Northeast Parent and Child Responds to OMIG Visit by Bringing Out the Art of Compliance
From left: Lisa Snyder, teacher assistant; artists Kirsten Warner and Monique Jackson; Acting Medicaid Inspector General James C. Cox; artist Daniel McCoy; and Northeast Parent and Child President and CEO John E. Henley.
The recipe contained a little Marc Chagall, a little Piers Mondrian, and a lot of corporate compliance.
When mixed together, the result was three posters to remind the employees, board members and clients of Northeast Parent and Child Society in Schenectady of the importance of compliance in everyday life.
Following a visit from Maureen O'Neill and Carol Booth of Office of the Medicaid Inspector General's Bureau of Compliance staff, officials from Northeast learned that they needed to spread the word about compliance. They decided to take a careful look at how they disseminated their compliance plan and initiatives. Although they had fared well when evaluated by OMIG, they determined that they should involve everyone within the organization in communicating their compliance efforts. That included the children whom they serve.
Maureen suggested that they develop posters and brochures to stress the importance of compliance throughout the agency.
"We knew we wanted to do something to engage our young people in the process," said Northeast's President and Chief Executive Office John E. Henley at a November 29 event held at the organization's headquarters. Henley, a former special education teacher who has seen education evolve since he entered the field of education in the 1970s, knows the importance of student involvement.
They decided to ask Northeast's art program to pose this question to its students: What does truth mean to you? How can you express that in a poster? And how would that be useful in reminding people who entered all of Northeast's facilities about the importance of compliance?
The students went to work.
Under the director of Lisa Snyder, teacher assistant in the art program, they created dozens of posters for consideration. Chief Compliance Officer Dr. Peter Stoll discussed the concept of compliance with them and broke it down.
Eleven finalists were selected, and 600 staff members voted on those to select the top three: Monique Jackson, Daniel McCoy and Kirsten Warner. The quality assurance and community relations team developed slogans to accompany the art work. What they created—as a team—were three very moving emotional reminders of the importance of compliance in the everyday operation of not only Northeast Parent and Child, but of all health care and human service providers.
"It's such a pleasure to see people do the right thing about compliance," said Acting Medicaid Inspector General James C. Cox at the event. "By publicizing compliance through these beautiful posters, these three artists are telling the story of internal controls and compliance. This is a great help to the community, because it puts the message of compliance in people's minds. Without good internal controls, people are more likely to commit unintentional errors."
"We will be hanging these posters in prominent places," added Dr. Stoll. "This is smart business strategy—we see these posters, and it helps to internalize the mission and turn everyone who sees them into a prosetlytizer for compliance."
"This is an example of how 'tone from the top' works for an organization," emphasized Assistant Deputy for Compliance Matt Babcock. "From the board of directors to administration to staff to the students, everyone is part of compliance at Northeast Parent and Child."
"Public trust is fundamental," Henley noted, "and trust is absolutely paramount in working with the needs and disabilities of the people we serve. This is the next step as we continue to refine the most recent version of the compliance plan approved by the board.
"And it was an enormous amount of fun," he added. "I love anything that involves our students—it means that everything comes full circle."
Compliance Plan Posters:
