Online tutorial may help with compliance issues

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The AMA training program helps doctors guard against potential liability problems|ret||ret||tab|

The American Medical Association Jan. 17 announced the launch of an online program to educate physicians and their staffs on how to navigate America's highly regulated health care industry. |ret||ret||tab|

The Compliance Interactive Tutorial System, or CITS, offers individuals guided instruction on how to comply with laws, regulations and policy shifts that govern fraud and abuse enforcement activities.|ret||ret||tab|

"The vast majority of physicians are honest, hard-working professionals who, in the context of their demanding workload, face a considerable challenge in complying with 100,000 pages of health care regulations," said AMA President-Elect Randolph D. Smoak Jr., MD, in a press release. "Yet the government continues to expand and modify the regulatory burden placed on physicians without providing effective guidance or notice."|ret||ret||tab|

Given what the AMA characterizes as overly aggressive federal steps to enforce a confusing and cumbersome system of regulations, the association states that physicians and others involved in providing patient care need to know how to comply with the law to guard against potential liability in fraud enforcement actions.|ret||ret||tab|

CITS provides AMA members with an Internet-based tutorial and reference system. The program offers timely information in sufficient detail to educate users of varied levels of understanding on the subtleties of key compliance issues.|ret||ret||tab|

"For any medical practice the establishment of a compliance training program for physicians and staff is not a small or inexpensive step that can be taken lightly," Smoak said. |ret||ret||tab|

"CITS delivers an easy to operate educational tool that can be introduced to a medical practice without hiring a cadre of outside consultants," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

CITS introduces training modules periodically that provide a series of learning materials. |ret||ret||tab|

The first module contains four lessons covering government audits, Medicare reviews, search warrants and subpoenas. |ret||ret||tab|

Each lesson contains a subject-matter scenario and related quiz of about 10-12 questions. Questions are designed to provide feedback for the user.|ret||ret||tab|

Users also have the option of obtaining additional information related to lesson subjects by choosing Internet links to other documents or resources. These include OIG Fraud Alerts, HCFA advisories, compliance integrity agreements, government regulations, articles from the Journal of the AMA, news items, court cases, carrier statements and AMA announcements. |ret||ret||tab|

The CITS program is presented as a benefit of AMA membership. Access to the tutorial is limited to AMA physician members and their staffs. Members can log on to CITS through the AMA Web site.|ret||ret||tab|

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