Telehealth Compliance
Compliance risk is a fundamental challenge for many industries, and the telemedicine industry is no exception. Outlined mandates, regulations, standards, and laws govern the field, and a misstep can lead to serious consequences. Moreover, with the rise of remote services, ensuring that the Healthcare business is compliant with best practices is a particularly complex endeavor. Despite this difficulty, a head of compliance in the telemedicine industry can mitigate the risk of non-compliance by taking full advantage of professional certification management.
When it comes to compliance in the telemedicine industry, one of the first steps is to establish a firm understanding of the governing regulations and standards. This forms the basis of a compliance framework, and helps to prioritize risk management efforts within the organization. Once a framework is in place, companies can begin to develop policies and procedures to ensure they are meeting the standards. Additionally, certification management should be implemented, which refers to the process of managing and attaining accreditations that establish the organization’s competency.
Being both proactive and reactive in establishing the organization’s compliance through certification is an effective means of mitigation. Proactivity can take the form of initiating the application process for certifications such as HIPAA, HITECH, and ISO standards. These require extensive documentation, and the cost and time of application is typically outweighed by the rewards of being both compliant, as well as being able to demonstrate to customers the organization’s adherence to standards. Reactivity, on the other hand, pertains to responding to any issues that may arise with the certifications. A head of compliance can take a proactive approach when establishing this reactive process, by designing a compliance issue tracker or an issue escalation process that helps to identify and address a problem before the organization is penalized.
Certification management should not be seen as a burden, but as a considered approach that permeates all aspects of the business. Any process, system, or device must be examined in terms of its compliance, as determined by industry standards. As a result, training and education becomes a significant part of the certification management process to ensure all personnel understand the nuances of the industry and how to both identify, and prevent compliance issues. Once personnel are up to speed, periodic reviews should be conducted periodically to evaluate the organization’s compliance posture and ensure the implementation of industry standards.
An effective implementation of certification management helps to ensure good conduct and culture within the organization. A commitment to compliance helps to reinforce the corporate values, creating trust and confidence with customers, investors, and other stakeholders. In the end, this helps to prevent financial losses, while mitigating the legal and reputational risk caused by non-compliance.
In conclusion, professional certification management is a surefire way of ensuring compliance for an organization in the telemedicine industry. By fully understanding industry regulations, developing policies and procedures, implementing proactive and reactive processes and procedures, providing training and education, and conducting periodic reviews, a head of compliance can create and maintain an effective certification system. Additionally, this helps to reduce the legal and economic risks of non-compliance, while building trust and confidence with stakeholders.
