Healthcare regulatory compliance costs can feel like “unrequited labor” to executives and board members — a significant investment of resources that doesn’t yield an equivalent return in revenue. According to the American Hospital Association (AHA), these costs account for about 25% of total hospital spending but do not proportionally increase revenue. This imbalance underscores the need for efficient healthcare quality and compliance management to alleviate the burden and allow organizational leaders to focus more on patient care and operational efficiency​.

Implementing efficient and effective compliance systems is crucial to addressing this challenge. By doing so, leaders can better manage costs and improve overall organizational performance. In this article, I’ll share key strategies to balance healthcare quality and compliance.

Connect the Value: Compliance, Credentialing, and Learning Management

Executives and board members are responsible for seeing things through a wide-angle lens and strategically connecting the pieces most effectively. Healthcare quality and compliance are huge tasks that are interconnected. How should the puzzle pieces fit together?

I use methodologies like Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints in designing systems to boost efficiency. These teachings share a common goal: eliminating barriers to the flow of value. In healthcare, value flows directly through the people delivering care and support: doctors, nurses, support staff, schedulers, etc. Looking at compliance from a wide angle, compliance, emphasizing incident reporting, credentialing, and a robust learning management system (LMS) all center around the people who support healthcare.

This top-down view differs from other compliance-related tasks, often involving administrative, financial, or environmental aspects. An all-in-one platform is optimal for day-to-day tasks but is most powerful when focused on the most crucial elements of staff and patient support. An integrated platform eliminates redundant processes and reduces administrative burdens, ensuring a more efficient, effective, and compliant environment for both staff and patients. However, a consolidated quality and compliance system goes beyond operational improvements. Integrated compliance, credentialing, and learning software are crucial for short- and long-term organizational growth strategies.

Supporting Sustainability in Organizational Growth

One of the main tasks for executives and board members is to steer organizations toward sustainable growth. Systems must support current processes while evolving with expansion. This dual focus, often called “sustainability,” involves balancing immediate success with future planning — a challenging endeavor that can be highly subjective and process-dependent. Actions for future success often contradict current success, making sustainability complex.

Consider a small medical office that chose a customizable electronic health record (EHR) to meet the needs of independent providers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their community grew significantly due to remote work, leading them to hire more clinical and non-clinical staff. The customizations and independent processes hindered interconnectivity and patient care as they expanded. This stunted growth and affected daily operations, making switching to a new EHR risky and impacting the office’s ability to stay open. This highlights the importance of adaptable systems that scale and integrate as the organization grows, balancing current functionality with future scalability for sustainable growth.

Healthcare leaders should adopt a holistic approach that considers environmental, social, and economic factors for ongoing sustainability. Recognizing the interconnectedness of these dimensions allows for decisions supporting the organization’s and its stakeholders’ long-term health. This perspective is crucial for healthcare executives when choosing a sustainability-oriented compliance tool.

While not comprehensive, here are some additions to a sustainability assessment:

• Long-Term Vision: Rigorously evaluate a vendor’s growth plan.
  • How will the vendor scale their solution to meet our future needs?
  • What are their long-term sustainability goals?
  • Examples of their product evolving with client needs
• Stakeholder Engagement: Involve diverse stakeholders.
  • Who are the key stakeholders (employees, leadership, board)?
  • How will feedback be incorporated?
  • What communication strategies will ensure ongoing engagement?
• Resource Efficiency: Ensure the tool maximizes efficiency.
  • How does it streamline processes and reduce waste?
  • Features minimizing resource consumption (energy, time, materials)
  • Case studies on resource efficiency impact
• Innovation and Adaptation: Choose a tool supporting continuous improvement.
  • Frequency of updates or new features
  • Process for incorporating user feedback
  • Integrates with new technologies and methodologies
• Transparent Reporting: Prioritize tools with clear reporting.
  • Reporting capabilities
  • Offers data transparency and accuracy
  • Meets regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations

By integrating these principles into selecting a compliance tool, healthcare executives can create a sustainable foundation supporting long-term success and adaptability in a rapidly changing environment.

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Maximizing the Value of Compliance Tools

Healthcare compliance and regulations often feel like an overwhelming maze of complex requirements and barriers. However, understanding and effectively leveraging compliance tools can turn these challenges into opportunities for additional organizational advantage.

Incident Reporting Systems

Incident reporting systems are crucial for more than just meeting compliance standards. They enhance data transparency and support a culture of radical transparency by providing valuable insights into unintended consequences within healthcare settings. By utilizing comprehensive reports, organizations can facilitate easy access to incident data, enabling teams to make informed, data-driven decisions without additional effort.

Team Access and Data Utilization

Granting teams access to incident data fosters transparency and equips them with the resources necessary for continuous improvement. Customizable incident reporting systems allow leaders and teams to address unique organizational challenges without needing extra tools or training, maintaining consistency with regulatory requirements while supporting specific needs.

Learning and Communication Management

Effective communication is vital for successful learning and organizational development. 

An LMS incorporating video content offers more personal interactions than text-based communication. Customizable LMS platforms enable organizations to deliver essential messages through the most effective medium, enhancing engagement and comprehension.

Choose the Right All-in-One Compliance Platform

By focusing on efficient and effective compliance processes, healthcare executives and board members can alleviate the burden of regulatory compliance costs. This enhances operational efficiency and allows healthcare providers to dedicate more resources to patient care. Adopting a holistic and integrated approach to sustainability, selecting adaptable systems, and maximizing the value of compliance tools are essential strategies for achieving long-term success in a rapidly changing environment.

MedTrainer’s all-in-one platform transforms healthcare compliance management by integrating diverse processes into a cohesive system. The software encompasses document and policy management, incident reporting, compliance training, and credentialing. With nearly 1,000 compliance education courses, MedTrainer is the only all-encompassing healthcare document and policy management system tailored to the industry’s intricate workflows.

See why over 3,000 healthcare organizations trust MedTrainer to streamline compliance through a unified digital platform that enhances workflows and accelerates education, credentialing, and documentation.