Gary N. Jones has been an attorney for over 33 years and has spent most of the last 20 years focusing on the needs of community providers. He obtained his bachelors degree from the University of Missouri in 1982 and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 1985. He founded MCA to help providers through the maze of compliance and HIPAA regulations that seem to become more confusing every year so those providers can focus on what they do best, take care of people.

Do Hard Stuff

A good friend that I run with on a regular basis gave me a sticker the other day that said “Comfort is a slow death – Do hard stuff” (except he used a more adult word than “stuff”). As I was putting that sticker on a water bottle it struck me that this philosophy is…

There is Value in Looking Backward

You have probably heard the saying that a windshield is large, and a rearview mirror is small so you should spend your time looking forward rather than living in the past. While that is great life advice, it isn’t always applicable in the world of compliance. Every compliance program should have goals and desired objectives…

The Power of Perseverance

Over the weekend I volunteered at a 100 mile trail race. Yes, people signed up and paid money to run 100 miles on a very hard course. The race consisted of five 20 mile loops over a route that had hundreds of railroad tie stairs, climbs up bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, rocks, roots and…

Why Do Things Go Bump in the Night?

A featured speaker at this year’s CP-HIPAASolutions HIPAA Forum is FBI Special Agent Jeff Huber who is an expert in cybersecurity, and all the ways the “bad guys” work to gain access to very valuable personally identifiable information. In the world of health care, the protected health information providers have on their computer networks, and…

Who is Looking at What?

I am currently serving as the Interim Compliance Officer for a client with a pretty sophisticated electronic health record. This client has been without a formal compliance officer for a while so the compliance program is in need of some attention. One of the first things I was asked to do was conduct an access…

How Important is Program Evaluation?

By now, every provider should have the infrastructure of a compliance program in place. The seven elements of an effective compliance program are well publicized and there are numerous resources available to providers for building a program. But, building a compliance program, putting policies and procedures in place, naming a compliance officer and having a…

Even the Small Fish Provide Good Food

Many of the people who read this blog work for small health care providers, often in rural areas, that don’t have resources to invest in the latest technology and security measures. Often, when asked why the IT system has not been updated, the response is, “we are small, the bad guys are after bigger fish.”…