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Corey Perman may have had the same title since 2017, but the executive vice president of compliance and risk at revenue cycle management company R1 RCM has done anything but peaked.
As head of his organization’s compliance, ethics, and risk management programs, Perman has prioritized team building and specialized expertise to create programs centered on partnering across business lines and the company’s twenty-eight-thousand-plus global employees. In recent years, he’s helped lead his globally operating company through a pandemic as the point person for R1’s COVID-19 response team.
And Perman has continued to develop and stretch new leadership muscles by acting as an executive sponsor for the company’s burgeoning environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts. He’s even dipped his toe into real estate and facilities support, including stepping up to lead R1’s Workplace of the Future initiative in recent years.
Perman’s title may be the same, but so much else in his world has changed. The EVP has continued to challenge himself every step of the way, and he says he finds a way to love his work more with the passing of time.
“A strong compliance organization is most valuable when it is proactive, responsive, and pragmatic, and I believe those principles are paramount to supporting our continued success.”
Corey Perman
Compliance, First and Foremost
“From a compliance perspective, I love taking on the opportunity to be a good strategic business partner to our operations,” Perman explains. “It’s about being a proactive and visible partner to identify potential risk, assess that risk, give guidance, provide training, and foster a culture of ethics and integrity.”
The EVP has spent the past six years evolving the subject-matter expertise of his compliance organization, building out more bandwidth and scale with what he says has been incredible support from R1’s CEO and board. With that support, the team has been able to tackle its global efforts with a wider scope while also enhancing its responsiveness and proactive partnership.
Perman says compliance and risk have a seat at the leadership table, and that kind of faith and belief in the organization allows his team to be part of long-term strategic planning for the betterment of the entire company.
Building strong and partnership-minded teams is always top of mind for the EVP. He’s looking for a particular brand of talented individuals who want to be challenged by different types of work and aren’t looking to do a job the way it’s always been done.
“Our customers are hospitals and physician groups that look to R1 for expertise and solutions through our people, processes, and technology,” Perman explains. “My team’s goal is more than identifying risk. It’s to work with our partners, both colleagues and customers, to help them address challenges and find solutions in a practical and collaborative manner. A strong compliance organization is most valuable when it is proactive, responsive, and pragmatic, and I believe those principles are paramount to supporting our continued success.”
You’re on Point
Approximately six thousand of R1’s employees work inside of a hospital facility. So when Perman was tapped by company leadership to lead its COVID-19 response team in early 2020, there were lives at stake that were working at ground zero of the pandemic.
In addition to supporting employees working in frontline healthcare institutions, Perman’s oversight included the company’s cross-functional efforts in support of R1’s fourteen thousand employees in India. Perman says its India leadership team was excellent on all fronts and a perfect example of global partnership in action.
Perman and the R1 COVID taskforce created workstreams with daily and weekly meetings to ensure a well-coordinated response, including partnering with customer leadership to secure necessary safety equipment. In addition, the team committed to regularly communicating company efforts to its people and being as transparent as possible in a situation where information was changing frequently.
“It wasn’t and couldn’t be perfect,” Perman says. “But the health and safety of our workforce was our priority, and I’m proud of our collective efforts and appreciate employee feedback, which made it clear that we communicated and coordinated fairly well during an incredibly stressful time for everyone involved.”
“As an organization, we are committed to excellence in corporate responsibility, doing right by our customers, their patients, employees, and other stakeholders.”
Corey Perman
Outside Compliance
Perman has continued to operate outside of his usual day-to-day leadership in ways that make it clear that he likes seeking out a new challenge. Both he and the company’s CFO co-own R1’s ESG efforts, which have grown and evolved since the company’s ESG program launch in 2019.
“As an organization, we are committed to excellence in corporate responsibility, doing right by our customers, their patients, employees, and other stakeholders. We have many examples to share in how we’re making a difference across E, S, and G,” the EVP explains. “Since 2020, we have published three annual reports that provide a great snapshot into R1 as a global organization with a great mission and great people.”
From Perman’s purview, compliance has a natural role to play, from the governance component to the evolving regulatory environment to sharing an important part of the company’s story, and it’s part of the reason he volunteered to co-lead the company’s ESG program. In fact, he was invited to join the Global Business Conduct Council of the Conference Board, a group of compliance leaders and specialists who meet regularly to share best practices, learn from colleagues and experts, and exchange ideas across industries.
The EVP is not only a deep compliance and ethics expert, but also someone willing to lend help wherever it’s needed. Perman continues to grow, and the fact that his phone keeps ringing to offer advice or leadership across any number of different disciplines is a sure sign that he is where he wants to be.
