How a well-designed corporate structure facilitates good corporate behavior
1. Discuss how a well-designed corporate structure facilitates good corporate behavior.
2. Identify one benefit or value corporate compliance provides to patient care.
3. Discuss the role of the corporate compliance officer.
4. Discuss structure of a hospital’s governing body.
5. Describe the business corporation law relevant to the formation of a not-for-profit.
6. Explain whether it is appropriate for the general counsel of the hospital to also play the role of the corporate compliance officer.
7. Discuss the circumstances in which a hospital should be held responsible for the negligent acts of a staff physician.
Health Care Compliance Association. (2017, January 17). Measuring compliance program effectiveness: A resource guide. https://assets.hcca-info.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Resources/ResourceOverview/oig-hcca-roundtable.pdf?ver=2017-03-28-062709-153
Gordon, S. D. (2018). Implementation of effective compliance and ethics programs and the federal sentencing guidelines. In C. A. Myers & K.T. Williford (Eds.), Corporate compliance answer book (2018 ed., pp. 2-1– 2-33). Practicing Law Institute. https://drive.google.com/file/d/12RrWP5WQHhrmew8pO-VeWx57Tuf_pbAc/view?usp=sharing
https://regs.health.ny.gov/content/section-4052-governing-body
Businesses require structure to grow and be profitable, otherwise you’d have people pulling in all sorts of different directions. Planning the structure ensures there are enough human resources with the right skills to accomplish the company’s goals, and ensures that responsibilities are clearly defined. Each person has a job description that outlines duties, and each job occupies its own position on the company organization chart.
Since the flow of information is essential to an organization’s success, the organizational structure should be designed to with clear lines of communication in mind. For example, the financial planning and analysis department might report to the Chief Financial Officer and the Senior Vice President of Marketing, because both of these members of the top management team depend on information and reports provided by financial planning.
Reporting relationships must be clear so all members of the organization understand what their responsibilities are and know to whom they are accountable; otherwise, responsibility for a task may fall through the cracks. These clear relationships make it easier for managers to supervise those in lower organization levels. Each employee benefits by knowing whom they can turn to for direction or help. In addition, managers are aware of who is outside the scope of their authority, so they do not overstep their bounds and interfere with another manager’s responsibilities.
Companies that grow rapidly are those that make the best use of their resources, including management talent. A sound organization structure ensures that the company has the right people in the right positions. The structure may suggest weak spots or deficiencies in the company’s current management team.
As the company grows, the organization structure must evolve with it. Many times more layers of management are created, when one department head has too many individuals reporting to him at one time to give each employee the attention and direction needed for the employee to succeed.
A well-designed organization structure facilitates the completion of projects. Project managers can better identify the human resources available to them if the scope of each department’s responsibility – and each team member’s capabilities – are clear. A project to develop a new product would require market research, for instance. The project manager needs to know who in the organization can provide this research, and whose permission must be obtained for the research to be done.
Companies in different industries require different mixes of talent and a relatively greater emphasis on certain management functions. A software company often has a large development staff, for example. Structuring the reporting relationships within the development team so creativity and productivity are maximized, and deadlines are met, is vital to that type of company’s success.
Companies often have to go through a reorganization phase in which individual positions or even whole departments are repositioned on the organization chart in an effort to better utilize the company’s human resources and make the operation run more smoothly.