Compliance Certification Keeps Staff Up-to-Date, Increases Compensation

Laboratories should encourage or even require their compliance professionals to obtain compliance certification. As the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) reported in a recent compliance compensation survey report, most compliance professionals hold some type of certification. Such certification correlates to higher compensation for those certified compared to chief compliance officers and compliance staff without certification. Certification also ensures your compliance officer and staff will have compliance-specific training and, because certification programs often require completion of continuing education to maintain certification, it can ensure your compliance professionals stay up-to-date on compliance issues. So it makes sense for your laboratory to require applicants for hire in your compliance department have relevant compliance certification and encourage existing staff to pursue compliance certification.

The relevant certifications can vary based on the tasks assigned but there are general compliance certification programs that address compliance broadly. More than 50 percent of chief compliance officers responding to HCCA’s survey held the certification Certified in Healthcare Compliance and at least a third of all levels of compliance staff responding (55 percent for directors, 47 percent for managers and 34 percent for assistants/specialists) held that certification. More specialized certifications relevant to privacy, security, ethics and auditing and fraud investigation can also be obtained.

For more information about HCCA’s report, see “HCCA Releases Compliance Officer/Staff Compensation Data” in the November 2015 issue of G2 Compliance Advisor.