Monitoring and screening aren’t just limited to Financial institutions’ customers and employees; even the healthcare sector needs to screen its health workers due to the vulnerability of involving them in human trafficking and drug trafficking crimes, as well as patient health and security. Therefore, hospitals, teaching institutions, or any healthcare sector dealing with patient health should regularly screen employee information, their transaction history, relationships with other persons, and their involvement in any criminal activity.
What if the healthcare sector fails to comply with the compliance program? Your organization will have to face hefty penalties or restrictions on providing healthcare services.
An example could be taken from the healthcare fraud, in which a couple of organization’s employees were involved. Upon investigation, they were found to be culprits and consequently arrested by enforcement agencies. So, companies must conduct a thorough check on their clients, particularly when onboarding them or hiring them.
This blog will discuss the healthcare sanction screening KPIs and OIG sanctions and why healthcare sanction checks are essential.
Is OIG a part of the Healthcare Sanction check?
Healthcare sanctions check of an organization’s employees is a broader term. In contrast, the OIG sanction check means screening and monitoring those individuals or entities who have been excluded from joining any federal program related to ordinary people’s healthcare. So, the purpose of the OIG sanction check is to check the employee’s status, whether he was included in the list ever, if he was, what the reasons were, and when so that the action against him could be taken accordingly.
The people who are included in the List of excluded individual entities are primarily the reason for the following:
- Abusing the patient or not taking care of them the way they should be
- Manufacturer and distributor of illegal substances
- Individuals involved in any financial crime, such as human rights abuse or money laundering.
Why is sanction screening of healthcare workers essential?
Health workers have to take care of patients who are already in vulnerable conditions, and they need most of the care and attention to overcome the injuries, diseases, or trauma they are fighting. However, there are many other reasons why healthcare workers must be monitored and sanctioned.
- Patient Safety
The ultimate purpose of applying sanction checks on your healthcare workers is the safety of your patients. Just imagine the nurse or surgeon responsible for the care or any surgery. Still, as the person is sanctioned and not interested in the health of a patient but in taking the drugs from the hospital, they can smuggle to get the extra money. This will pose a risk to the patient’s health. People are often included in the sanction list due to the violation of their promises to care for the patients.
- Suitable for the Organization’s Reputation
It’s not just about protecting the patient from significant health damage; your hospital or clinic is as important to you as the patients. Before hiring a new individual into your healthcare workers, correctly applying Sanctions Screening would prevent your organization from interacting with the sanctioned person. Partnering with the sanctioned person means calling the enforcement agencies to put sanctions and penalties on your organization.
- Prevent Money laundering
Another significant benefit of applying sanction checks is directly or indirectly playing a part in detecting and combating money laundering activities. You might be surprised how. Think about the person who just got himself hired in a healthcare organization just to steal the drugs that are not allowed for the commoner to carry. What will he do? He will use these drugs to smuggle them to the criminal and get some money. Money will ultimately be infused into the financial system using the three layers of money laundering; therefore, if the person is detected while onboarding, the chances of money laundering could also be mitigated.
Does healthcare sanction background check take much time?
The healthcare department’s sanction background check depends on how you opt for sanction checks. For example, doing it alone might take some time because of less awareness of the sanction screening process. Healthcare sectors are more prone to exposure to crimes like drug trafficking and human organ trafficking. Therefore, applying background sanction compliance programs on your new and existing employees is necessary. You can not afford to fall short of the compliance program that obliges healthcare organizations to conduct thorough background checks on their employees.
