Payers love to say they “support program integrity.” But too often, SIU staff are treated like the corporate junk drawer:

– Fraud investigators chasing down compliance busywork.
– Analysts pulled into projects that have zero impact on FWA outcomes.
– Teams told to absorb everything else that doesn’t have a home.

When SIUs become the catch-all, they stop delivering ROI. Leads age out. Dollars are lost. Fraudsters win.

We don’t play that game. We build SIUs to focus on what they were created for: protecting the plan, protecting members, and stopping fraud. Everything else belongs where it should—not buried under “other duties as assigned.”

Hot take: If your SIU’s performance is lagging, check how many “other duties” are crushing it. Odds are, it’s not the investigators failing. It’s leadership misusing the team.

Other Duties as Assigned: Corporate’s favorite loophole.

Too often it’s code for:

– Do this work we don’t value enough to put in the job description.

– Pick up the slack for poor planning or bad leadership.

– Sacrifice your boundaries because we can’t manage our priorities.

Being a team player is one thing. Being exploited under a vague clause is another.

If you want people to go above and beyond, build a culture that:

– Recognizes effort.

– Rewards initiative.

– Respects limits.

Otherwise, “other duties as assigned” just becomes the catch-all excuse for burnout, disengagement, and turnover.

Hot take: If it matters enough to assign, it matters enough to put in the job description.

By Jeanmarie Loria, CEO of Advize Health