RHA's Ethics and Compliance Program

As Gordon Simmons, President and CEO of RHA said,

To assure that RHA was above reproach as a leader in the field, we established a company-wide comprehensive plan to address the ethical and legal behavior of all employees in virtually every possible situation. Some of the elements of this plan include:

The creation of the RHA Office of Ethics and Compliance

Establishing the Ethics Help Line

Any family member, guardian, consumer, employee, vendor, or contractor may call the Ethics Helpline to ask questions concerning ethical or legal conduct or to report any potentially improper action. The help line is toll free.  You may speak to a live person on the help line between 10 am and 3 pm Monday through Friday. Users may leave a voicemail message outside of these times. All reports can be made anonymously and are confidential to the extent allowed by law. No caller will ever be subject to retaliation for expressing their concerns. All reports are investigated and the staff of the Ethics Helpline will address all questions and concerns. The number is: 866-742-2428.

Instituting the Code of Conduct

The cornerstone of RHA's Compliance and Integrity Program is our Code of Conduct. The Code serves to guide each employee as we face complex professional, ethical, and legal decisions. We must be assured that each decision, policy, and procedure, whether clinical or business related, are developed with absolute integrity and honesty. Some of our Guiding Principles include:

• The support of the people we serve must be appropriate and designed to meet the intended outcomes of their support plan.
• People must always be treated with sensitivity, respect, and professionalism.
• We are committed to seeking new approached to increase the supports and services provided to individuals while ensuring that services are delivered in a cost-effective manner.
• We are required to observe all applicable standards of professional practice…
• All members of the RHA team should treat one another with respect, dignity, and fairness.
• We should avoid both the conflict of interests and the appearance of a conflict of interests.
• We are required to conduct business with honesty, fairness and integrity. These qualities are demonstrated through truthfulness, the absence of deception or fraud, and respect for the laws which apply to our business.

Assuring that staff is adequately trained

Every employee receives initial training on how the expectation of our program affects them and the important role they play in assuring sound, ethical standards of conduct. Training is provided to every employee annually.

Developing Compliance Liaisons

Each region has designated Compliance Liaisons who are people of high integrity who have earned the trust and respect of the leadership and staff that work to effectively implement RHA's Compliance Program at all levels of operations. Compliance Liaisons assist in staff training and the investigation process.

Creating Internal Regulations that Exceed Legal Requirements

The RHA Compliance Office has developed detailed Compliance Regulations for virtually every area of operations from Human Resources to billing to marketing. They have also developed Compliance and Investigation Policies which are used to validate compliance with the standards established by RHA and to investigate any potential violations of this critical aspect of RHA's services.

One Final Step

Finally, as an Executive Member of the North Carolina Community Support Providers Council (also known simply as "The Providers Council") we endorse and abide by the organization's Code of Ethics.