Cassandra A. Andrews Jackson (candrewsjackson@sbhny.org) is Compliance & HIPAA Privacy Officer at SBH Health System in the Bronx, NY.
Who are these power brokers? They are your organization’s elite C-suite executives, wholly committed to its continued operation, meeting and exceeding goals by turning the helm of the organization one day at a time. They work diligently within strapped budgets to provide the best possible healthcare to the patient base.
According to the report issued by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the rankings determined that Bronx County is the least healthy in all of the state of New York. The overall health of a county was measured by how long people live and how healthy people feel. The rankings also looked at health factors in each county. The health factors represent the focus areas that drive how long and well people live, including certain behaviors (e.g., tobacco use, diet, exercise, sexual activity), clinical care (e.g., access to care and quality of care), social and economic factors, and the physical environment, which includes housing and poverty issues. In the Bronx, there’s a unique challenge — the Bronx came in at No. 62 in both the health outcome and health factors categories.[1] ,[2]
My August 2017 Compliance Today article, titled “An enjoyable risk assessment,” closed with these words:
The compliance officer, having led the organization toward an effective compliance program, can now observe the fruits of that effort. The senior leaders become completely engaged and fully armed with the impact, vulnerability, and assessment of internal controls. This education event will reap rewards through the remainder of your work plan cycle. Information has been exchanged, staff is informed and empowered, and most importantly, they see the value of this process to their operations and to the organization. The engagement reaps exponential rewards and the risk assessment is no longer tedium; it’s now enjoyable.
You, compliance officer, have pushed the compliance program until it has momentum, and your role is now easier. The weight of the compliance program is now appropriately distributed throughout the organization. The senior leaders have enlisted as compliance champions and ambassadors. And now, go forth and comply.[3]
