Building a Common Compliance Language

Everyone needs to understand industry terminology to properly communicate.  Imagine a physician referring to a patient as a “customer,” or a lawyer calling a client a “patient;” it feels odd. Even worse, it would create communication challenges.

Every business organization has its own language, a specific terminology unique to the profession. Building a common organizational language provides many benefits:

• A common language assures that all members of the organization understand expectations. Misunderstandings are minimized so time formerly spent on correcting errors can be spent productively.
• Staff and patients hear consistency throughout the organization, providing a sense of cohesiveness which enhances the image and reliability of the organization.
• A common language provides a sort of shorthand among the organization’s community of management and staff.
• A common language creates a sense of culture for those working within the organization which can be a major factor in its success.

We use our proprietary Compliance Lifecycle Management (CLM) worksheet to help providers to outline their current processes and to rank each step’s effectiveness.  Outlining the internal methodology allows a natural development of a common language, a “complaince language,” for everyone within your organization.

At the past HCCA Institute (if you’ haven’t seen Pam Cleveland singing School House Rock’s I’m Just a Bill at our booth, you should) several folks told us they hadn’t developed a CLM or a common language, but they really wanted to.

I was happy to share with them our CLM Worksheet, and I hope that you’ll find it helpful as well. You can download it below.

Remember, an effective, comprehensive methodology will usually include:

• Identification and documentation of new regulations
• Assessing relevance (Click here to read more about how to gauge relevance quickly)
• Translation into business requirements, also known as “the specific activities required to comply”
• Communication of requirements to stakeholders
• Execution of activities required to comply
• Monitoring and validation that required activities have been completed
• Demonstration of the steps you’ve taken to comply

Click here to download our Compliance Lifecycle  Management worksheet.  Contact us if you have any questions!  We would love to help your organization to begin using the same language!