Exhale: Sunshine or Moonshine?

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ct-2014-12-degrootBy Shawn DeGroot
From Compliance Today, a publication for HCCA members

Day or night, we all reap the benefit of the sunshine or moonshine. I would venture to guess that many were not thinking of the evening moonlight when they read the title of this article. Rather, what may have come to mind was a liquid beverage containing a very high alcohol content, originally produced illegally during Prohibition.  In a glass or a jar, the liquid appears harmless, partially due to the transparency of the end product. Historically, moonshine was produced in pipes and containers made with lead; hence, many who left this world due to “consumption” simply died from lead poisoning. Today’s moonshine is not produced in the same manner and the production is safe—provided the consumer participates with moderation.

Sunshine, on the other hand, is associated with light, the rays of the sun, summertime, a feeling of warmth, and is known to emotionally lift the human spirit. Therefore, it is counterintuitive to think of “sunshine” as the name associated with a regulation that pertains to physicians and vendors reporting gifts and income related to anti-kickback and implications of liability. The genesis of a regulation is often proposed by a Congressional leader and his/her name is quickly attached to the proposed rule.  A few that come to mind are Graham Leach Bliley and Stark. How did a rule about physician payments become labeled as “The Sunshine Act?”

I thought about some of the requirements with the Sunshine Act and how to train effectively. It may be more entertaining to use analogies associated with moonshine in explaining the law or the elements that may cause one to ask “What were they thinking (drinking)?”  Or you could use a cause-and-effect approach in developing the training content, so that compliance standards met are listed under Sunshine and the non-compliant examples are listed under Moonshine. Nonetheless, the retention rate or competency test results post-education may be higher due to a visual associated with what not to do. Another approach with live education would be to purchase a movie, such as “Side Effects” and show clips of the movie, then ask the audience for their input on the compliance issue(s), and finally, reference the correct policy associated with the issue.

Maybe the moonshine analogy is a stretch and some may be offended with this example; however, too often the content of a compliance education module can be mundane and have no correlation to real life. The point of this article is to stimulate your mind and consider analogies that the audience can relate to when creating live or computer-based training.  Whether you use a book, a movie, or an analogy with your compliance educational program, you can raise awareness if the audience can relate to the content, understand, and apply what they learned in the workplace.  Finally, create a trend of educational competency results from previous years, and the results may shed new light on the compliance education program effectiveness.

[bctt tweet=”@theHCCA Too often the content of a #compliance education module can be mundane & have no correlation to real life” via=”no”]

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