Becoming a Compliance Officer

This is a question that does not have one answer.  You could begin by working in a healthcare setting and “work your way” into the arena.  You could strive to educate yourself in compliance by such methods as attending conferences, reading publications such as the Health Care Compliance Professionals Manual (a revised edition has just been published and is available at:   http://www.hcca-info.org/staticcontent/HCCPMflyerForm.pdf ), also Compliance 101 which is available from us. 
See:  http://www.hcca-info.org/staticcontent/Comp101.pdf  

Attending conferences such as our large annual conference in April is a great opportunity for networking and meeting compliance professionals. It is also a great learning experience.

Members of our association can network with other professionals by accessing the members only section of our website and searching in the member directory for members in their city.

You could become certified in health care compliance.   The CHC credential can be attained by passing the certification exam, with the prerequisite of a year of compliance background and 20 CEUs.  Preparation can occur through self-study, by attending conferences, and/or by attending our four day Academy, which trains in the skill set that is tested on the CHC (Certified in Health Care Compliance) exam.  See the Certification Handbook at: http://www.hcca-info.org/Content/NavigationMenu/HCCBCertification/HCCB05handbook.pdf

You would probably benefit by reading the document “Evaluating and Improving a Compliance Program” available on our website:  http://www.hcca-info.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ComplianceResources/EvaluationImprovement/default.htm

You may also wish to peruse the Career Opportunities on our website.  See:  http://www.hcca-info.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Career_Opportunities