Conflict of Interest Management System Selected by Essentia Health

JERICHO, N.Y., Dec. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Care Compliance Strategies, Inc. (HCCS) announced today that Essentia Health, of Duluth, Minn., has selected the COI-SMART system to streamline and automate tasks associated with the conflict of interest disclosure process. COI-SMART will handle the management of disclosures for more than 2,500 employees.

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"Essentia Health is a large health system with acute care hospitals, medical centers and other health facilities," says Vicki Clevenger, Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, Essentia Health. "We believe COI-SMART will be able to accommodate our unique needs by simplifying the conflict of interest disclosure collection and management process. COI-SMART will make the process much more efficient and organized for both respondents and reviewers."

COI-SMART utilizes automation to facilitate the conflict of interest review process. The system provides full back-end management and reporting to eliminate paper-based accounting. COI-SMART provides healthcare organizations with improved control and reduced risk. COI-SMART provides tools for automated assignment of reviewers, the development of COI management plans, and data mining tools for auditing, tracking and reporting on potential conflicts of interest.

"We're pleased Essentia Health has chosen our software for collecting disclosures and managing conflicts of interest," says Ben Diamond, President of HCCS. "We're confident Essentia will see tremendous success with the system. Conflict of Interest surveys will be much more efficient with the automation COI-SMART provides and in turn, the organization will see a generous cost savings. HCCS is excited to partner with Essentia Health."

COI-SMART can be used for an annual COI survey process as well as for transactional or "elective" questionnaires. The system includes role-based tiered questions that allow respondents to provide detailed responses. Administrative dashboards provide a graphical representation of the status of the COI disclosure process.

About Essentia Health
Essentia Health, headquartered in Duluth, Minn., is an integrated health system serving patients in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Idaho. Essentia began fully integrating operations in the summer of 2010, bringing together the resources of its member organizations – SMDC Health System, Innovis Health, Brainerd Lakes Health and the Essentia Institute of Rural Health. In 2013, Essentia was accredited as an Accountable Care Organization by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

About Health Care Compliance Strategies, Inc. (HCCS)
HCCS is a leading provider of compliance training and tracking solutions. HCCS has provided over 7 million hours of compliance and competency online training courses to Universities, research organizations, teaching facilities, hospitals, medical schools, health plans and other health care entities. HCCS provides expert training courses in Medicare, Medicaid, HIPAA, Harassment, Research, Patient Safety and more. COI-SMART is a solution for tracking and managing Conflicts of Interest disclosures.

For more information about COI-SMART, contact HCCS at (877) 933-4227, by email at [email protected], or via the web at www.coismart.com or www.hccs.com.

SOURCE Health Care Compliance Strategies, Inc.