8 Dangerous Misconceptions About Healthcare Compliance Education

Misconceptions can often cloud our understanding, leading to missed opportunities, poor decisions, or even unnecessary challenges. When talking about healthcare compliance education, these misunderstandings can have significant repercussions, from compliance gaps to inefficiencies in operations. Understanding common, but dangerous misconceptions about healthcare compliance education can potentially prevent your organization from these issues in the long run.

What Is a Healthcare Compliance Training Program?

Every healthcare organization should have a healthcare compliance training program. This program tracks training and adherence to healthcare industry-specific rules and regulations, like HIPAA (Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and anti-kickback, fraud, waste, and abuse regulations. A high-quality compliance education program promotes safe practices, quality care, ethical behaviors, and data security.

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8 Misconceptions About Healthcare Compliance Education

Healthcare compliance education is foundational, which makes it even more important to avoid these common misconceptions.

Here are eight misconceptions about healthcare compliance education and why they’re dangerous:

1. Annual Compliance Education Is All That’s Required

Healthcare employees must complete annual compliance training; however, assuming what’s required is the same year-over-year is a big misconception. State and federal governments regularly pass new laws with additional or changed training requirements. Two recent examples are the HIPAA Privacy Act changes in 2024, which requires training to be completed by December, and the MATE Act passed in 2023, which includes a one-time eight-hour training requirement. If compliance officers were not up-to-date on these additional requirements, the entire staff could be out of compliance.

Why it’s dangerous: Improper privacy and substance abuse training, as referenced above, can open the organization to liability and litigation.

2. Compliance Training Courses are the Same

Some organizations take shortcuts or opt for “free” training courses to reduce costs. However, not all compliance training courses are created equal. For example, the Anti-kickback Statute and Stark Law have specific training requirements for the healthcare industry. Many general industry learning management systems (LMS) might not have this specific training. You may also find that their OSHA courses are designed for other industries, such as construction, which don’t provide as much value without the healthcare-specific scenarios. You should look for healthcare industry-approved education that is created by compliance experts.

Why it’s dangerous: When healthcare professionals are inadequately trained, there’s an increased chance of reportable safety concerns, like sentinel or near-miss incidents.

3. Employees Take the Same Courses

Employees complete training based on their roles and responsibilities; thus, assigned courses and training significantly differ by role. For instance, courses for a provider might include bloodborne pathogens, how to handle needlesticks, and specific Medicare training to meet Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations. Conversely, courses for a radiology technician will center around patient care and x-ray and radiation safety. While some courses may overlap between roles, only some employees receive the same course assignments.

Why it’s dangerous: When the same training is assigned to all employees, they usually spend more time in training than needed, which means they’re getting burned out and may be less likely to complete everything in a timely manner.

4. Tracking Training Completion is “Extra”

Certifying bodies and accrediting organizations require certain education and training to be met before a healthcare organization can receive approval to provide specific services. Initial and renewal surveyors expect to see proof of training completion, which can be difficult to provide without a learning management system. 

Why it’s dangerous: Healthcare organizations can be cited by surveyors and potentially lose accreditation if they cannot provide a completion record for the employee requested.

5. Not Checking for Training Requirement Updates

State and federal agencies and accreditation organizations often update regulations and standards to help healthcare professionals maintain safe and quality care practices. Many regulations and training requirements updates are as needed and not on a fixed schedule. In fact, nearly half of MedTrainer’s course updates are related to regulatory changes. Therefore, organizations not using a healthcare LMS should check for revisions multiple times per year and update their annual compliance training to reflect these changes. 

Why it’s dangerous: Non-compliance with state and federal training requirements can lead to penalties, fines, and loss of accreditation.

6. Continuing Education is the Responsibility of Clinicians

License and certification renewals require clinicians to complete a certain number of continuing education (CE) hours, which can be costly and hard to track. As more and more healthcare organizations provide CE courses for employees, it is a missed opportunity for organizations that are not. Depending on the LMS you’re using, there may be no additional cost for your organization, but since it is a huge value for employees, it can be a tool to increase retention. Plus, you can stack continuing education and training to reduce the time spent on education.

Why it’s dangerous: Healthcare professionals can lose their licensure and certification if they do not complete the required continuing education. Therefore, they are unable to provide or bill for medical services.

7. There’s No Impact if Compliance Training and Policies are Managed Separately

Some organizations deliver compliance training and policies using different platforms, and thus, expect employees and the human resource department to keep up with multiple logins and recall which platform holds what information. For example, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requires training on fire safety and evacuation, a corresponding policy, and training on the policy. Using a compliance platform that offers one login and interface to complete all three tasks is much simpler for busy healthcare professionals. Plus, since training should reinforce the policies, managing them together in one platform is more accessible and enhances compliance.

Why it’s dangerous: Employees are less likely to complete tasks when they have multiple platforms that deliver and store compliance training and policies.

8. Assuming Employees have Reviewed Policies and Procedures

Healthcare organizations have multiple policies and procedures that must be upheld to ensure safe patient care practices and compliance standards. Many organizations require employees to review these policies but do not require acknowledgment or signature since they are stored in a drive or intranet, which makes tracking much harder. Organizations should consider using a policy management platform capable of review and signature to avoid potential gaps.

Why it’s dangerous: Employees not reviewing policies and procedures can lead to unsafe practices since organizational and regulatory safety standards and guardrails may not be upheld. 

Overcome These Misconceptions With a Healthcare LMS

Many of these common misconceptions can be overcome by implementing a healthcare compliance platform like MedTrainer. A robust LMS can automatically assign training based on role, department, and location, complete with reminders and completion tracking. In turn, this saves time and helps to uphold compliance standards.

Discover more about MedTrainer’s products and the benefits of using an all-in-one compliance management system.