Healthcare’s Leading Women: Audrey Andrews, SVP and Chief Compliance Officer, Tenet Healthcare
Jennifer Dennard, Social Marketing Director
August 19, 2011
Editor's Note: Modern Healthcare recently honored the Top 25 Women in Healthcare, an
illustrious group of leaders that have demonstrated vision, courage and commitment to making
healthcare better for all involved. Billian's HealthDATA features a number of these women -
including past honorees and future candidates - in its Healthcare's Leading Women series.
2011 Honoree Audrey Andrews is senior vice president and chief compliance officer for
Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., where she oversees 89 compliance professionals and an annual
budget of $13 million. She was deemed responsible for Tenet's ethics and compliance programs
since 2006, just after Tenet finalized a high-profile settlement with the U.S. Justice Department
related to investigations into the corporation's Medicare pricing strategy, quality standards and
physician kick-backs.
Tenet experienced a volatile time in the years leading up to Andrews' role as Chief
Compliance Officer, and as a result made a concerted effort to focus on quality at all levels of
the organization. Billian's HealthDATA recently spoke with Andrews about this renewed commitment,
and how her team is working to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse throughout the healthcare system
during this time of healthcare reform.
Billian's HealthDATA: How does your role as Chief Compliance Officer specifically affect
quality initiatives throughout the health system?
Audrey Andrews: The most rewarding part of my job is the time I spend partnering
with our exceptional Chief Medical Officer and Clinical Quality Department. We work closely
together on areas of common interest - proper utilization of healthcare services, patient safety,
and credentialing of physicians and staff to provide excellent patient care.
I am not a clinician, but I hope that we provide a helpful layperson's view on quality, and
that we bring the seven elements of effective compliance programs to their quality processes.
How have you seen the importance placed on and attention paid to ethics and compliance in
healthcare change during your time in the profession, and at Tenet?
Compliance has increased in importance in all healthcare organizations, but not just because
the fines and penalties continue to increase. It has now become part of the healthcare reform
debate as we all focus on eliminating fraud, waste and abuse.
At Tenet, we have invested a significant amount of resources in our compliance program, and
we have seen many changes. When I started working in compliance in 1999, our compliance program was
housed in the Law Department reporting to our General Counsel. Now we are an independent department
reporting to the Quality, Compliance and Ethics Committee of our Board of Directors. Compliance is
an operations unit with measurable goals rather than a response unit that was called in to respond
to problems. Now we are accountable to Tenet for creating an effective compliance program and
proactively identifying risks and addressing them before they emerge.
What factors have contributed to these changes?
The dedication of our Board and our senior management team to our core value of integrity. We
believe that an effective compliance program should be an integral part of our culture and
something we do well every day.
What are the biggest challenges in overseeing ethics and compliance at Tenet?
For me, the most challenging and rewarding part of being a compliance officer has been trying
to stay ahead of the curve - taking the lessons from today's issues and applying them to new
situations. It's really satisfying when you successfully predict the next significant risk and
mitigate it before it materializes.
What role does compliance - and event to a certain extent, ethics - play in Tenet and its
facilities navigating healthcare reform?
Healthcare reform is a challenge because many of our existing laws are designed to separate
the doctor and the hospital. In order for healthcare reform to be successful, we will need to
integrate physicians and hospitals in the interests of improving patient care and reducing
costs. From an ethics standpoint, when the government provides greater flexibility in its
regulatory structure, it becomes more important for providers to use the flexibility in a
responsible way.
The hospital and its employees have received numerous awards and recognitions. How do Tenet
and its upper management foster this culture of achievement?
When Trevor Fetter, our CEO, came back to Tenet in 2002, he set out to create a different
kind of company, focusing on our mission of quality at a time when a lot of people were not doing
it. He took a leap of faith that being a leader in clinical quality would be something that
consumers would care about. As a result, we sought opportunities to obtain external
validation of the excellent work our hospitals were doing. These awards are an outward reflection
of our mission of quality and our four core values of integrity, innovation, service and
transparency, and we are very proud of them.
Do you believe it has specifically tried to foster a culture of professional growth for its
female employees?
Tenet is a great place to work for women because we drive all aspects of our business through
objective, performance-based measurements. These measurements create a level playing field and
drive our performance evaluations, compensation and incentive compensation. We also have a
fantastic CEO who puts women in key leadership roles. As a female leader at Tenet, I also work hard
to create the same opportunities for others that I have had.
Planting the Seeds of Health Solutions
Conifer Health Solutions, which offers more than 100 hospitals in the U.S. revenue cycle
management and patient communication solutions, was launched in 2008 by Tenet, through the
combination of the healthcare system's client contact center and revenue cycle services group.
Conifer continues to serve Tenet, as well as providers outside the Tenet network.
BHD: How do Conifer Health's solutions help Tenet and other hospitals operate more
effectively and provider better care?
AA: [The Conifer] team does a phenomenal job of bringing needed solutions to
healthcare providers. They have the benefit of deep experience running an outstanding revenue cycle
operation for Tenet, and we are so pleased that they have been able to bring the same solutions to
their third-party clients. As the healthcare revenue cycle becomes more and more complex, this area
of healthcare will become more challenging. A single-source solution can dramatically simplify the
revenue cycle process and ensure the highest levels of compliance and financial performance.
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