Managing risk and compliance: Enterprise risk management

The challenge

Ever-increasing scrutiny from state and federal regulators. Healthcare reform. Both continue to expose one clear shortcoming - inadequate risk-management practices. Too many companies take on excessive risk with too little regard for reasonable, realistic long-term performance expectations. For too long, companies have relied upon traditional silo-based, compliance-oriented approaches to managing risk. The evidence is in - traditional siloed compliance approaches to managing risk are often ineffective while costly to maintain. In order to manage risk, you need a systematic, healthcare-specific approach.

How we can help you

PwC can help your organization improve its risk resiliency by helping you to align your business strategies with your risk appetite and tolerance while embedding risk-management processes across the organization. Achieving strategic alignment and improved processes requires more than risk assessment - it requires a holistic and disciplined approach to the management of risk across the organization to address strategic, financial, operational and compliance objectives.

Current state assessment

Managing risk is not new for most organizations. Oftentimes, organizations seek to identify and assess existing risk- management strategies, processes and protocols against leading practices. This assessment supports the development of a "blueprint" for changes designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of risk management across the organization, resulting in improved strategic focus and risk resiliency. PwC can help you identify and inventory current risk-management processes and practices, and benchmark against leading practices.

Risk governance

Effective enterprise risk management requires effective governance from the top of the organization. The board of directors and executive management must set the "tone at the top" by establishing risk policies addressing entity-wide risk appetite, tolerance and mitigation. PwC can advise boards and executive management on leading practices in risk governance and support you as you seek to establish effective tone at the top and strategic risk policy.

Risk culture

Tone at the top alone will not result in effective risk management. The value of enterprise risk management can only be achieved when risk strategy, appetite, tolerance and policy are embedded throughout the organization. PwC can support you as you seek to establish an effective risk culture through communication, training, performance measures and rewards. This is only fully realized when it is integrated into your business strategy through culture, training, communications, performance measures and rewards. ERM has evolved into an essential core business competency.

Risk assessment

Effective risk assessment is critical to any risk-management process and program. Key risks as well as emerging risks to the achievement of strategic business objectives must be identified and assessed as part of the risk- management program. PwC brings industry-specific risk-assessment capabilities to help you assess key risk areas including strategic, financial, operational and compliance risks.

We have healthcare-specific specialists and service offerings in key risk areas - actuarial, financial, operational, regulatory and compliance. You need to find ways to mitigate the risks you identify in your enterprise-wide risk assessments.

Our consultative mindset has been honed by experience gained from the development of corporate integrity and regulatory compliance engagements around the country. We have extensive practical experience in risk- management engagements with insurance organizations. We know industry best practices and have access to benchmarking information. We also have substantial experience across the wider financial services sector and can leverage our knowledge of what works well in different industries.

Common services include:

• Current state assessment and benchmarking
• Risk-governance design and implementation support
• Risk-culture assessment, training and implementation support
• Risk assessment
• Development of key risk and performance indicators
• Industry-specific risk mitigation
• Risk-technology assessment, evaluation and implementation support