Healthcare compliance budgets and staff increased in 2013, according to a new report from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA).
Compliance budgets in the sector increased 35 percent, while compliance staffing in healthcare increased by 29 percent. Other sectors experienced higher growth in compliance staffing, but the increase was part of an across-the-board trend toward improved compliance, according to the report.
"Look at the headlines of the business section and you can see the price of a compliance failure," SCCE CEO Roy Snell said Wednesday in a statement. "These figures show that more companies are getting it and realizing that compliance is a good investment."
Meanwhile, a report earlier this month from consulting firm Protiviti and the Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors compared this year's top compliance priorities to those in 2012, according to Healthcare Finance News. The respondents, including 88 healthcare providers, ranked health information exchanges (HIE) as the area needing the greatest improvement, followed by value-based purchasing. ICD-10 implementation and payment bundling tied for third.
The report showed accountable care organizations, pay-for-performance standards, state-specific privacy/security laws, clinical documentation, and ICD-impact and readiness shared fourth place, the article stated. In 2012, respondents ranked HIEs and Meaningful Use as the top compliance priorities.
An August survey from HCCA found the need for improved healthcare compliance reflected in salaries. Healthcare compliance professionals who have the Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) certification earned about 20 percent more than those without the certification. The survey showed an greater difference for managers with CHC certification, who reported earning 23 percent more than their peers without certification, and assistants or specialists with certification earning 7 percent more, FierceHealthcare previously reported.
To learn more:
- read the SCCE/HCCA report (login required)
- read the statement
- read the Healthcare Finance News article