Welcome And Why CairoFest Matters

Rob 0:00

Welcome to the Van Ryan Compliance Podcast with Rob and Don. We help growing teams reduce risks, build trust, and stay audit ready without the overwhelm. And welcome back to this week's Van Ryan Compliance Podcast. And Don and I are excited because Emma is joining us. Emma's on our team. She keeps her clients dialed in. She's project manager, customer success. Now you're doing logo design.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Experience.

Rob 0:27

Experience.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

That's right.

Rob 0:28

Now you're doing logo design, which is fond of the planets.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Yes.

Rob 0:31

But this week, we really want to dive in with Emma and Dawn because I just got back from Cairofest, which is a I think it's the largest chiropractic conference in the Pacific Northwest and just talk about chiropractic care and and how that weaves into HIPAA compliance and our brand new HIPAA compliance uh for chiropractors training. So how was the trip? Let's just trip there.

Dawn 0:55

Yeah. Emmo, give us your insight on the trip, on the conference.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yeah, it was great. We had a good time getting to meet everybody and getting to see all that happens at CairoFest. This is my first time going, so getting to meet all of the chiropractors and just what they're looking for and um wanting to learn. And really when it comes to compliance, a lot of them have some things in place, but really trying to learn more of what they need from us. And training specifically is a big piece that we were trying to trying to bring to them and helping them understand the importance of training and where that all begins as far as compliance goes.

Dawn 1:29

Yep. And a lot of them didn't know what they didn't know. A lot of them were saying they created some stuff on their own. And I just said, well, that's why we're here. We're here to help you. We're here to help you through your journey. So there was a lot of a lot of pieces that they may have had, but pieces they didn't have and things they didn't know. Some of them were still very much using paper, um, which I thought was interesting. I thought that was kind of done, but there is still a lot of that. And we were lucky to have one of our customers there, Kyra HD were there, and they're customers of AnneRine. And we were happy to talk through that and meet other chiropractors that utilize that software and meet some others that have maybe created some new software. There were some definitely new vendors there, and so that was really exciting. And then, of course, all the uh different products is very different, huh? It was you we're used to different types of uh conferences, the products, the supplements, the the creams and ointments and all the different things chiropractors use. It's very interesting. The wellness uh space is really interesting. So there was a lot, right? I mean, it was there's a lot of stuff there to see.

Wellness Culture And Conference Surprises

Dawn 2:38

Yes.

Rob 2:38

Yeah. What about the health watch?

Dawn 2:41

Emma, you're it got sucked into a new Emma has a story about uh about that. Super interesting. Yeah. Emma, if you want to share a little bit about it. He had he had such a sweet dog too. And there were a lot of really, really cute dogs there too. Yeah, which is great.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Yes, the whole family was there, lots of kids, dogs, everyone brought brought the family since a lot of our family owned. So that was really cool to see. But yes, there was a vendor there that was basically offering a watch that you could use to um it basically played different sounds and you could use it to help with different different things, stress, anxiety. It basically let off a sound that was supposed to help with vibration. And so it was very interesting just to kind of learn what everyone has there to offer and lots of different wellness pieces that you can include in your day-to-day. And so that was really cool.

Rob 3:29

Yeah. Well, and chiropractic care has always been about holistic health, right? I mean, it's always about adjusting your your spine and your body so that you don't have to do the traditional medication of a lot of medication or surgeries, and that's what's always it's always been great about it. I mean, our our chiropractors that we serve throughout the country, they're really focused on that holistic values in life. And so when you were you were there, yes, there's always the supplements and there's all of the different things, you know, items that that people can take for health.

Where Chiropractic Compliance Breaks Down

Rob 4:00

But one thing is about the compliance piece. Um kind of circled back. I mean, training was always a big one, but your conversations with doctors there, you know, did they do they understand the importance of audits and policies and not just letting GBT or Claude create a three-page business associate agreement when they legally need to be eight to ten pages? How did those conversations go?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Yeah, I think we had a lot of a lot of clients that were aware of compliance or knew a little bit about it. A lot of them were doing it on their own and making things up, as Don, as you mentioned, a lot of them were doing things on paper and crafting their own courses and doing their own things, but didn't really have someone that was guiding them through the process of what that looks like to complete an audit, or is their training robust and doesn't have all the right, right things for their employees? So I think that was part of the conversation that we had of, you know, what are you doing? What are you offering to your team? Does it meet the standards? And, you know, realize that there's someone that can come alongside with you to learn how to do these things and not having to do it all on your own.

Dawn 5:02

Yeah. And some of them felt that a manual was all they needed, just having just a manual just up on the shelf. Some of them were like, oh yeah, training. We just uh have, you know, our front office person train us on the fundamentals. And I said, well, our training is really fun and really engaging because it's actually what chiropractors and their staff, what scenarios they run into at the practice, in the practice. And that's what we do here at Van Ryan is we like to we like to tailor our HIPAA courses to what industry, you know, if you're a SaaS customer, if you're a chiropractor, or if you're a part of the TAS industry, the answer service industry. So they were very interested in that because it wasn't just a HIPAA 10101, you know, it was let's, you know, watch the video. It's engaging what you'll see in your practice. But yeah, I had some people say, oh, we we try to, I try to do it myself and we do this. And I'm like, oh, that, and they just they looked like they were just exhausted from it. And so I was like, you don't have to do that. We can do that, you know. And so, you know, we want to be a resource and we want to educate. And a lot of a lot of folks were very interested in what we do and what we can offer. And I think that just start with the training. I mean, just really start with the training to so your staff understands how to handle EPHI, how to handle those incoming calls. I think there was a few of them I talked to that had those instances of you can't say that over the phone. You can't tell that person that over the phone. There was a few that had that, so had some possible incidents that almost occurred. It's all about the education. So I think that uh we did speak to some, and it's great because we got to speak to owners and and some of our customers that were there that were owners, and to just educate them and let them know what we have. So it was uh yeah, it was great and it was uh interesting because coming from warm out here in Texas and Emma's Atlanta area, it was fall out there and it was beautiful and there was leaves falling, and it was it was such a different, different area, but uh it was definitely, definitely beautiful and definitely uh uh just a nice uh nice change from the the heat. But uh, but no, very great people. Um, this is our third year going to Kyro Fest. Um, and we just continue to to build um those kind of relationships and partnerships and that type of thing. So yeah, I think it's good. It's good stuff.

What Good HIPAA Training Looks Like

Rob 7:19

And Juni and our team, as a lot of listeners know, have works very hard in creating our training. You can create your own training. There are there are clinics that'll do their own. There are doctors that do their own. You can I've seen the old five, you know, five slide PowerPoint deck to multiple slides to lunch and learns and all that, which is which is good. At least I like to applaud people for doing something, getting something going. However, Juni's done such a great job for our HIPAA for chiropractors that it really just shines. I mean, it's about 20-ish minutes, which is I know time away from clients means you're not serving serving people, but it's like a quick lunch-to-learn through you know, through a lunch. Um, I always recommend the docs kind of you know do that on a Friday or do that on a in-service day on a Thursday if they can. And do the HIPAA compliance training on any device at any time. We have the mini quizzes that go through everything, and then it wraps up with a with a uh certification at the end. Uh, that's a new course. I think you just launched it right before Chiropest. So, part of this podcast, we're gonna put the links in there in the notes. Um, we're gonna put that information in there, and then we'll also send it out to the Chiberfest attendees because uh we love to give discounts, especially for new courses. And it follows right along with how how you need to handle health information as a chiropractic office. And it doesn't matter if you're a dental, you're a dental, you're OD, you're a you're a surgery center, you're a answering service, you're a courier service. We have clients across all these brands. Our IT company, it's regulated data. It's a law. There's no option. No option. It's

Third Party Risk And Vendor Red Flags

Rob 8:57

always funny the the people that have been in practice before HIPAA, which was 30, what, 31 year, no, 30 years ago this year, they're like, oh, we're fine. It's like, well, oh, you're fine until one of your third parties breaches, which is happening quite a bit. So I'm assuming you've had the comp did you have some of those conversations there? Yeah, we have certain fourth party risks.

Dawn 9:16

Absolutely, because we talked to a lot of people that were like, oh, well, there's this new, you know, EHR and it's AI, or there's this new this we're trying to use, or this, like we're trying to connect some sort of scheduler or whatever. And I said, You have to make sure that you know what kind of security, you know, guardrails they have, because third parties is a lot of times where you will have a breach. And so we did talk a lot about that. And I did meet a gentleman that was getting ready to retire, and he's in front of like 40 years, and he's like, nothing's ever happened. And I said, I said, well, I said, uh, yeah, but you know, you you just it it is the law. So it is funny. It was funny joking around people because people know it's the law. Um, but a lot of people don't want to don't want to deal with it. But I think that if we can offer anything is at least get you and your staff trained. So then they know, and so they can they see anything that could be a possible breach or incident, then they know what they're looking for. They know what they're looking at. And um, and that's what I would say is let's start with that. So if you do anything, just start with the training. Yep.

Rob 10:21

Get the training going, and that's kind of the big thing. What about some of the other side conversations? You know, it's always about the HIPAA, but hey, what about good food or I don't know coffee or any fun things? Did you go shopping?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Did a little shopping. There were a few places around there that went shopping down near the newer area that were cute, but for the most part it was just being around the hotel and getting to talk to people there, eating there and all that.

Dawn 10:48

Although the burger at the brewery across the street with the truffle salted tater tots. Yes, those were we were in a food coma after that. Yeah. We were yeah, we had to take some walks after that. So good. So definitely great food around there. Uh the waterfront's beautiful, really good people. You know, the conference itself, they do a great job with where it's at right there. Um, you know, you can walk a lot of places, so it was really nice. And and we walked around to other vendors and we we challenged, we challenged them, right? Emma, we we challenged some of the EHRs and some of the folks that clearly have data throughout their their uh practice management systems or EHRs and said, Well, where's your trust center? Where what do you do? And they're like, what? And it was really interesting. And and and that's what we do as compliance. We're gonna ask those hard questions and you're gonna get a questionnaire from someone and they're gonna ask you that. I clearly told them that you better find out and and they should know that vendors should know what their security posture is. And so that was kind of interesting that some didn't know that. Some were like, oh, we're good, we're good. And so we get those two.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

So nothing.

Dawn 12:03

Yeah. It was interesting to see, and you know, and don't be, you know, uh, anyone listening to this, you know, if someone even has a HIPAA compliance seal or something on there, that doesn't mean they are.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

Yeah, yeah.

Dawn 12:14

Usually it means they've maybe taken a training course. So what does it mean? So I would challenge who you work with, uh, your third party, you know, I would challenge them and I would ask some questions and we create questionnaires for our customers to send to their own vendors and partners because it's important to know. You can't just say, oh, it's you're you're this big company and you must have it. You if it's not on your website, you know, that that's where a red flag raises for me. So we went around, we met some met some folks and gave them some feedback and um whether they liked it or not, because that's what we do. So it was more of a not just trying to, you know, it wasn't really trying to sell anything in particular, but just trying to educate, educate the car parkers, educate the vendors what what to look for, what they need to be compliant. So because I think a lot of people don't know what it means to be compliant.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

It's easy to put on your website, but whether it's actually in place and whether you actually have the information is a different story.

Dawn 13:13

Yep. Yep. So yeah, it was it was great, it was a great conversation, just awareness, you know, awareness for for each of them. And and the other thing is um lots of students were there, uh, students that were finishing school and and folks that just got their own practice. So yeah, there is there's a lot of a lot of practices out there in in the state of Oregon, the state of Washington. I mean, all over the country, but in particular, obviously those, because that's where we were. Um, and that that's where those folks that you know come to that event because of that, because they're in that area. But it was interesting with the the new kids. It's like start off, get get yourself HIPAA compliant, start off the right way and uh and and do the right thing. So that that was interesting too. Some young kids and yeah, and it was neat to see families. You know, there's a couple that owned a owned a a chiropractic guy practice and they had a few kids, and the kids are cute because they always want, you know, some of your candy on your table, some of your, you know, squishy swag. And so it is very cute. Um, lots of babies too. Wow, there was a lot of babies, and so that's great. So it was just kind of really a cool family event, very personable. It wasn't it wasn't stuffy or anything, and it was great to see some of the vendors from every every year since the last three years we've been. Still seeing the same folks doing the same thing. And uh they had some, you know, some of them had the same product, maybe updated, or maybe a new uh supplement, or maybe a new type of ointment or something like that that helps pain and that type of thing. So it's very, very interesting. So good stuff. Yeah.

Practical Takeaways For Clinics Today

Rob 14:48

And as we kind of wrap up this week, you know, what what are like the top four or five things that you could leave with chiropractors here on the podcast that they can take back to their practice, right? They're thinking they're they're walking, they're running, they're exercising. But of course, you know, everybody wants to listen to us for their exercising or driving. What are things that they could do today in their in their practice? What are some of the things that you took away on out the map?

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Yeah, I would say kind of as we mentioned, start small. You don't need to jump straight into an audit. That doesn't have to be your first step, but starting small, like you mentioned, training is a good spot. It doesn't have to take a super long time to do, and it's something that is an immediate benefit to your to your chiropractic office, and it helps train your staff. That way you don't have to run into any situations with, you know, wrong information being sent out or not handling that situation correctly. So I would say that's one of the biggest takeaways that I that I have from there.

Dawn 15:40

And and the other thing is you don't you don't have to do it alone.

unknown 15:44

Yeah.

Dawn 15:47

And let's add compliance to the list. That's just a lot. So reach out to get help. You know, raise your hand if you know, at least don't try to create the training. It's already done. Spend, you know, spend the money. It's worth the investment to get that done. If you want to create your own policies and procedures, you want to do that yourself, that's totally fine. But get the training done because then it's automatically reminded on an annual basis. And, you know, you get your certificate and that type of thing. And that's a very, very good thing to to kind of pass off. So you don't have to do it, do it on your own. And that's what I heard a lot of is they're trying to do it on their own.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

I think also building a team, too. I think that was some, as you mentioned, were doing it all by themselves and bring other people into the picture because compliance just doesn't fall on one person. It's your entire staff, it's all your employees, everyone has a part in it. Right.

Dawn 16:41

And reach out to your colleagues. A lot of folks there know each other. They they're tied into each other, they're all tied into each other. So kind of share with each other who they use, the partnerships, building those partnerships and and having, you know, this is who I use and really kind of just working together, you know, as a group, as a community, because they're that's a big community. I mean, they are all very intertwined. And so that was that was another thing is is really uh, you know, work together. Who do you use? How you know, how is this for you, that type of thing. So that was a big, a big thing as well. Yeah.

Rob 17:16

Those are definitely big ones. I think too is as we wrap up, is just you know, it's not overwhelming. So because like you said, the chiropractors need to run their practice, they need to see their patients. You know, we have we like for those for the young kids that are starting out, you know, we have like a startup package where we can how you can go walk through an audit yourself using our platforms, using our auditing tools in the back end, and then working with them or someone on the team to kind of just help understand it. It's not it's not complicated, but it's worth the investment and you know, not only from a legal perspective, but it builds that team. And and then your entire team thinks of compliance and security and how to best serve the client and keep keep them safe. Yep, and keep the data safe. So those are those are key pieces. Very key pieces.

Dawn 18:02

Yeah, yeah. So we'll be putting in the the link to the training, the chiropractor type of training in the show notes, and uh more to come on that as well. I believe Junior's gonna put it out on social media as well.

Rob 18:14

So it'll go out this week. Well, awesome, Emma. Welcome to your debut on the podcast. So you did great. Great conversations, and and you know, appreciate all our good friends in the chiropractic space. And then until next week, we will continue the journey of compliance. Thanks for joining.