COVID-19 and Vaccine Information
Masks are still required in healthcare settings per CDC and state health department guidelines.
Masks are still required in healthcare settings per CDC and state health department guidelines.
PeaceHealth’s Organizational Integrity (OI) Program is designed to establish an ethical culture within PeaceHealth that promotes prevention, detection, and resolution of conduct that does not conform to federal and state laws and regulations or PeaceHealth’s policies.
It combines our concern for fulfilling the requirements of the law with an emphasis on responsible conduct, a renewed commitment to excellence, stewardship of our resources, and a supportive work environment.
The Code of Conduct represents a reaffirmation of our long-term commitment to ethical and legal business practices, high quality care, and services to the communities where our facilities are located. It illustrates how these values should be applied to our daily work lives.
This Code of Conduct applies to all PeaceHealth employees, as well as physicians, board members, students, volunteers, contractors, and vendors.
We respect the dignity and appreciate the worth of each person as demonstrated by our compassion, caring, and acceptance of individual differences.
To live out this value, we will:
We choose to serve the community and hold ourselves accountable to exercise ethical and responsible stewardship in the allocation and utilization of human, financial, and environmental resources.
To live out this value, we will:
We value the involvement, cooperation, and creativity of all who work together to promote the health of the community.
To live out this value, we will:
We build and evaluate the structures of our organization and those of society to promote the just distribution of health care resources.
To live out this value, we will:
PeaceHealth is required by federal law to provide information to all its contractors and agents regarding the federal false claims act, administrative remedies for false claims and statements, the state false claims act and whistleblower protections under these laws. The federal and state false claims acts play an important role in detecting fraud, waste and abuse in federal health care programs. Please provide this information to all employees.
The law. The federal False Claims Act (31 USC 3729-33) makes it a crime for any person or organization to knowingly make a false record or file a false claim with the government for payment. “Knowing” means that the person or organization:
Under certain circumstances, an inaccurate Medicare, Medicaid, VA, Federal Employee Health Plan or Workers’ Compensation claim could become a False Claim. Examples of possible False Claims include someone knowingly billing Medicare for services that were not provided, or for services that were not ordered by a physician, or for services that were provided at sub-standard quality where the government would not pay.
A person who knows a False Claim was filed for payment can file a lawsuit in Federal Court on behalf of the government and, in some cases, receive a reward for bringing original information about a violation to the government’s attention. Some states have a False Claims Act that allows a similar lawsuit in state court if a False Claim is filed with the state for payment, such as under Medicaid or Workers’ Compensation. Penalties are severe for violating the federal False Claims Act. The penalty can be up to three times the value of the False Claim, plus from $5,500 to $11,000 in fines, per claim.
Whistleblower protections. The federal False Claims Act protects anyone who files a False Claim lawsuit from being fired, demoted, threatened or harassed by their employer for filing the suit. An employee who was harmed by their employer for filing a False Claims lawsuit must file a lawsuit against their employer in Federal Court. If the employer retaliated, the court can order the employer to re-hire the employee, and to pay the employee twice the amount of back pay that is owed, plus interest and attorney’s fees.
Our Policy. PeaceHealth’s Organizational Integrity Program includes monitoring and auditing for compliance that helps prevent or detect errors in coding or billing.
Our Promise. Our employees work hard to ensure that every claim for payment for the care we provide is correct and accurate, so that we do not violate the law, or break the trust we maintain with our patients and communities.
If you have any questions about this information or wish to report a concern or view policies related to our Organizational Integrity Program, please contact Gary Chiodo, vice president of Organizational Integrity, at 360-729-1891 or e-mail: GChiodo@peacehealth.org
PeaceHealth’s Organizational Integrity (OI) Program is designed to establish an ethical culture within PeaceHealth that promotes prevention, detection, and resolution of conduct that does not conform to federal and state laws and regulations or PeaceHealth’s policies.
To meet its business needs, PeaceHealth may enter into agreements that require compliance with PeaceHealth’s Privacy and Security policies and procedures. Unless specified otherwise, the following policies apply to such agreements.
PeaceHealth reserves the right to review and amend these policies in accordance with applicable laws and regulations or to address its business needs.
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