Working in compliance surrounding health care law, especially in an organizational context, isn't always simple. It involves coordinating many people — delegating roles, assigning tasks, and assembling and maintaining different types of expertise. It is necessary to understand multiple and occasionally overlapping systems like federal and state laws, statutes and regulations, and sometimes state or federal constitutional obligations. Most health care organizations have developed entire programs or departments that are focused on compliance, and that will be the focus in this course.

Throughout this course, you will explore various laws and regulations that health care organizations are required to follow in order to meet compliance obligations. Since there are many ways you could unintentionally fall out of compliance, you will discover strategies for averting risk by anticipating key areas of concern. By examining the consequences of noncompliance, you will recognize how such violations can be costly. As you uncover seven myths about health care compliance, it will be clear that laws and regulations apply to all organizations.

While you are not required to do so, we recommend consulting credible sources that are maintained by professional compliance groups such as the Health Care Compliance Association. Other compliance materials that may be useful are issued by the Department of Justice, the Office of Inspector General within Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. These will complement the materials on compliance and compliance programming covered in this course.