UPMC blazes trail in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has announced that it has become the first not-for-profit hospital system to comply fully with the strict reporting and internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which applies to publicly-held companies and was designed to prevent Enron-scale financial catastrophes in that arena. While not-for-profits don't have to comply, experts say more of them are moving in the direction of fuller disclosure, assuming that the spotlight will be on them eventually. One Ernst & Young partner estimates that 80 percent of not-for-profit hospitals have adopted at least some Sarbanes-Oxley-compliant practices.

For an analysis of current hospital compliance efforts:
- take a look at this article in Modern Healthcare