After reviewing the latest communication bulletin from one of North Carolina's MCO's this weekend it hit me – the layers of red tape and regulation faced by the human services provider world has just taken yet another leap. In the wrong direction no less!
The communication talked of penalties and recoupment for services rendered to consumers at sites that were not "pre-approved", as well as listing trainings about planning and preparing for audits. Conspicuously missing from the list of important topics was any info related to actually providing care to those in need, or learning how to better serve vulnerable populations.
When it comes to the human services field the provider culture in most states has become almost entirely punitive. Regulatory agencies exist almost solely to drive recoupment dollars back into state coffers; and the providers they take them from out of business. The trend shows no signs of changing, so what are providers to do? — Get Compliant and Stay Compliant, FAST!
EHR's like our OnTarget system can be a major help in the fight to stay compliant. With features like employee training management, data syncing with online training leader Relias Learning Systems, client consent tracking, service authorization management and validation, and a host of other critical validations, your staff can have the confidence that OnTarget has their back on the myriad of dates and deadlines required to keep things running smoothly.
Most providers that I know have quality management staff, but very few of them have a true compliance plan. Even fewer have a C-level officer that is focused every day on fending off the negative affects of poor audit performance, failure to track regulatory changes, and most importantly contract management. Any one of these issues can derail an agencies growth, or worse, cause a recoupment issue that is unrecoverable.
So always be sure to use the best tools you can find, which in most cases still means finding good, smart, and dedicated staff that care about making sure things get done right!
