To tell the story of the scope and volume of work accomplished in the compliance domain, The University of Kansas Health System’s compliance team has produced a year-end report for the first time. Christine Hogan-Newgren, chief compliance and internal audit officer, and Dianna Siefering, compliance specialist, hope the report, which includes a variety of metrics, will demonstrate the value of compliance and improve understanding of the different controls the compliance program develops, implements and oversees.

The report is primarily for the governing board and executive leadership, but also hopefully other employees will read it. “This is a vehicle to communicate to a variety of individuals,” Hogan-Newgren said. “People for the most part don’t have a comprehensive idea of what compliance does.” The report should assure board members and leaders that “we are focused on the right things in a consistent manner,” she said. This includes both daily activities and additional project accomplishments aimed at identifying and preventing risk.

The Annual Compliance Report covers a lot of ground.^[1] It explains how the seven elements of a compliance program are addressed to help compliance “be intentional about advancing every one of them in a meaningful way,” Hogan-Newgren said. The report also introduces the compliance team and how it partners with other departments. “We don’t operate in a vacuum,” she said. Then, in a three-page executive summary, the report highlights the compliance program’s activities and initiatives by function (e.g., compliance program, ambulatory/provider compliance, audit services, billing assurance and government audit, information security, and privacy services).