New Healthcare Regulatory Compliance Program
For more information please email: Wendi Nugent, Program Director at nugent@gatewaycc.edu
Healthcare administrators responsible for the oversight and management of healthcare services know that government regulations are expanding at a staggering rate and will continue with the new provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. To help keep up with regulations, GateWay Community College is launching a Healthcare Compliance program to educate employees in the healthcare industry on all the rules, laws, and the roles of state and federal agencies.
Regulations used to be the responsibility of upper management or the legal counsel for the healthcare organization, but now these responsibilities for compliance are being pushed into all levels of the industry. Private physician offices are responsible for compliance as well as large hospital systems.
“Fines are stiff and in some cases the penalty process may be career ending for employees who break the laws, even if unintentionally,” said Sharon Luczu, program director of Health Services Management at GateWay Community College. “With more than 30 federal and state agencies enforcing laws relating to healthcare, healthcare regulatory compliance is becoming an emerging employment specialty.
GateWay enlisted the expertise of Jeff Hayes, adjunct faculty, to design an online certificate program that lays the groundwork for understanding the regulations and creating a site specific compliance program at the student’s workplace.
The 15-credit program is tailored for healthcare administrators, managers and other healthcare professionals who need to address the industry’s rapidly changing compliance regulations.
Students will learn to:
- Describe legal mandates and ethical considerations for healthcare corporate compliance programs.
- Summarize and discuss the Seven Essential Elements of an effective compliance program.
- Analyze and discuss laws governing abusive and fraudulent healthcare practices and billing of services.
- Contrast and discuss the roles played by various governmental agencies in regulating and enforcing healthcare laws.
- Evaluate and discuss laws governing the use and security of patient Protected Health Information (PHI) and electronic Protected Health Information, (ePHI) as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health act (HITECH).
- Apply the laws and principles to create a corporate or facility compliance program.
A few prerequisites, such as work experience in a healthcare setting and valid proof of completion of college English 101, need to be met, and Program Director approval is required. Classes are four, eight or 12 weeks long. Depending on the number of credits taken, a students is able to complete the requirements within 15 months. Students are expected to maintain a “C” or better in all courses in the program.
The online classes must be taken in sequence as a cohort, a group of students who go through the program together, as content of each course builds on the previous ones. GateWay plans to begin the first class in the series on Mar. 18, 2013. Registration for classes will be open as of Jan. 2, 2013, using a permission number provided by the Program Director.
For more information and application forms contact Wendi Nugent, program director at nugent@gatewaycc.edu or if unable to email please call 602-286-8484. Email contact is preferred so that a prompt response with application materials may be sent electronically.