The Examiner – Insights on Fighting Financial Fraud

Believe it or not! I am back in Baltimore to network and learn at the American Health Lawyers Association’s Fraud and Compliance Forum. There are over 50 sessions covering many different topics that are impacting the healthcare industry from a regulatory and compliance perspective. Here are the top 3 take-aways from the keynote address by Joyce Branda, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice:

Fahrvergnügen was Volkswagen’s tagline from the nineties and just an all-around fun word to say. It has been a very long time since I have thought of the word, but the recent news articles and a request from a faithful blog reader brought it back into my life. Volkswagen is receiving a lot of negative press and the news media will continue their coverage because there are still many unanswered questions. I can’t address Volkswagen’s ethical environment, but with regard to this blog post, I can explain how easily ethical breakdowns happen within an organization. 

This blog is the fourth in a four part series How to Solve a Puzzle.

As you can tell from the picture, we made it to the final step of the process. Our family had a great time completing step 3. Now, we must use the left over puzzle pieces to fill in the holes of the puzzle. This step can be a little more challenging than the others because you can easily become distracted and jump from section to section, which can be time consuming. Investigations are similar in that they can gain momentum quickly, but when it comes to wrapping up the loose ends, it becomes tedious and less fun. 

This blog is the third in a four part series How to Solve a Puzzle.

I cannot believe this series is almost over. Out of all the steps, this step is my favorite. It is all about identifying an object and finding the pieces for that part of the puzzle and putting them together. It is exciting because you start seeing the fruits of your labor. The puzzle comes to life in this step. This is also the step in the investigative process when most of the work is performed.

This blog is the second in a four part series How to Solve a Puzzle.

The phrase “think outside the box” is very cliché. We have all heard it and know when we hear it, it’s time to put on our creative hats. However, in this post, I want to focus instead on putting it—the fraud investigation—inside a box. The second step in solving a jigsaw puzzle is putting the perimeter of the puzzle together. The perimeter is important because it gives you a boundary. Plus, it’s an easy way to get started since you only have to worry about connecting two sides of each piece rather than four.

For each post in this four-part blog series, I will use stories that will explain the steps of solving a jigsaw puzzle and tie them to the steps for most fraud investigations. As you may recall, the first step to solving a puzzle was to turn all the pieces face up and locate the edge pieces. I am certain that you understand this basic step, but the directions were a little more difficult for my daughters to understand.

This blog is the first in a four part series.

I have enjoyed working jigsaw puzzles for most of my life. I started with the standard puzzles that come in a box with hundreds or thousands of pieces and branched out into 3D puzzles that required solving rather than completing. I have shared my passion with my two daughters. We have spent hours putting puzzles together.

We frequently give and receive feedback. You can thrive from feedback if you are willing to receive it, accept it, and make changes. We all enjoy receiving positive feedback, but constructive (e.g., negative) feedback is tough to receive. However, it has provided the biggest impact on my career growth. As I get older, I become more self-aware of my actions, and self-assessments are a great way for me to be proactive about feedback.

My two daughters started school earlier this week. We took the obligatory first-day-of-school pictures of them in their uniforms with their book sacks. Not until we looked at the pictures from last year did we realize how fast they are growing up. As parents, it is difficult to actually see this transformation because we see them every day without realizing how much they are changing. It’s also difficult because we want them to remain our babies for as long as possible. But, we also know that we have to give them more freedom and responsibilities to allow them to grow and learn.

As parents, my wife and I teach our children many things. Our goal is to provide them with the tools they will need to become successful adults. The interesting part is that our definition for success is fairly abstract. We want them to pursue something that feeds their passion and makes them happy. We also want them to never give up during their journey.