Many people (OK, more than likely most people) start paying attention to taxes in early April – scurrying to make sure they have everything in line for that ominous mid-month deadline. However, keeping taxes top of mind on an everyday basis would probably serve them well. Identifying potential deductions, saving receipts and maintaining order with all the requisite documents would enable people to not only zip through the necessary paperwork each April but also ensure they are keeping the money that they are due under the law.

When it comes to regulatory compliance, healthcare organizations often take a similar, 11th hour approach. They do what they need to do when compliance deadlines creep up on them but don’t really give compliance a second thought at other times. The method wastes valuable staff time and resources – and doesn’t always produce the best results.

Instead, healthcare organizations should build a culture of compliance. As such, compliance is not an isolated project, but something that permeates all business decisions and attitudes. Here are four simple steps that can help your organization build a culture of compliance:

#1: Make sure that everyone gets in the game

Compliance cannot just be a responsibility that is handled by a “compliance officer.” Instead, every member of the organization has to get involved in compliance activities.

#2: Shed some light on the subject

Instead of working in the dark, use data and analytics to highlight areas of non-compliance. With data and analytics, organizations can identify and address areas of non-compliance sooner rather than later. With the right tools and analytics, providers can measure their activities against benchmark data to help identify outliers.

#3: Provide a safe haven

Giving workers a safe place to admit to their mistakes is critical to building a culture of compliance. One of the keys is to focus on the process breakdown, rather than point fingers at the team member who committed the non-compliance incident. A transparent leadership team can have a huge impact. When leaders are willing to honestly and openly talk about their own mistakes, other staff members will be more likely to admit to their transgressions when they may have a compliance issue.<

#4: Create standing ovation worthy training

No matter what the topic, training works best when those who are being trained are enthusiastic and engaged. Therefore, compliance training needs to be entertaining. There are a number of ways to make compliance training more fun, which will help improve long-term staff retention as well as short-term performance. Start with making sure the training is relevant to your team members’ jobs. Nothing is worse than following along on examples that have nothing to do with what they actually do.

These are just a few of the ways that your organization can make compliance an integral part of everyday activities. Can you think of other strategies?