Ethics and Compliance
At Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, ethics and integrity guide our mission to provide excellent patient care, innovative research and quality professional education. Our activities are guided by our core values of Compassion, Commitment, Communication, Family-Centered Care, Innovation, Respect, Service Excellence, Teamwork, Accountability, Integrity and Ethical Conduct.
We are committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations. Everyone who works at Children’s Hospital is responsible for upholding this commitment to conduct our activities according to the highest standards of legal, ethical and professional behavior. We expect all contractors and agents of Children’s Hospital to act consistent with these standards. (See the Letter to Contractors and Vendors of CHOP About Our Compliance Program and Policies [PDF].)
Children’s Hospital has adopted an Organizational Ethics Statement, (PDF) which sets forth the fundamental values that guide everyone who works on the Hospital’s behalf.
We also maintain written Compliance Standards of Conduct (PDF), which describe the Hospital’s comprehensive compliance program and the standards of conduct that all representatives of Children’s Hospital are expected to meet in carrying out their job responsibilities.
These Compliance Standards of Conduct spell out the role of the compliance program, along with that of every individual working on the Hospital’s behalf, in ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards and in detecting and preventing fraud, waste and abuse at Children’s Hospital. The individual’s role includes speaking up when conduct is observed that appears to violate an institutional policy or a legal or ethical standard.
The Compliance Standards of Conduct provide information about how to raise a compliance concern (including anonymously through Children’s Hospital’s Compliance Hotline) and the Hospital’s policy prohibiting retaliation against people for raising concerns in good faith. The Compliance Standards of Conduct also provide information about the role of various federal and state laws, including the federal False Claims Act, in preventing and detecting fraud, waste and abuse.
As part of our continued efforts to uphold our commitment to conduct our activities according to the highest standards of legal, ethical and professional behavior, the Hospital has introduced the Vendor Relations and Access Program.
Conflicts of Interest
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is committed to conducting its affairs in accordance with the highest ethical and legal standards. In order to maintain these standards, it is the policy of the Hospital that potential, perceived and actual conflicts of interest are to be avoided. A conflict of interest is any circumstance where personal, professional, financial or other private interests of a person (or institution) do or have the potential to compromise or bias the exercise of professional judgment or obligations, or may be perceived as doing so.