Healthcare compliance certification comes with higher pay

A new survey shows that as the demand for compliance professionals soars, healthcare organizations are paying higher salaries to compliance professionals certified in healthcare compliance than those without the certification.

The Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) surveyed 813 healthcare compliance professionals this spring and found that directors with Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) certification earned about 20 percent more than their peers with no certification.

Moreover, managers with CHC certification earned 23 percent more than their peers without certification. And for CHC-certified individuals with the title of assistant or specialist, compensation was 7 percent higher than their peers without certification.

"The data in the survey demonstrates the maturity of the compliance profession," HCCA CEO Roy Snell said last week in a statement, noting that salaries correlated to organization and compliance program size.

A large percentage of the survey respondents reported they were primarily involved in compliance education, compliance investigations, policies and procedures, and compliance/auditing/monitoring. However, the number of compliance activities a person deals with didn't strongly factor into compensation levels, according to the survey.

The survey also showed about 40 percent of the healthcare compliance professionals indicated their department manages 76 percent to 100 percent of the company's legal and regulatory risk.

"With others trying to define what compliance is, it is imperative that we have solid compensation data at hand. That way we ensure that the compliance community defines itself," Snell said in the survey.

For more:
- here's the announcement
- download the survey (log-in required)