We Help Laboratory Owners and Executives Make Strategic Decisions Focused on Minimizing Risk and Maximizing Profitability
What does it mean to effectively manage risk in the laboratory setting? While most laboratory owners and executives have a general idea of the risks their facilities can face, far fewer have a clear understanding of what it takes to manage these risks on a day-to-day basis.
At Corporate Investigation Consulting, we help lab owners and executives make informed decisions with regard to risk management. We provide data-driven advice that we custom-tailor to each individual laboratory’s operations and risks. From managing compliance and cybersecurity risks to mitigating the risk of liability in external audits and litigation, our experience encompasses all areas, and we have particular experience advising laboratories and other entities in the health care sector.
Key Areas for Laboratory Risk Management
Laboratories’ risks fall into several broad categories. We consult with lab owners and executives with respect to all aspects of operational and business risk management. This includes, but is not limited to, the aspects of:
Compliance Risk
Laboratories face substantial compliance burdens under federal law. We provide risk management consulting with regard to federal billing compliance (i.e. Medicare and Medicaid compliance), anti-kickback compliance, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) compliance, and other key compliance areas. This includes both providing proactive compliance consulting services and advising laboratories during federal compliance audits and investigations.
Employment Risk
Employment risk encompasses any and all potential claims and complaints filed by prospective, current, and former employees. We consult with laboratories regarding recruitment and onboarding practices, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, employee compensation, employee discharges, whistleblower claims, and other matters. All of these present potential risks that need to be managed effectively on an ongoing basis.
Operational Risk
For laboratories, operational risks include those arising out of cybersecurity threats, patient testing, forensic toxicology, and other laboratory services. With backgrounds in federal health care compliance and enforcement, our senior risk management consultants have comprehensive understandings of the operational risks that can lead to significant liability exposure (and the potential for civil or criminal prosecution) in the laboratory setting.
Commercial Risk
Commercial risks include those arising out of contractual relationships with health care facilities, doctors, marketing firms, durable medical equipment (DME) vendors, health care insurance companies, and other entities. We consult with laboratory owners and executives with regard to contractual risk management, including the negotiation of appropriate contract terms, avoiding anti-kickback implications, apportioning risk, establishing (and limiting) audit rights, and favorably resolving disputes when necessary.
Financial Risk
Financial risks include those arising out of relationships with investors, lenders, and other sources of capital. They also include risks arising in connection with cash flow issues, corporate crises, and other events that have the potential to lead to insolvency. Our senior risk management consultants have extensive experience analyzing these issues on behalf of all types of entities, and we can use our experience to help you manage your laboratory’s revenue and financial obligations in the most effective way possible.
FAQs: Effectively Managing Risk in the Laboratory Setting
Q: How can laboratory owners and executives comprehensively identify all risks they need to manage?
Effectively managing a laboratory’s risk begins with conducting a comprehensive risk assessment. While most laboratories largely face the same types of risks, implementing an effective risk management strategy requires a clear understanding of the specific risks a particular laboratory faces on a day-to-day basis.
Conducting a comprehensive risk assessment involves examining all aspects of a laboratory’s operations, from its cybersecurity and billing compliance protocols to its testing and employment practices. Once all risks have been identified, then the focus can shift to managing those risks in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
Q: What is involved in effectively managing risk in the laboratory setting?
Effectively managing risk in the laboratory setting involves making informed decisions about acceptable risk levels and the steps that are necessary in order to achieve these levels on a consistent basis. Minimally, this means implementing appropriate policies and procedures, and monitoring internal compliance with these policies and procedures on an ongoing basis. Laboratories should also adopt documented risk management protocols that address everything from contract terms to data security breach (and other incident) response.
Q: What are the potential consequences of failing to effectively manage risk for laboratories?
The potential consequences of failing to effectively manage risk run the gamut from facing recoupments in billing compliance audits to facing liability in civil litigation. In some circumstances, risk management failures such as turning a blind eye to compliance can also lead to criminal prosecution for laboratory owners and executives. As a result, effective risk management is not something that can be overlooked. Laboratory owners and executives must make informed, data-driven decisions, and they must do so with a clear understanding of what is necessary to protect their facilities, patients, employees, and shareholders.
Q: When should laboratory owners and executives consider engaging an outside risk management consulting firm?
Due to the potentially-severe consequences of failing to effectively manage laboratory risks, owners and executives should engage outside risk management consultants from the outset of their laboratories’ operations. Developing suitable risk management policies early on can help labs establish sustainable practices and a culture of compliance that will serve to protect their laboratory’s profitability long-term.
Q: What are some of the key considerations for choosing an outside risk management consulting firm?
When choosing an outside risk management firm, laboratory owners and executives should focus on relevant experience. Operating in the health care sector presents many unique risks, and it is essential for a laboratory’s risk management consultants to thoroughly understand the compliance and other obligations that laboratories face on a day-to-day basis.
At Corporate Investigation Consulting, our senior risk management consultants have decades of experience not only advising laboratories and other health care entities, but also serving as health care fraud investigators for the federal government. As a result, we are intimately aware of the risks laboratories face, and we also know what it takes to manage these risks effectively.
Schedule an Initial Laboratory Risk Management Consultation Today
For more information about our risk management consulting services for laboratories, please contact us today. Call 866-352-9324 or contact us online to speak with one of our senior laboratory risk management consultants in confidence.