Compliance

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG already recognised the importance of compliance many years ago, and made it a Group-wide key issue in 2008. A Group-wide applicable compliance management system (CMS) that goes beyond the legal compliance requirements was established. This monitors everyone from the executives down to every single employee for compliance with legal requirements and also with ethical practices.

However, what exactly are the advantages of compliance? Compliance protects the employees and also those in the organisation with responsibility against prosecution under civil and criminal law and contributes to liability reduction. Compliance ensures financial success as it prevents potential fines and trial costs, and also because it counteracts asset losses resulting from fraudulent activities. Compliance also protects against negative media reports. Establishing compliance conformance in the organisation results in employees identifying more strongly with the company and leads to an even better corporate culture, as employees know that they are protected against compliance breaches and that those responsible for compliance will support them in critical situations. The positive impact of a company that acts within the law is transferred to the employees.

The Rules of Procedure for Compliance are binding Group-wide and describe the CMS structure and procedures. Ultimately responsible for RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG compliance is the Chairman of the Board of Management, who reports to the Supervisory Board Committee. Due to the major importance of the issue, the Supervisory Board Committee for Compliance and Communication meets at least quarterly. Within the scope of their compliance-related responsibilities, the individual companies are supported by the Group’s Compliance Department.

Locally, the Compliance Officers report to the Compliance Department and act as advisors on site. Beyond this, there is also a Compliance Committee that meets on a regular basis to ensure the coordination of risk management, internal auditing and compliance activities.

A compliance management system is not intended to remain static. That is why we regularly review the effectiveness of this system and check how up to date it is, and constantly update our rules and guidelines. Until 2014, we dealt mainly with urgent current compliance cases whilst now, following the restructuring of the company, our aim is also to prevent further future compliance breaches through timely recognition and risk aversion. The key measures consist of reviewing and, if necessary, adapting procedures that ensure rule-compliant work practices (audits), and to inform employees about the rules to be complied with. We have, for instance, compiled guidelines that address the most important compliance-related issues. New recommended practices for how to deal with certain contracts have also been developed. The aim is to proactively prevent all situations that might promote corruptibility, and thereby to also prevent corruption allegations.

In future, the Compliance Department will also pay particular attention to transparency. RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG attaches particular importance to pursuing an information-based policy, whether in the form of internal training measures or in the work carried out by its committees.