Assignment task: Whistleblower Protections
Whistleblower protections - what would you do?
All health care professionals are mandatory reporters. Mandatory reporting covers a wide range of topics, from violence or abuse reporting to possible health care fraud reporting. Those who move forward to report a case of possible fraud are known as "relators." Organizations and compliance officers, along with attorneys, may label a relator as a "whistleblower." Whistleblowers may have a moral compass that is strongly pointed toward doing the right thing at the risk of their own job or career.
Analyze what current protections are offered and if this is enough to safeguard a whistleblower who acts in good faith. Provide an example from the readings or literature that analyzed a whistleblower case. Did the right thing happen? Were you satisfied with the outcome?
Readings:
- Jones, D. S. (2012). Reporting adverse medical events: quality reporting meets compliance. Journal of Health Care Compliance, 14(4), 53-56 and 76.
- Birnbaum, D. (2012). The US experience with mandatory public reporting. Clinical Governance: An International Journal, 17(2), 113-123.
- Gallagher-Mackay, K. (2014). Teachers' duty to report child abuse and neglect and the paradox of noncompliance: Relational theory and "compliance" in the human services. Law & Policy, 36(3), 256-289.
- Hor, S., Iedema, R., Williams, K., White, L., Kennedy, P., & Day, A. S. (2010). Multiple accountabilities in incident reporting and management. Qualitative Health Research, 20(8), 1091-1100.
- Imperato, G. L. (2006). An organization's duty to self report misconduct: Mandatory or voluntary. Journal of Health Care Compliance, 8(4), 11-16.
- Moran, W. (2012). Self-reporting Medicare overpayment. Journal of Health Care Compliance, 14(3), 49-50.