By Jack Anderson
May 5, 2014
When we first got started doing compliance in 2001 there were two basic methods of getting compliant. Buy a manual and put it on the shelf or hire a consultant to come to your facility and teach you how to develop your own personal manual. We had developed some software for Stanford University Hospital to help them manage getting compliant for a JCAHO survey and decided to productize it. We knew that a canned manual was not sufficient. Frequently, the policies and procedures included were not studied and adopted by the organization and over time it became outdated. On the other hand an on-site consultant was expensive because of travel costs, in-efficient because the consultant couldn’t monitor the progress of their clients, and hard on the consultants because of the travel.
Our “disruptive innovation” was to deliver the policies and procedures and the consultant over the Internet which was much less expensive, more efficient for the client, and allowed the consultant to handle many more clients without traveling. We initally used the technology and methodology we developed to help office based surgeries prepare for an initial survey by JCAHO and then help them stay ready for unannounced surveys. In 2009 we partnered with Rebecca Herold & Associates to bring her HIPAA content, (policies, procedures, and forms) to organizations needing to get HIPAA compliant.
So, how does this work? We set up a private and secure website for the client which contains templates of policies, procedures, and forms that meet HIPAA standards. Embedded in the software is a task centered methodology that walks the clients through a process of reviewing, editing, and getting approval of policies, procedures, and forms tailored to their organization. This is overseen by what we call a Helper, who is a HIPAA privacy and security expert who checks all of the clients work, answers their questions and quides them through the process. Their progress is monitored and displayed through our Compliance Meter (tm).
Once they get through the inital process of setting up their comprehensive HIPAA privacy and security program they go onto our maintenance plan. Each month they get a new task lists that tells them what compliance activities they need to accomplish that month, in order to stay compliant. Again, their activities are monitored and displayed through the Compliance Meter (tm). This serves as an “at a glance” indicator of their on-going compliance buy if needed they can provide “drill down” capability to a regulator or business partner to provide complete transparency.
To See How It Works, go to www.compliancehelper.com and click on the button for your size organization.