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Risk Management And Conflicts Of Interest, Leslie P. Francis

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Risk management aims to reduce the costs of adverse events. In entities such as hospitals, risk managers do this in two ways: reducing the likelihood or seriousness of adverse events and reducing the costs of these events when they do happen. Activities aimed at the latter present direct conflicts of interest between protecting the institution and respecting the interests of the clients served by the institution—so-called institutional conflicts of interest. Activities aimed at the former would appear to benefit all parties--those at risk of accidents (because the risk is reduced) and the institution (because reducing risks also reduces the costs …