ACA Effects on Healthcare Compliance and the Medical Industry

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has changed the landscape of healthcare compliance within the medical industry. The ACA regulations being implemented for medical providers across the country cover a broad range of healthcare operations, but demand strict standards in each individual segment. This has already changed and will continue to change the internal workings of medical practices around the country.

Tightened Regulations Means Thorough Audits

With tightened regulations, comes thorough audits. Hospitals and medical practices across the country should be prepared for audits to assure compliance in the wake of ACA implementation. The ACA has emphasized the importance of internal compliance audits for medical providers to minimize the risk of potential penalties. For hospitals, this means the role of Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) has become that much more important, and taken on an even more intense sense of pressure. However, what does this mean for smaller medical practices that may be facing the same audits, but don’t have the internal CCO to address compliance concerns?

Responsibilities Addressed by CCO

• Develop internal compliance program
• Complete an internal audit
• Continual review of internal compliance
• Changing compliance program to meet newly imposed regulations
• Educating the staff on compliance regulations
• Create a system for reporting and addressing non-compliance
• Relay all compliance issues to the lead physician or owner

The role of a CCO is very important in today’s healthcare world post-ACA. However, it may not be feasible for smaller practices to have a budget allocated to employing a full-time CCO.

Outsourcing Compliance Assurance

Applied Medical Systems (AMS) is a medical billing and coding company based out of Durham, NC, but doing business across the nation. We provide many different medical practice management solutions that can help your staff fulfill the responsibilities of a full-time CCO. As a third party billing and coding company we can help your practice make sure that you are within compliance regulations. Our company can work with your staff to implement changes to healthcare processes and record keeping that will minimize your risk of audit penalties. Our goal at AMS is to make sure that your practice is running smoothly. For more information about our services, or to see how AMS can help your practice stay healthcare compliant, contact us today.