Don’t wait for the next compliance shoe to drop

A guest who checked into a motel one night was warned to be quiet because the guest in the room next to his was a light sleeper. As he dressed for bed, he dropped one shoe and sure enough, awakened the other guest. He managed to get the other shoe off in silence, and got into bed. An hour later, he heard a pounding on the wall and a shout: “When are you going to drop the other shoe?”

If you are like me, you might be in a semi-constant state of anxiety wondering when the next compliance shoe is going to drop and where it will come from. It’s bound to happen sometime, right?

One area that I’m always fearful about hearing the other shoe drop is the compliance monitoring and/or audit program. After all, it is one of the critical cornerstones of a good compliance management system. Is it comprehensive enough? Can you make it easier and still do what is required? Will your examiner think it’s sufficient?

So, let’s say that you have a monitoring program in place and you think it’s probably working pretty well. But, could it be better? Chances are it could. Maybe it’s time to think about what you can do NOW to beef up your monitoring program. Here are some ideas to get you started.

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