Compliance is a critical aspect of any successful dental practice. As such, it’s important to stay on top of current standards, laws and guidelines to safeguard your dental practice and patients. Linda Harvey, RDH, an experienced compliance and risk management strategist, shared the following five common denominators for every area of compliance:
1. Standards and laws. Do you have copies of current standards in your office? Every dental office should have up-to-date copies of guidelines from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Organization for Safety Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP) and any other standards and laws pertinent to your practice.
2. Designated compliance manager. Assign someone to make sure standards and laws are followed such as a HIPAA officer, safety coordinator or infection control officer. Make sure they are supported in their role.
3. Customized policies and procedures. Just like patient records, these should be updated regularly.
4. Regular review. Ongoing review of all policies and procedures will keep your staff in check and help to protect your practice.
5. Ongoing training. Although training may be required by law at the point of hire and on an annual basis, training should continue throughout the year to make sure staff are knowledgeable of current guidelines. Learn more about these five common denominators in the video and chart below.
About the expert
A nationally-recognized healthcare risk management and compliance expert, Linda Harvey, MS, RDH, HRM, assists dentists and teams in navigating regulatory requirements. She is the founder and president of two compliance-related companies. And is passionate about helping dental professionals become compliance experts for their practice.
During her programs, Linda draws from real-world experience, having worked with offices that have undergone HIPAA, OSHA and Infection Control audits. Linda’s programs will challenge you to look at your compliance programs from a different perspective, particularly amid the COVID-19 crisis.
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