John Falcetano (john.falcetano@brooksrehab.org) is Director Corporate Compliance at Brooks Health System in Jacksonville, FL.

A critical element of any effective compliance program is monitoring. As a service to our members, each month this column focuses on potential monitors for specific business lines or functions.

Contract management is an important function of healthcare organizations to ensure compliance. Many organizations monitor contracts to determine whether services were provided and payments were made accurately and on time. Compliance professionals should monitor their organization’s contract management system for regulatory compliance. In order to provide quality patient care services, healthcare organizations rely on hundreds of contracts with physicians, vendors, and government agencies. Compliance professionals should monitor contracts to assist their organizations with adhering to compliance requirements and mitigating risk. There are many areas of the contract management system that may require monitoring, from how contracts are created and routed to how they are reviewed and approved.