By Greg Freeman
Healthcare compliance risk managers should brace for substantial compliance challenges in 2025, says John E. Kelly, JD, partner with the Barnes & Thornburg law firm in Washington, DC.
“There is just a tremendous amount of risk out there and especially in the healthcare space. When we look at the landscape and you think about compliance really being your first line of defense in so many different ways, we’ve hit a point in time where people have to commit adequate resources,” he says. “If you’re cutting costs and compliance programs and resources and technology, and you’re not giving them or arming your compliance program and the people in it with the right tools, you’re really being penny wise and pound foolish. There’s just too much risk.”
Barnes & Thornburg recently released a report on compliance risks for 2025, which notes that healthcare organizations have difficulty keeping up with regulations and security risks amid rising labor and technology costs, with 53% reporting they struggle to allocate appropriate resources to keep up with security risks. Fifty-six percent say they anticipate more challenges in the future than they already have, the report notes.
Almost three-quarters of respondents are using or considering using artificial intelligence (AI) in their internal legal compliance functions, the report says. The most popular applications are data analysis, risk assessments, and administrative tasks.
Six in 10 of those respondents say that AI integration and development will add more than 10% to their budget in the coming year, the report says.
Also, 58% of all respondents say developing a governance structure for AI compliance is difficult. “Beyond compliance reports, there is no consensus among organizations that have already implemented AI on what measure to guide its ethical use,” the report says.
The report also notes that 56% of respondents cite external cybersecurity/data management/privacy risks as a concern for the coming year, with similarly high levels of concern surfacing around the threat of data ransom attacks (52%) and HIPAA/patient data breaches (49%). Internal cybersecurity/data management/data privacy events and regulatory changes also ranked as key concerns, cited by 48% and 47%, respectively.
The full report is available online at https://bit.ly/3ZPuLf2.
“There is sort of a feeling of stretched resources and the demands on compliance keep growing. It is a challenge for people to see that there’s really an alignment right now with the way programs are being staffed, and the resources that are being allocated, and the risk,” Kelly says. “Everyone is trying to cut costs, so it’s something that companies just have to be really careful about when it comes to creating greater exposure on some of these compliance obligations.”
Source
- John E. Kelly, JD, Partner, Barnes & Thornburg, Washington, DC. Telephone: (202) 831-6731. Email: [email protected].
Greg Freeman has worked with Relias Media and its predecessor companies since 1989, moving from assistant staff writer to executive editor before becoming a freelance writer. He has been the editor of Healthcare Risk Management since 1992 and provides research and content for other Relias Media products. In addition to his work with Relias Media, Greg provides other freelance writing services and is the author of seven narrative nonfiction books on wartime experiences and other historical events.
Healthcare compliance risk managers should brace for substantial compliance challenges in 2025.
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