UChicago Medicine Office of Corporate Compliance (OCC)
Notice from the Chief Compliance Officer
Dear Patients and Visitors,
UChicago Medicine is committed to fostering a corporate culture of ethical behavior and integrity in all matters related to compliance with the laws and regulations that govern the delivery of healthcare. This aspiration is central to supporting patient care, research, and teaching at UChicago Medicine.
To this end, UChicago Medicine has an Office of Corporate Compliance (OCC), which, through its Compliance Program, demonstrates the medical center's commitment to the following Code of Conduct principles and goals:
- Complying with health care laws and regulations;
- Providing medically necessary care to patients;
- Maintaining accurate and reliable corporate records regarding billing and other transactions; and
- Managing business relationships appropriately.
External Professional Relationships
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
If you are a patient at UChicago Medicine and would like more information about your physician’s external relationships, please talk with your physician. You may also visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/. CMS Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system. It houses a publicly accessible database of payments that reporting entities, including drug and medical device companies, make to covered recipients like physicians and hospitals.
Information in the CMS Open Payments database could potentially contain inaccurately reported and out of date payment information. All information is open to personal interpretation, if there are questions about the data, patients and their advocates should speak directly to their health care provider for a better understanding.
If you have any compliance questions or concerns, you can reach the Office of Corporate Compliance by calling the Compliance Resource Line at 1-877-440-5480 or by emailing compliance@bsd.uchicago.edu
Sincerely,
Tracy Volel
Chief Compliance Officer