New York lawyer Compliance Officers - will want to read the latest opinion of the NYCLA Committee on Professional Ethics. The Committee concluded that the New York Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers prohibit them from participating in the SEC's whistleblower rewards program on matters relating to those they represent. But the Committee noted that their opinion and the RPC only restrict those actually representing the organization - and depending on the facts of a particular situation may not restrict those who are attorneys serving in other roles, like compliance officers.
"at the SEC, we rely on you" That was the message on Oct. 22 from SEC Chairperson Mary jo White to the National Society of Compliance Professionals. She went on to describe her view of the compliance officer role is some detail, worth reading by those within the securities industry and those outside it.
CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) has rolled out an **Ethics Choices "Tool**" that allows participants to see how their choices compare to those made by others.
Santa Clara University's Markula Center for Ethics is sponsoring "Business Ethics for the Real World" - a free, Massive Online Open enrollment Course (MOOC). The course description says no preparation is necessary to participate - just sign up by November 1.
The **UT "Ethics Unwrapped" program** (See November 2012 below) has expanded to include a series of short films narrated by Mary Gentile about the concepts in her "Giving Voice To Values" curriculum.
Have your say about HIPAA "Accounting" requirements - The federal HIT Policy Committee's Privacy and Security "Tiger Team" has decided to hold a virtual "hearing" on the Accounting for Disclosures provisions of the HIPAA regulations. Interested folks can listen in on Monday, September 30, 2013 from 11:45 to 5 p.m. EST to testimony from "stakeholders". There will also be a 15 minute public question / comment period at the end of the hearing. Instructions for access are available at:
Still working on your facility's HIPAA "Notice of Privacy Practices"? Eight days before the "compliance date" of September 23, the federal Office for Civil Rights and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology have released three model notices for use by covered entities. So glad they didn't wait until the last minute...
Predicting CEO and CFO Behavior - A study by three business school professors found correlations between legal infractions and ownership of luxury items on the part of these C-suite individuals and a likelihood to "perpetrate fraud" and tolerate a loose control environment in the organizations they led.
From the folks who brought you the "Compliance Babies" - a series of more than 80 short videos on various topics featuring HCCA Board and Executive Committee members giving their opinions. Topics range from "What Should Speakers Do to Be Successful?" to "how can you inadvertently lose attorney-client privilege?". The videos are available on the HCCA site and can also be viewed on the association's YOUTUBE channel.
New and Improved(?) Exclusion Searching - The DHHS OIG has announced updates to its online database of individuals excluded from the federal healthcare programs. The database will now include National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) for organizational and individual providers excluded since 2008. But not all excluded individuals have NPIs. To assist searchers and users of its databases, the OIG has published a short instructional video.
Alstrom, a french company, describes how its Integrity program supports compliance and ethics (video 2013)
Need a birthday card for your favorite auditor or Compliance Officer? Yes, Compliance has actually become a recognized enough profession to get its own birthday cards.
June 6, 2013 - Conseros, an "anti-conference" company asked a group of 40 Chief Compliance Officers about their roles, budgets and needs. See how their answers compare to your situation.
May 16, 2013 - When is a gift not a gift? When the Secretary of Defense says so. This recently published waiver of part of the DOD Standards of Conduct is a good illustration of the lines that all organizations draw in this area, balancing the potential of impropriety and a need for clear guidelines with other considerations.
May 15, 2013 - Four 90 minute Webinars - for free! The HIPAA "OMNIBUS" rulemaking in February created a flurry of educational opportunities, at various prices levels. But this series, cosponsored by the federal Office for Civil Rights and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), will be worth much more than the price tag might imply. What's new? The very extensive effort by OCR to not simply issue regulations but also explain them to the regulated. The slide decks, recordings and handouts from these Webinars are also available.
April 29, 2013 - A revised "Incentive Reward Program" aimed at Medicare Fraud - The CMS "incentive" program dates back to 1998, but has paid out only 18 rewards totaling $16,000. The latest proposal would change the "incentive" from a flat amount ($1000) to a flat percentage (15%) of the government's recovery. Here's how the program will compare to the IRS's reward program and the government's other "incentive" plan , the False Claims Act.
April 22, 2013 - The SEC announced a decision to offer Ralph Lauren a "non-prosecution agreement" to resolve potential liability from bribes paid by the company's Argentine subsidiary. Key to that decision was the company's self disclosure of the conduct - which came to light after the roll-out of a compliance related policy. As described in the NPA, the company also enhanced its compliance program in several ways after discovering the bribes.
March 27, 2013 - The Role of Health Care Boards in Promoting Compliance - The DHHS OIG has produced a four minute video in which its Chief Counsel, Greg Demskke, provides tips and questions for Board Members to use in evaluating their organization's compliance effort. Although aimed at healthcare Board, the suggestions here would apply in just about any industry.
