Share your membership story!
Tell us your story! How has your membership made a difference in your life? Your words could motivate someone to join our growing community.
Sarah F Perkins - Membership and participation in trainings, webinars and academies has been an incredible experience over the last 2 years. I have made connections both personally and professionally and have truly grown into my compliance-focused roles and competencies thanks to the support of HCCA, the staff and other members.
Jodie Gulihur - It is so wonderful to have an organization like this that helps all of us no matter what organization we are in. Working in a small rural community HCCA has been an invaluable resource for me, especially when starting a compliance department from scratch in my first hospital. Everyone is always so helpful, the conferences are amazing and the webinars always have timely information. Thank you for supporting us and for all you do.
Amanda Childs - I am a new member who has joined to gain valuable education in Healthcare Research Compliance. This is where I would like to grow professionally after 10+ years in Research Administration. Being a member, I have access to the live and recorded webinars and have found the community posts particularly interesting. Someday, I hope to apply for certification, but in the meantime being a member is giving me ideas of how to incorporate more compliance tasks into my daily work managing a CTMS and into our team's overall strategic goals.
Sal Inzone, Regulatory Analyst, Office Practicum - Joining the HCCA has already made a meaningful impact on my professional growth, even though I have only been a member for a few months. Having worked in compliance for more than eight years, I understand the importance of staying current with industry trends, regulatory expectations, and best practices. Becoming part of HCCA has provided me with valuable resources, networking opportunities, and practical insights that have strengthened my approach to compliance work.
One of the most impactful experiences so far was attending the recent HCCA conference in Orlando. The conference gave me the opportunity to learn from experienced compliance professionals, hear real-world perspectives, and explore innovative strategies organizations are using to strengthen their compliance programs. The sessions were not only informative but also highly practical, offering ideas that I could immediately bring back to my organization.
Since attending the conference, I have already started applying what I learned by proposing new ideas and approaches within my organization. The knowledge and tools I gained have helped me think more strategically about improving processes, enhancing compliance awareness, and supporting a stronger culture of accountability. The experience also reinforced the value of collaboration and continuous learning within the compliance profession.
Although my HCCA membership is still relatively new, it has already expanded my professional perspective and renewed my enthusiasm for growth in the compliance field. I look forward to continuing to learn from the HCCA community and using those insights to positively impact my organization and career for years to come.
Marina Garcia, Compliance Coordinator, Sunset Health - For the majority of my career in healthcare I have been in an Assistant role. Before moving into my current role at my FQHC, I was involved in the preparing for and supporting 330 grant site visits. My understanding of regulations was real, but narrow. When I transitioned into the role of Compliance Coordinator, I quickly realized how much I didn't know. I searched for a way to quickly get to speed and stay ahead of my Compliance Officer. That comes from my Assistant mind set of staying ahead of your Executives and bosses.
Joining HCCA gave me the jumpstart to stay ahead of the changes, gave me the language I needed, and the HCCA Net gave me the ability to ask questions. My own goal is to become certified in healthcare compliance or healthcare privacy. I am grateful for the platform , the peer groups, and the work that HCCA is doing. Thank you!
Richella Abell-Hawes, Chief Compliance/HIPAA Privacy Officer, The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter - I joined HCCA around 2010, I have been fortunate to attend numerous Conferences and HCCA events over the years. Of all the conferences I have attended in my life (too many to count) an HCCA or SCCE Conferences are the best. The opportunity to network and learn from the best of the best is truly remarkable. If you are new to the field and want to be engaged and make a career both HCCA and/or SCCE memberships are the way to go. Over the years I have been a member of both, depending on the field that I was working in. Capitalize on your free CEU's and obtain enough to sit for an accreditation exam. I currently hold the CHC which has helped me to easily obtain a new position and move up each time I decided I was ready for a new challenge. Thanks HCCA and SCCE for all the excellent learning over the years. I truly have enjoyed every minute.
Tracy Purnell - I have been a member of HCCA for over five years, and I consider the organization to be an invaluable resource. Through its offerings, I have gained extensive knowledge in healthcare compliance, which has significantly strengthened our organization. All members of my department hold HCCA memberships, and several of us, including myself, have earned compliance certifications. We particularly look forward to the annual conference, where we engage with fellow compliance professionals who share a strong commitment to continuous learning and professional development.
