About the Office of Compliance and Ethics

Mission Statement

The mission of the Office of Compliance and Ethics is to assist the School of Medicine in meeting its multi-faceted mission of education, research, patient care and service to the community while being compliant with associated laws and regulations, policies and funding source mandates. The Office of Compliance and Ethics will have compliance oversight and in some situations direct operational responsibility to support the institution’s compliance obligations.

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and related organizations wish to ensure that their affairs are conducted in accordance with applicable federal and state laws and regulations, program requirements from external funding sources, and policies and procedures of Southern Illinois University and its School of Medicine. Areas of applicability include but are not limited to: billing of professional medical services, externally funded research, human subject research, fraud, waste and abuse, HIPAA , industry relations and conflicts of interest/commitment.

The Office of Compliance and Ethics will accomplish its mission by the following provisions:

  1. Establishing an effective compliance program that is designed to enhance organizational commitment to quality and excellence both to internal and external parties.
  2. Allowing employees to benefit by having a framework for adherence to all pertinent regulations and can assist in preventing and reporting issues related to compliance.
  3. Allowing the institution to identify high risk areas and properly mitigate that risk before they become a compliance issue for the institution.
  4. Providing guidance through the development of written standards of conduct, policies and procedures that guide personnel at all applicable levels of the University and provide the outline for how to prevent, detect and correct non-compliance.
  5. Providing a mechanism for employees to raise questions and receive appropriate guidance concerning compliance that will decrease the likelihood of external reporting; and establishing clear lines of communication for reporting non-compliance.
  6. Providing a process for employees to report instances of possible non-compliance and for such reports to be fully reviewed and acted upon.
  7. Providing a process for formulating corrective action plans to address any instances of non-compliance.
  8. Establishing the existence of an active and effective compliance program that decreases the level of exposure for the institution in the event penalties are applied for past practices.