We’re at the 30th HCCA Annual Compliance Institute in Orlando, Florida

Kevin Chmura

Welcome to a special edition of Beyond the Bottom Line. I’m your host, Kevin Chmura, CEO of Panacea Healthcare Solutions. Today, we’re going to be doing something a little bit different. My colleague, Karl Hellerich, our EVP of Business Development, is at the HCCA conference on the floor reporting in live. Karl’s down there with our team talking to compliance leaders across the country about what’s top of mind. Karl, great to have you.

Karl Hellerich

Thanks for having me, Kevin.

Kevin Chmura

So Karl, we’ve exhibited at HCCA many, many times over the years at under all three of our brand names, Panacea Healthcare Solutions, First Healthcare Compliance, and MedLearn Media. What’s happening down there right now? What’s the energy like? What’s keeping compliance leaders up at night?

Karl Hellerich

Yeah. So it’s been a wonderful conference so far. Well attended. I believe the numbers are over 1,300 strong live here at the actual venue, another six or 700 logging in from home virtually. So it’s been great. The buzz has been good. As you can imagine, we’ve had some AI conversations have been on the forefront early and often here at HCCA with regards to the governance, the emerging risk that it brings. And quite frankly, a little bit about its shift from being something theoretical that people were just thinking about last year, perhaps it’s the same exact show, to something that really is, we have to have a compliance framework in place for it. So it’s been a lot of buzz around that. There’s been a lot of, a number of people stopped by both customers, clients and prospects, which is people generally talking about, I think the addition of some auditing tools that they’re in need, something that’s continuous, something that monitors all the time based upon how quick this market is moving. So we’ve had some really good conversations and HTC, there’s no better place to do it. You have leaders from all over the country in different aspects and avenues. So looking forward for the next day and a half as well, meeting with them.

Kevin Chmura

Yeah, interesting. It’s true, right? Traditionally, over the years as we’ve been there, I would say that coding audits probably the thing we talk to people about the most, but sounds like those conversations have changed a little bit. There was mostly compliance, probably quality, making sure that there’s no revenue leakage. I’m guessing that conversation around coding audits has shifted a little bit in recent years.

Karl Hellerich

Yeah, definitely, right? So, you know, we’ve seen a shift really from that, hey, I’ll meet with you once a year, we audit some stuff, make sure we’re okay for the time being, or until we meet again, to where really AI has, I think, complicated a little bit. A lot of talk about continuous auditing and monitoring, you know, automated audit trails, right? So the tools they have in place that, you know, throughout your day, throughout your week, you’re constantly being audited and you’re being able to produce something that, you know, if something should arise, it is immediate, it’s in the real time. And I think in the past, when we spoken to a lot of folks on the floor is really about, you know, getting your hands dirty, doing that annual audit, which we do all the time, and it’s great, but I think really the flow and the immediate need has been a lot of the conversation here, and with that comes the compliant risk, right? You have automated tools, you have something that’s going on all the time, right? So for some of these folks, it might have a smaller staff or aren’t, you know, on top of it where they can monitor something all day long, or they have a number of different roles within the organization, it’s even a larger conversation about that vendor partnership and how you fill those gaps in order to alleviate some of that pressure from their current staff. So yeah, it’s been a little bit different conversation this year in 2026.

Kevin Chmura

Cool, cool. So zooming out, we are there exhibiting under our First Healthcare Compliance brand name as well, where we probably are covering broader compliance issues, things like compliance with OSHA, HIPAA, fraud waste, and abuse, HR training, those types of things. Audits and AI, notwithstanding any other topics that are coming around in general compliance areas?

Karl Hellerich

Well, yeah. The one thing I guess can be the concern I think is getting out in front of it. These smaller offices that have you know general compliance programs I think as you know there’s the shift to like once again saying you know I know we brought up before I but they don’t they don’t have the ability to do that right I feel like a lot of the folks here thought you know they were kind of just monitoring what was going on with it and now that it’s become so real they’re already they’re already behind the eight ball so to speak right and playing catch up as a smaller office is harder. You don’t have the resource, you don’t have the funding in order to make the, you know, play that makeup game. So I think part of the conversation with them or the general definitely is that, you know, as a partner of ours, we’re doing what we need to do from an OSHA HIPAA fraud and waste and abuse perspective. But with a lot of the automation not to get not to fall behind or too far to fall behind because I don’t think we’re going to be able to catch up a lot of these smaller, you know, offices. So there’s some concern there. I think, once again, the partnership kind of conversation has come about a lot more, not just a vendor who’s vending a piece of software or allowing to use something. It’s really about how are you gonna help me build out the framework for my compliance within my small office to make sure that I’m keeping up because I don’t have the size, strength, or the power in order to do so on my own. So that was a few of the conversations I had late last night and also some early this morning.

Kevin Chmura

Oh, great, great advice, Karl. Thanks so much. I will. I’ll let you get back after it. If people in Orlando are in Orlando at HCCA right now, where can they find you?

Karl Hellerich

Yeah, we get back to the booth floor, you know, at one o ‘clock this afternoon, stop by the panacea booth. We have a bunch of giveaways. We have the full team there, and we’re actually, you know, we’re ready to talk. So if anybody needs anything, please stop by. We’ll see you there. And then there’s an event tonight as well. So in a social setting. So if I see you after the close of the show and we haven’t had a chance to catch up because you guys were in a session, by all means, you know, the team from Panacea will be at the event tonight.

Kevin Chmura

Great. All right. Thanks, Karl.

Karl Hellerich

All right. Take care, Kevin. Thanks for having me.