This article was first published in the Pharmaceutical Compliance Monitor on July 17, 2013.

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.” –Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

As the field of modern American health care continues to flex its newly grown muscles under the Affordable Care Act, the need for commitment to corporate integrity becomes ever more apparent. In a perfect world, the question of whether such leadership should come through an edict from the Federal Government or be provided as a matter of course within each individual company should not be a subject of debate, and yet recent failures on the part of of certain corporate giants within the health care community have forced the issue to the forefront, making those tasked with compliance ask the question “where does compliance begin?” The unnerving truth is that in today’s age of regulatory enforcement, the existence of an integrity agreement is little more than a necessary prerequisite, and its effectiveness suffers greatly as a result. … Read more →