2018 Compliance Institute Guest Blogs: Saying Hello to Old Acquaintances and Meeting New Faces

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By George Lewellyn

Last year was my first HCCA conference that I had the opportunity to attend, and I have to say it was a very worthwhile and rewarding event. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting my peers in the industry and enjoyed talking about my passion of privacy and security in the healthcare industry and my personal goal of helping others and transferring personal experiences. The conference has many opportunities for increasing your knowledge, as well as new topics that you never would imagine have any relevance or impact on healthcare. For example, last year we heard about Human Trafficking and most in the audience, around me, looked puzzled about the relevance of the topic until the speaker noted how widespread the issue is especially in states next to our U.S. borders. This was truly an eye-opener and I started to wonder about the possibilities of this occurring in my community.

Another great opportunity is to meet new people that are, in many cases, just getting into the healthcare compliance field and are looking for ways of increasing their awareness and knowledge. This is the reason that the Speed Networking and Speed Mentoring session on Sunday are so valuable. As a seasoned professional, I enjoy talking to those who are new to the industry and sharing my knowledge and experiences (good and bad) with them. I also offer them additional networking contacts or resources to refer to in order to bridge the learning gap and get them acclimated quicker. Most appreciate the offer and more importantly are eager to meet anyone that they can learn from. However, this only works effectively, if you as a mentor make the commitment to be sure and follow up with all of the individuals that you meet. For me, there is nothing more personally or professionally rewarding than the opportunity to teach someone how to “fish” in the ocean of the compliance world, versus giving them a morsel to eat.

This year, I am enjoying the opportunity to see the old faces that I met last year and catching up on the changes to the industry as well as our own personal dealings. I even saw someone that I used to work with over 15 years ago and I enjoyed catching up with them on the news of our fellow colleagues and sharing updates on others that have moved to other companies and new endeavors.

I look forward to this week’s conference and the many more faces that I will meet and establish new relationships and hopefully build new friendships that will continue for many more years.

Who will you meet today? Could it be a new client, a new vendor, a new mentor, or just possibly a new acquaintance that you can build a lifelong friendship with?

The possibilities are endless!

2 COMMENTS

  1. George,

    It was very nice to see you and what about those burgers…not to mention the company we shared with others at the dinner table on Tuesday evening.

    You certainly highlight a very good aspect of the CI. I think on some level, just as much if not more learning and education goes on before, in between, and after the “official” sessions than during the sessions themselves.

    One of those “undocumented” benefits of attending the CI. I know you are into some of the tech aspects of privacy and security and you may recall the following.

    Often there are hidden functions that programmers developed for programs such as Excel or Word…but were never made public for whatever reasons.

    We used to call them “undocumented” features. In a way, many of the networking opportunities are “undocumented” sessions…lots of learning going on..

  2. It was great to see you again and learn some more compliance material.

    The networking portion of the conference is always a big hidden / unstructured feature that allows for great discussions and learning opportunities.

    You made it possible. Thanks again. Talk soon.

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