Developing a Sarbanes Oxley-like Approach to Enterprise Risk Management in Healthcare Organizations

Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), a $900 million certified home healthcare agency, serves more than 100,000 patients annually in New York City and is the largest nonprofit agency of its kind in the nation. Currently, VNSNY is focusing on Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), as mitigating and managing risk have emerged as critical strategies for healthcare providers. Furthermore, VNSNY sought initiatives from the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) and current SEC regulations in developing its own program. The Capstone team worked with VNSNY to upgrade its current ERM and SOX approach by investigating software solutions that standardize and automate processes and analyzing other firms’ risk control practices. ERM involves devising targeted, cutting-edge protocols to address internal and external risk, including operational, financial, and compliance dimensions. By conducting research and incorporating surveys, literature review, data analysis and comparative assessments, the team formed a best practices ERM model for VNSNY’s organizational structure.