Derrick Washington, TCF Integrity & Compliance Officer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs - I am a new member of HCCA - March 2025 and enjoying the valuable resources being provided as a member. I was able to attend my first HCCA Annual Conference in Las Vegas and a free Member webinar. I am glad to be a part of an organization as I start my journey as a new Compliance Officer.
Ethan Radatz, MHPAEA Associate, Willis Towers Watson - I have been a Member since March 2024. The HCCA has really helped me connect with other Compliance Professionals and provided me with resources to keep up with the current compliance trends. As someone that pivoted into compliance from another field, I am thankful for the positive community that helped answer questions when I was first starting out.
Marcella Hatch, CHC, CMPE - I had a passion for healthcare compliance and took the plunge in 2023. The Basics Academy in NOLA was Excellent and I sat for my certification at the conclusion. Happy to say I passed! Being a member has given me access to great thought leaders, resources, monthly education and much more. It's nice to know HCCA is backing me up when I have a question or simply need confirmation I am indeed "doing the right thing."
Andrew B. Heineman, Chief Compliance Officer, Honest Health- I joined HCCA during COVID after being in the healthcare compliance space in different forms for a decade. All I can say is: I wish I had joined sooner! The number of resources made available, the value of attending academies, conferences, and webinars, and the network of peers in the profession is second-to-none. I am grateful for the leadership HCCA provides in the industry, as well as those who take active roles in leadership at HCCA to ensure we continue to grow in meaningful ways as a profession.
Tara Overton, Director of Integrity, Meritus Health, Inc. - HCCA has been an invaluable resource on my compliance journey. I joined about 10 years ago and have found their publications and conferences so helpful. I find the Institute especially important. Not only are you learning but meeting and connecting with so many compliance professionals. For most of us, we work in a small department that we don't get to talk "compliance" with many others. 9 years ago I met two great friends through the Institute and we enjoyed meeting up again at this last one.
Mykael Kurth, Compliance Manager - I joined HCCA in 2019 as a newbie in the healthcare compliance space. I started my journey in compliance at a health system in 2016, serving in an administrative capacity. By 2017, I had mastered my role and wanted to expand my scope of responsibility, you know, "and other duties assigned".
I was trained to maintain our physician gifts/gratuities and physician contracts, but I didn't understand the significance or the value. To me, it was just scanning and filing documents. I attended physician training on Incident-to billing, assisting with the sign-in sheets and setting up equipment, but I didn't really understand what I was doing there. To me, it felt like more administrative work, but at least I got to travel. I took notes on the content and asked the presenters questions during breaks, but I didn't work directly with claims or billing, so it all seemed complicated and confusing.
When I received training on maintaining and managing the compliance helpline and then asked to handle my first incident, all the pieces started to connect. There was more to company policies and the Joint Commission there were laws and regulations and governing bodies that I now had responsibility for upholding. Of course, I knew of the regulations impacting our space. I was a model employee who completed their annual compliance training every year and on time. (Thank you very much!) But this was applying what I had learned from that training every single day. It required me to dig deeper, to work within the gray. I instantly thought I had bitten off more than I could chew. But, when my company offered to pay for my HCCA membership in 2019, I instantly became part of a community ranging from newbies to experts that I could lean on for support through the SCCE/HCCANet. I had a plethora of magazines to read that drilled down on topics of interest. I had a complete compliance manual that showed me how to apply my learning and improve the organizations I worked with. And I could attend conferences and webinars to further my learning and meet people in-person.
Maintaining my membership has been so important to me, it helps me stay on top of trends and gives me a fresh perspective on each element of a compliance program. I always walk away learning something new, how to apply different methods and, more importantly, protect the organizations I serve. I can honestly say I would be lost without HCCA and the community it has afforded me for the past 6 years.
Maeve O’Neill, National Compliance Director, Circa Behavioral Healthcare Solutions - Being part of HCCA has been the most helpful part of my journey as a compliance professional in the behavioral healthcare field. Finding the certification, the educational opportunities and peer support have given me rhe knowledge, skills and abilities needed. Having the resources and connections in the field is essential and inspiring in the work we do daily!