UNMC appoints Wrobel as chief compliance officer

Sheila Wrobel, privacy officer for The Nebraska Medical Center, has been appointed chief compliance officer for UNMC, a new position created by Rubens Pamies, M.D., UNMC vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of graduate studies. The appointment was effective Jan. 12.

Sheila Wrobel is the new chief compliance officer at UNMC. She is pictured with Rubens Pamies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Corporations today are employing content, document, and records management to maintain compliance with any number of federal regulations. In her new position, Wrobel will monitor, set policy, and ensure faculty, staff and students are educated on compliance issues. Until now, there hasn’t been one specific person assigned to oversee the execution of all the rules and regulations governing everything from HIPAA privacy directives, safety programs and billing accuracy to the very exacting compliance demands on research investigators pursuing grant funds from the National Institutes of Health.

“It is so important to make sure that everybody gets trained in all these required areas and that our campus stays up-to-date on new regulations,” Dr. Pamies said. “We have specific deadlines to certify that all of the university’s staff, faculty and students have been trained on various regulations and procedures. Failure to do so can mean anything from paying hefty fines to losing vital research grant opportunities.

“Sheila Wrobel already plays a significant role in this area for the entire campus. Her new position with UNMC means she now can dedicate a significant portion of her time solely to administrating and overseeing our many compliance issues.”

There are five main areas of compliance regulations that Wrobel will oversee. They include:

• Research guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control.
  
• Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) – The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, JCAHO is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Since 1951, JCAHO has developed state-of-the-art, professionally based standards and evaluated the compliance of health care organizations against these benchmarks. The Nebraska Medical Center and UMA are accredited by JCAHO.
  
• Conflict of interest policies. Federal guidelines determine what conflict of interest is. Faculty members have wide ranging opportunities to speak at various seminars, workshops and partnership activities. They also may have ownership interests in companies sponsoring research conducted on the UNMC campus. Faculty members and staff are required to disclose potential conflicts so that they can be addressed.
  
• Environmental Protection Agency and OSHA regulations governing everything from radiation safety to disposal of toxic waste.
  

Wrobel brings a wealth of experience to her new position. As a personnel officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1986-1994, she was responsible for promotions, evaluations and separations programs for 2,700 military personnel in four military services at the United States Strategic Command. Following her military service, Wrobel was a law clerk for two years with Blue Cross/Blue Shield where she conducted legal research and writing on health care and insurance law, contracts, ERISA and corporate contracts, as well as investigated insurance claims. From 1997 to 2002, she was legal counsel/risk manager for Jennie Edmundson Memorial Hospital in Council Bluffs, where she provided legal and risk management support and was in charge of compliance, privacy, and patient safety programs.

Wrobel received her bachelor of science degree in economics from Purdue University in 1986; master’s degree in Business Administration from Louisiana Tech University in 1989; and juris doctorate from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1997.

In addition to her duties as chief compliance officer for UNMC, Wrobel will continue her responsibility for HIPAA compliance for UNMC, The Nebraska Medical Center, University Medical Associates and University Dental Associates. She has created training programs, policies and procedures and compliance plans to support 12,000 faculty and staff in hospital, clinic, and academic and physical practice settings.

“We already have compliance programs in place,” Wrobel said. “What we are going to do now is formalize these programs to ensure we meet federal guidelines for an effective compliance program. We also want to standardize the interpretation of various regulations across the campus.

“Compliance really comes down to consistently doing the right thing. We have such a responsibility to our patients, research subjects and the community we serve. These regulations are all designed to protect everyone’s best interests.”

Further information on the UNMC Compliance Program can be found on the UNMC Intranet at: https://app1.unmc.edu/compliance/.