Good Relations With Marketing Can Benefit Risk Management
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A good working relationship with the marketing department can benefit risk management. Avoid the temptation to say no too quickly to marketing suggestions.
- Marketing campaigns often need oversight for HIPAA compliance.
- An unwelcoming attitude can lead marketers to take compliance risks.
- Work proactively with marketing on upcoming newsworthy events.
Risk managers should open lines of communication with the marketing department to ensure HIPAA compliance and other benefits, suggests a vendor who has seen how a poor working relationship can result in problems.
There can be a disconnect between the two departments at some hospitals, says James Chisum, vice president of Miller Geer & Associates, a marketing firm in Los Alamitos, CA. His company regularly works with hospitals and most frequently addresses HIPAA compliance when patient testimonials will be used in marketing campaigns. The patients must sign consent forms, which will vary according to whether the patient will appear on camera, will be paid, and other considerations, he notes.
That usually means working with the hospital’s risk management department to ensure all the bases are covered, but can be difficult in some cases, Chisum says.
“Being able to run something by risk management, without there being some automatic aversion to what marketing wants to do, is a positive thing. There can sometimes be some bristling from risk when marketing says they want to do this and need to be sure they’re not overstepping,” he says. “The better functioning hospitals have a really good line of communication between the two and understand each other’s goals. Risk doesn’t immediately try to put the hammer down on what marketing wants to do just because it involves patients or some theoretical risk.”
Chisum acknowledges that risk managers have a responsibility to say no to marketing when necessary, but he cautions that being too strict and reflexive can have the unintended effect of making marketers reluctant to bring ideas to the table. Still feeling the need to get their own jobs done, they may bypass risk management and hope for the best, he says.
“Nobody wants to go to someone who says no to everything all the time, so you develop a more constructive relationship when you explain what your concerns are with marketing’s idea and work together on a solution that meets their goals and still keeps you in compliance,” he says. “I know risk managers typically wear a lot of hats and they don’t want to take on marketing as another responsibility, but keeping an open line of communication is better in the end than just saying no and avoiding it altogether.”
Anticipate Media Events
Marketing campaigns are not the only way in which marketing and the hospital’s communications department intersect with HIPAA compliance, Chisum notes. There also are sentinel events, high-profile incidents in the community, and other situations in which the media seeks information on patients. In those cases, the hospital often works with an outside marketing firm to manage communications and preserve its public image.
“When that happens, you want there to be an amicable relationship between risk management and marketing so that you have an open line of communication,” Chisum says. “Risk might know a year in advance that the department of health is going to issue a penalty related to a patient’s care, and they should notify marketing well in advance of any public disclosure. That helps the marketing department put the best foot forward, but also helps avoid any inadvertent disclosures of protected information.”
Working together in advance of media inquiries also helps avoid the kind of “no comment” reaction that might be well intended because of HIPAA but actually looks bad in the media, Chisum notes. Even if the information cannot be disclosed, advance notice might help the marketing department craft a more artful response.
“We’ve worked with less sophisticated hospitals where risk was operating in its own silo, reporting to the CEO or the C-suite and not communicating much with anyone else, and communications was working in its own silo,” he says. “Risk may have known that something bad was going to hit the news eventually, but instead of providing time for communications to prepare a response, it hits them out of the blue and they have to scramble for the right response. If risk works with them ahead of time, they can help drive the communication department’s response in a way that will make them more comfortable as well.”
SOURCE
- James Chisum, JD, Vice President, Miller Geer & Associates, Los Alamitos, CA. Telephone: (562) 493-6023. Email: [email protected].
Risk managers should open lines of communication with the marketing department to ensure HIPAA compliance and other benefits.
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