March 11, 2013 - An update of Dollars for Docs - The ProPublica database now includes over $2B in payments to doctors from pharmaceutical manufacturers. Will this site some day be the next stop on mandatory background checking? More to come when the results of mandatory reporting under the PPACA are revealed in in 2014.
February 27, 2013 - The annual conference hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Health and Human Services's Office for Civil Rights focused on information security isn't held in the most posh surroundings - but it's a terrific chance to hear from those actually setting federal policy in this area and enforcing current standards. And it is vendor free. Can't afford to travel to Washington, D.C.? The proceedings are also available via webcast while they occur. Here's the web page for the sixth conference Safeguarding Health Information: Building Assurance through HIPAA Security - 2013 near the national Mall on May 21-22.
February 14, 2013 - Kurt Hanson of The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics talked with Jay Mumford about "How Corporate Ethics Codes Are Changing" (short video)
February 13, 2013 - A dental practice in Northern Virginia signed the latest settlement in the "Barrier Free Health Care Initiative" a joint enforcement effort between U.S. Attorneys nation-wide and the US Department of Justice to use the Americans with Disabilities Act to give "the collective message that disability discrimination in health care is illegal and unacceptable". The dental office's misstep was telling a patient with HIV that he would be required to have the last appointment of the day whenever he received services. Other settlements in the initiative have involved refusals to treat patients with HIV and the non-provision of interpreter services for deaf patients.
January 31, 2013 - in May 2012 the Senate Finance Committee solicited ideas on how to combat fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Apparently more than 160 "stakeholders" took up that invitation, sending in "close to" 2,000 pages of ideas and the Committee has now issued a summary of the submissions which it says will inform its future legislative efforts.
January 2013 - in December 2012 the US Department of Justice settled an Americans with Disabilities Act claim raised against Lesley University by certain students that had food allergies, including celiac disease. The settlement fueled speculation that food allergies would be considered a per se "disability" requiring accommodations in a wide variety of settings. This month the DOJ took the unusual step of issuing a "technical assistance" publication distinguishing the mandatory Lesley University food plan from other situations where those with food allergies might dine and the types of accommodations that might be expected in each.
Welcome to the New in 2013 Archive!
[Back to New in Compliance and Ethics]
New York lawyer Compliance Officers - will want to read the latest opinion of the NYCLA Committee on Professional Ethics. The Committee concluded that the New York Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers prohibit them from participating in the SEC's whistleblower rewards program on matters relating to those they represent. But the Committee noted that their opinion and the RPC only restrict those actually representing the organization - and depending on the facts of a particular situation may not restrict those who are attorneys serving in other roles, like compliance officers.
"at the SEC, we rely on you" That was the message on Oct. 22 from SEC Chairperson Mary jo White to the National Society of Compliance Professionals. She went on to describe her view of the compliance officer role is some detail, worth reading by those within the securities industry and those outside it.
CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) has rolled out an **Ethics Choices "Tool**" that allows participants to see how their choices compare to those made by others.
Santa Clara University's Markula Center for Ethics is sponsoring "Business Ethics for the Real World" - a free, Massive Online Open enrollment Course (MOOC). The course description says no preparation is necessary to participate - just sign up by November 1.
The **UT "Ethics Unwrapped" program** (See November 2012 below) has expanded to include a series of short films narrated by Mary Gentile about the concepts in her "Giving Voice To Values" curriculum.
Have your say about HIPAA "Accounting" requirements - The federal HIT Policy Committee's Privacy and Security "Tiger Team" has decided to hold a virtual "hearing" on the Accounting for Disclosures provisions of the HIPAA regulations. Interested folks can listen in on Monday, September 30, 2013 from 11:45 to 5 p.m. EST to testimony from "stakeholders". There will also be a 15 minute public question / comment period at the end of the hearing. Instructions for access are available at:
http://www.healthit.gov/facas/calendar/2013/09/30/policy-privacy-security-tiger-team-virtual-hearing.
Still working on your facility's HIPAA "Notice of Privacy Practices"? Eight days before the "compliance date" of September 23, the federal Office for Civil Rights and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology have released three model notices for use by covered entities. So glad they didn't wait until the last minute...
Supreme Court Code of Conduct? The Supreme Court Ethics Act proposes to make the nine justices subject to the Code of Conduct for US Judges. The Court was previously asked to adopt the Code voluntarily - but declined.
Predicting CEO and CFO Behavior - A study by three business school professors found correlations between legal infractions and ownership of luxury items on the part of these C-suite individuals and a likelihood to "perpetrate fraud" and tolerate a loose control environment in the organizations they led.
From the folks who brought you the "Compliance Babies" - a series of more than 80 short videos on various topics featuring HCCA Board and Executive Committee members giving their opinions. Topics range from "What Should Speakers Do to Be Successful?" to "how can you inadvertently lose attorney-client privilege?". The videos are available on the HCCA site and can also be viewed on the association's YOUTUBE channel.
New and Improved(?) Exclusion Searching - The DHHS OIG has announced updates to its online database of individuals excluded from the federal healthcare programs. The database will now include National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) for organizational and individual providers excluded since 2008. But not all excluded individuals have NPIs. To assist searchers and users of its databases, the OIG has published a short instructional video.
Alstrom, a french company, describes how its Integrity program supports compliance and ethics (video 2013)
Need a birthday card for your favorite auditor or Compliance Officer? Yes, Compliance has actually become a recognized enough profession to get its own birthday cards.
June 6, 2013 - Conseros, an "anti-conference" company asked a group of 40 Chief Compliance Officers about their roles, budgets and needs. See how their answers compare to your situation.
May 16, 2013 - When is a gift not a gift? When the Secretary of Defense says so. This recently published waiver of part of the DOD Standards of Conduct is a good illustration of the lines that all organizations draw in this area, balancing the potential of impropriety and a need for clear guidelines with other considerations.
May 15, 2013 - Four 90 minute Webinars - for free! The HIPAA "OMNIBUS" rulemaking in February created a flurry of educational opportunities, at various prices levels. But this series, cosponsored by the federal Office for Civil Rights and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), will be worth much more than the price tag might imply. What's new? The very extensive effort by OCR to not simply issue regulations but also explain them to the regulated. The slide decks, recordings and handouts from these Webinars are also available.
April 29, 2013 - A revised "Incentive Reward Program" aimed at Medicare Fraud - The CMS "incentive" program dates back to 1998, but has paid out only 18 rewards totaling $16,000. The latest proposal would change the "incentive" from a flat amount ($1000) to a flat percentage (15%) of the government's recovery. Here's how the program will compare to the IRS's reward program and the government's other "incentive" plan , the False Claims Act.
April 22, 2013 - The SEC announced a decision to offer Ralph Lauren a "non-prosecution agreement" to resolve potential liability from bribes paid by the company's Argentine subsidiary. Key to that decision was the company's self disclosure of the conduct - which came to light after the roll-out of a compliance related policy. As described in the NPA, the company also enhanced its compliance program in several ways after discovering the bribes.
April 18, 2013 - SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar shared his thoughts about "Doing the Right Thing: Compliance That Works for Investors"
April 2013 - The VA has announced its plan for Compliance and Ethics Week 2013 - and there is a downloadable activity guide and awareness tool.
March 27, 2013 - The Role of Health Care Boards in Promoting Compliance - The DHHS OIG has produced a four minute video in which its Chief Counsel, Greg Demskke, provides tips and questions for Board Members to use in evaluating their organization's compliance effort. Although aimed at healthcare Board, the suggestions here would apply in just about any industry.
March 11, 2013 - An update of Dollars for Docs - The ProPublica database now includes over $2B in payments to doctors from pharmaceutical manufacturers. Will this site some day be the next stop on mandatory background checking? More to come when the results of mandatory reporting under the PPACA are revealed in in 2014.
March 7, 2013 - Penn State has hired its first Director of Ethics and Compliance - a former FBI agent and white collar crime investigator.
February 27, 2013 - The annual conference hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Health and Human Services's Office for Civil Rights focused on information security isn't held in the most posh surroundings - but it's a terrific chance to hear from those actually setting federal policy in this area and enforcing current standards. And it is vendor free. Can't afford to travel to Washington, D.C.? The proceedings are also available via webcast while they occur. Here's the web page for the sixth conference Safeguarding Health Information: Building Assurance through HIPAA Security - 2013 near the national Mall on May 21-22.
February 14, 2013 - Kurt Hanson of The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics talked with Jay Mumford about "How Corporate Ethics Codes Are Changing" (short video)
February 13, 2013 - A dental practice in Northern Virginia signed the latest settlement in the "Barrier Free Health Care Initiative" a joint enforcement effort between U.S. Attorneys nation-wide and the US Department of Justice to use the Americans with Disabilities Act to give "the collective message that disability discrimination in health care is illegal and unacceptable". The dental office's misstep was telling a patient with HIV that he would be required to have the last appointment of the day whenever he received services. Other settlements in the initiative have involved refusals to treat patients with HIV and the non-provision of interpreter services for deaf patients.
January 31, 2013 - in May 2012 the Senate Finance Committee solicited ideas on how to combat fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Apparently more than 160 "stakeholders" took up that invitation, sending in "close to" 2,000 pages of ideas and the Committee has now issued a summary of the submissions which it says will inform its future legislative efforts.
January 2013 - in December 2012 the US Department of Justice settled an Americans with Disabilities Act claim raised against Lesley University by certain students that had food allergies, including celiac disease. The settlement fueled speculation that food allergies would be considered a per se "disability" requiring accommodations in a wide variety of settings. This month the DOJ took the unusual step of issuing a "technical assistance" publication distinguishing the mandatory Lesley University food plan from other situations where those with food allergies might dine and the types of accommodations that might be expected in each.