To assist hospices in their efforts to develop and maintain effective corporate compliance programs Summit Business Group, LLC established in January 2000.
Summit itself was established in 1998 by Jay Mahoney, former National Hospice Organization (NHO) President [Now, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization {NHPCO}].
We believed then, and still do, that corporate compliance plans, and now HIPAA Privacy Rule compliance plans, too, must be based on ethical business practices that prevent fraud and abusive behavior, but not at the cost of limiting appropriate admissions to hospice care.
In their attempt to “do the right thing” too many hospices create unnecessary barriers to hospice care out of fear and/or ignorance.
By providing the compliance information hospices need and a support system for compliance officers the Hospice Compliance Network helps to minimize the bad outcomes that are sometimes borne of good intentions.
We’ve listened closely to our members since the inception of the Network, which has led us to change the membership format and continually seek out ways to improve membership value, including adding services and simplifying fees.
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- Published electronically on a bi-monthly basis
- Focuses exclusively on regulatory compliance including the hospice benefit, HIPAA compliance, and other related compliance issues that have meaning for hospices
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- Email on issues of immediate importance and interest between editions of the Letter
- Hyperlinks to various publications, reports, etc.
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- Exclusively for HCN members
- Focuses on everyday compliance related questions
- Allows HCN members to share questions and ideas on how to meet the day to day challenges of compliance
- Provides a mechanism for members to share forms, policies and procedures
- Archives of all prior postings are accessible to members
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- Password protected web site available only to HCN members
- Current and archived editions of the Hospice Compliance Letter and Hospice Compliance Alerts are available on the web site
- Links to other compliance related sites
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- Consistent with the OIG’s guideline, which suggests the availability of a confidential internal “fraud hotline” to enable employees, volunteers and others to report concerns related to fraud and abuse
- Available to HCN members for a modest additional cost
- A toll free number that each HCN member can use as its own internal reporting hotline
- Staffed by hospice trained personnel
- Provides anonymity and confidentiality for the caller
- HCN provides materials necessary to promote the availability of the hotline service to staff and volunteers
- In the event of a call to the Guidance Line, HCN will contact the hospice’s compliance officer in writing
- Provides quarterly reports
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- Provided by Jay Mahoney and the Summit Business Group, HCN can provide economical, value laden consulting services including developing a comprehensive corporate compliance program, baseline audits and ongoing reviews
- For an additional list of consulting services available from Summit Business Group, LLC please, call the Summit office to request a brochure or visit the Summit web site at www.SBG-LLC.com
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- Annual membership in the Hospice Compliance Network is limited to individual hospice programs.
Base membership for a single provider number is $150.00 annually.
The Hospice Guidance Line service can be added to a base membership for an additional $100.00 annually.
Hospices with multiple sites/provider numbers may purchase base memberships for those sites for $25.00 per additional provider number.
Hospices with additional provider numbers may also purchase the Hospice Guidance Line (fraud hotline) service for an additional $75.00 per additional provider number, which includes the additional base membership plus the Guidance Line service.
The Hospice Guidance Line service is only available with a base membership.
Member hospices and additional sites are permitted to reproduce or forward the newsletter as they wish for the internal use of each site.
Each hospice site may also share the password of the web site for internal use as well as register as many staff as they wish to use the Listserv.
Communications from the Network are considered a benefit of membership; sharing any form of communication from the Network outside of the member hospice program is strictly forbidden.
