’s non-retaliation policy and review corporate resources like the hotline, as well as other places that employees can go to report wrongdoing, such as Internal Audit, Human Resources, and Legal. Full Article: http://www.singerpubs.com/ethikos/html/healthcare.html |
|
2006 Ethics-Governance.com |
|||