From scheduling patients to delivering care to reimbursement, healthcare is an industry functioning under a mountain of regulations in the United States. To help navigate this mountain, healthcare organizations have us—the compliance officer—to identify and respond to issues.

While knowledge of the applicable healthcare regulations is crucial to our role, there is one “essential” skill that I think stands out as indispensable: critical thinking.

Critical thinking is a cognitive process that involves analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information to make informed decisions and solve problems. It’s a skill that allows an individual to assess information, identify flaws, and make reasoned judgments.