11/29/2022
Risk mitigation is of top priority when dealing with contracts. An unfortunate example of failure to minimize risk is the fiasco a Michigan hospital encountered.
In 2018, the hospital was forced to pay $84 million dollars after an investigation by the Department of Justice. Whistleblowers exposed certain physician contracts showing they received financial incentives in return for patient referrals. These financial and contractual matters went against the federal Stark law and the False Claims act.
With better systems to monitor and adhere to compliance, this could have prevented the litigation altogether.
So, what can you do to mitigate risk and avoid any legal troubles?
1) Enhance your contract visibility. Ideal tracking and visibility will allow all relevant parties to be on the same page in terms of deadlines, missed dates, and obligations.
2) Administer a strong compliance framework. Failure to adhere to federal law and contract requirements can put your organization at immense risk. Digital repositories and audits of existing contracts are two great ways to facilitate this.
3) Have a risk management plan in place. This will prepare you and your team for any risk factors that will pop up throughout a contract's life. This could include how you view risks, what is the best way to monitor them, and your response to one. Ask yourself - Can this be avoided, can we mitigate, should we accept, or should we transfer the risk?
Risk mitigation can be hard and filled with technicalities. Thankfully, if you're having issues with managing all the jargon and staying on top of contracts - software solutions exist to help.
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Source: https://buff.ly/2Nvlt1h