If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career, it’s that healthcare leaders do not like to be surprised. That is true whether one of their direct reports is notifying them of a budgeting or clinical care mistake or if you, as the compliance officer, are informing them of something like a significant overpayment.

When it comes to communicating with your leaders about a high-risk compliance matter, adopt a No Surprises Act communication strategy. While such a communication plan sounds like a no-brainer, in reality certain parts of our job force us to strategically think about when to communicate with others in the organization. It seems like with any compliance issue that surfaces, you must grapple with two central questions: