New DOJ Guidance and Other Forces Lead to Compliance 2.0 October 02, 2017 Compliance 2.0: With DOJ Guidance and Other Forces, Compliance Moves into Operations – Report on Medicare Compliance Manatt’s Richard Hartunian, a partner in the firm’s corporate investigations and white collar defense practice, spoke with Report on Medicare Compliance for an article on how new guidance has moved compliance into operations. The publication notes that a corner has been turned following the Department of Justice’s “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs” and the HHS Office of Inspector General’s “Measuring Compliance Program Effectiveness: A Resource Guide.” The government is now looking for a more seamless form of compliance in which managers identify and mitigate risks, leadership provides adequate compliance funding, compliance officers have authority and misconduct is remediated. Following the DOJ guidance, prosecutors can uniformly ask questions to make sure they are getting a healthy outline of “compliance hygiene.” They are now asking more detailed and in-depth questions about the company’s compliance program. According to Hartunian, that transparency is the point. “If you understand why a certain outcome is reached or what factors are considered in reaching it, it will be accepted as trustworthy and just,” he explains. “The root cause analysis is probably where it all starts … but there’s flexibility in how they review it.”
