Vendor Compliance – Explained in Simple Terms

Vendor compliance checks are a crucial practice that helps you avoid working with unreliable or unverified vendors. These checks include verifying vendors’ financial and criminal backgrounds to eliminate financial fraud risks and legal penalties. In addition, vendor compliance screening and checks ensure that the vendor is qualified to fulfill all requirements and complies with all government laws and regulations. The primary role of vendor compliance is to prevent fines and penalties. These checks also significantly improve the quality of your organization’s products and services. For that reason, it plays a vital role in the healthcare sector where vendors provide essential products and services.

In the healthcare sector, screening your vendors helps you hire or work with well-qualified ones. As a result, your organization receives high-quality goods and on-time services, which translates into better patient care. It makes vendor compliance screening an ethical and moral responsibility of every healthcare organization. We call it compliance “checks”, not “check”, because it is not a single process but a combination of multiple checks and screening processes. As a result, compliance screening or checks take a significant amount of time and effort. A better, more efficient way to address this is to hire a trusted compliance support service.

Significant Need for Vendor Compliance in the Healthcare Sector

Vendor compliance screening is a crucial responsibility of every organization. It helps them avoid legal penalties and provides their customers with safe, high-quality products. The same thing applies to the healthcare sector, but with more strictness. It is because healthcare organizations are responsible for people’s health and well-being. Vendor screening or compliance checks play a significant role in preventing your organization from working with sanctioned or excluded vendors. The need for vendor compliance in the healthcare sector is explained in the following points:

1. Patient Safety

Vendor compliance screening verifies whether the vendor complies with all strict safety rules and regulations. A vendor who adheres to safety guidelines would provide high-quality goods and services. As a result, it notably improves the treatment quality and ensures patient safety.

2. Data Safety

Ensuring data safety and integrity is also a significant part of vendor compliance. It provides a clear picture of the vendor’s data safety measures. These checks also ensure that the vendor works under GDPR and CCPA regulations.

3. On-time and High Quality Services

Timely delivery of goods and services is vital in the healthcare sector. With vendor compliance screening and checks, you can verify a vendor’s record by speaking with their previous clients. It will provide you with a clear understanding of how they function.

4. Avoiding Civil Monetary Penalties

Vendor compliance involves multiple processes and checks to conduct a thorough investigation. OIG screening is one such process in which it is verified whether the vendor is on the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE). The identification is essential because working with such excluded entities (including vendors) subjects your organization to severe penalties and fines.

Role of OIG Check and Screening in Ensuring Vendor Compliance

Screening your vendor against the OIG exclusion list is an essential part of vendor compliance screening. Before learning about the role of the OIG check and screening in vendor compliance, let us understand what exactly OIG screening is. OIG, or the Office of Inspector General, maintains a list of excluded individuals and entities called LEIE. They have the authority to add any individual or entity to this list on specific legal grounds. As soon as the individual or entity is added to the OIG exclusion list, they cannot participate in federal healthcare programs and will stop receiving federal funds. These funds include Medicare, Medicaid, and any other state or federal funds.

OIG exclusion signifies that the individual or vendor was involved in criminal activity. There are multiple reasons for the exclusion, and some of the important ones are listed below:

• Involvement in financial fraud related to Medicare, Medicaid funds, or services provided under other federal- or state-funded healthcare programs
• Illegal distribution, manufacturing, prescription, or dispensing of controlled drugs
• Unprofessional or aggressive behavior towards patients
• Suspension of the license due to questionable professional practice

The points mentioned above are among the common reasons for OIG exclusion. However, there might be other possible reasons for the exclusion not discussed here. For complete information, you can refer to this link.

Why Choose Venops for Vendor Compliance Screening Services?

It is worth noting that vendor compliance screening or checks is not a one-time process. Being a continuous and time-consuming process, it can disrupt your workflow and take a significant amount of your working hours. Venops, with automated monthly screening, experts from different industries, and years of experience, makes compliance screening easy and convenient. We are one of the most trusted compliance service partners and have saved our clients precious working hours.

Moreover, our automated vendor screening system performs screening quickly and with more accuracy. Consequently, this will help you focus on your core operations and get accurate screening results.

Conclusion

Vendor compliance screening and checks are crucial for every organization, especially in the healthcare sector. Building trust among the patients is difficult and requires significant time and effort. Compliance screening helps you select qualified vendors that meet all quality and safety standards. As a result, your organization will receive high-quality goods and on-time services.

Your search for a reliable compliance and legal screening partner ends with Venops. In addition to providing you with the best-in-class services, we do it at the correct prices. Confused on where to start? Contact us with your queries, and our experts will be delighted to help you.

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