From conducting investigations to advising leadership to educating staff, as compliance officers, we are continually placed in a position to influence the actions of others. Unfortunately, a reality of our profession is that we are challenged when it comes to the perception of our role in the organization. Before we even have a chance to utter a single word, healthcare leaders often see us as an obstacle—some sort of grown-up version of a hall monitor.
That doesn’t mean the perception can’t be overcome. We just need to work at it—which means focusing on how we are communicating a compliance message of “do this” or “don’t do that”.
If we want to increase engagement to our compliance programs, then we need to interact with our leaders in a way that is selling compliance—without, ya know—“selling” compliance.
So how do you do that?
Below are five strategies that will help.
1-Establish Rapport with Your Leaders
While there are endless ways in which you can establish rapport with a leader, two specific tactics that have helped me include (1) knowing the organization’s market, and (2) taking an active interest in my healthcare leaders.
Knowing the Organization’s Market
Aside from carrying out your compliance officer duties, be intentional about knowing the market in which your organization participates. That means knowing what services your organization provides, who are your business partners, and who your competitors. It also means knowing where your organization sits in the market (i.e., who is better at providing ___ services to patients). To improve your knowledge, study up on your market through general internet searches, talking with your leaders, and paying attention to what they are saying.
Take an Active Interest in Your Leaders
Any time you are interacting with a healthcare leader you have an opportunity to find out as much as you can about them professionally. For example, you could ask questions such as the following:
“How did you get into this line of work”?
“What does your day, week, or month look like?”
“What’s been your biggest accomplishment so far?”
“What’s been your biggest challenge so far?”
You can also seize these moments to find out as much as you can about them personally. Now, in order to keep the conversation from becoming too personal and super awkward, just ask—
“So, what do you like to do when you’re not working?”
When you take time to understand your organization’s market and take an active interest in your leaders, it positions you to initiate or engage in dialogue about topics unrelated to compliance. Over time, these approaches establish rapport with your leaders which helps you in selling compliance to them.
2-Do Your Homework
Another strategy for selling compliance, (which also helps in establishing rapport), is to do your homework. Since that’s admittedly a super vague statement, let me define it. When I say “do your homework”, I mean learn as much as you can about the role of the leader(s) you’re working with, and the operations-in-question to the issue you are addressing. Below are two tactics that I typically factor into my homework on any issue I’m working on.
Know your Audience
When it comes to knowing your audience, always approach the compliance message with consideration of the audience’s point-of-view (POV). How would [insert your audience] view this particular topic? What questions would they have? If you are not sure of the answers to these questions, then what I typically do is ask the staff —or the leaders over the staff—for feedback and insight.
Also, using relatable examples when communicating a compliance message demonstrates knowing your audience. For example, if I were educating a group of physicians about HIPAA and safeguarding PHI, I might use an example of discussing a patient’s treatment plan in front of friends or family members.
Understand Their Operations
Ensuring that you understand the operations related to the specific issue you are addressing also demonstrates that you did your homework. Here, you want to be thinking about the matter from the perspective of the individuals that are having to live with the regulatory requirements—not the person enforcing them. In order to do that, there are a couple different approaches you can take.
First, you can learn about the department and their processes, by interviewing the leader(s), and staff. Ask very detailed questions about how they perform the work. As you are asking questions, be mindful to make sure it’s coming across as you being curious and not judgmental. An approach I’ve found helpful is to have them explain what they do as if they were explaining it to someone off the street with no healthcare operational experience.
Another approach is to have them lead you on a department walkthrough, or shadow their staff. In my experience, if you really want to understand the work, (and show interest in your leaders), see and experience the work first-hand.
Taking the time to do your homework sends a message to your leader(s) you are genuinely interested in the work they do and empathetic to the challenges they face. This will leave them felling like you are understanding their point-of-view (POV) and trying to find a solution that will work for them.
3-Anticipate Their Questions
Another approach to selling compliance is to anticipate your leaders’ questions and be prepared with the answers. Below are a couple tactics that have helped me.
Think Like a Healthcare Leader—Not a Compliance Officer
Recalling back to my POV comments above, you have to momentarily climb into the mind of your leader by looking at the matter from their perspective—not yours. If you were the leader over this department, what questions would you have about the regulatory requirements? Are there specific terms within the regulation that I would want to understand? What do certain words and phrases mean as applied to my operations? What challenges do I face in trying to meet these requirements? What organizational pressures am I currently facing (e.g., budgetary constraints, staffing, resources, meeting performance goals). These are some of the questions you need to be thinking about in order to think like your leaders.
Know How Decisions are Made in the Organization
Another tactic is knowing how decisions are made in the organization. For example, let’s say there was an audit that identified a billing error which resulted in a six-figure repayment to Medicare. If you are going into a discussion with your CEO to explain what happened and the path forward for resolution, be mindful that a CEO will want to make sure the CFO is aware. That means before you meet with CEO, either invite the CFO to participate in the discussion or, alternatively, let the CEO know you have already vetted the matter with the CFO.
Similar to the other strategies discussed, taking this approach is another way to demonstrate that you are taking into account your leaders’ POV, which helps you in selling compliance to them.
4-Focus On How Your Work Benefits Them—Not You
Another approach for selling compliance is to keep your message focused on how your work supports their department or the organization as a whole and not the compliance program.
For example, let’s assume you are conducting an investigation into a breach allegation reported from a patient. Here, you want to communicate the need to ensure the organization appropriately handles the investigation and response so that trust is restored with the patient. Also, you want to focus on highlighting your concerns that the organization does not suffer financial or reputational harm should the patient choose to report the matter to the Office for Civil Rights.
Anytime you can keep the focus of your message on how it benefits your audience, it will significantly improve your chances of ensuring the message is relatable. Over time, this will improve your ability to sell compliance to your leaders.
5-When You Bring a Problem, Bring a Solution
Finally, if you want to improve your engagement to a culture of compliance then be intentional to communicate the identified issue—and the proposed solution—as a packaged communication.
For example, let’s assume you have been made aware that the organization inadvertently billed Medicare for a particular procedure in error (e.g., the wrong procedure code was billed). When you alert the appropriate leader(s) of the news, you want to explain what occurred, how it occurred, and why it occurred. That’s bringing the problem which is step one to the communication.
If you want to sell compliance, then you need to take your message a step further by explaining the solution (e.g., what steps you are taking to resolve the matter).
When you take this approach, you will be reducing their anxiety by communicating a clear path for mitigating risk and restoring the organization back to a state of certainty. Over time, this approach will help you in selling compliance to your leaders.
Pulling it All Together
With all the different strategies you may have noticed a common theme—focusing on the perspective of your audience instead of you.
While it may seem counterintuitive, (i.e., to get more engagement you have to focus on things other than the compliance program), following these strategies will help you sell compliance and improve your engagement. Over time, these strategies will also help you navigate the compliance program through the politics of healthcare.
If you liked this article, check out my book. It contains additional interpersonal communication strategies—a great gift for onboarding new team members!
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