Meet the Team

John Beard - CEO/Founder

John Beard is the CEO and Founder of ArchProCoding - Association for Rural & Community Health Professional Coding which is a subsidiary of Universal Medical and Compliance (UMC). 

John is the primary force behind how ArchProCoding has become what it is today. He develops and manages educational partnerships with national and state rural health organizations, private and public health facilities, and state primary care associations. His relationships with nationally-recognized vendors provides lower cost solutions that can be afforded by America’s Safety Net Health System.

Facilitating state and federal educational partnerships including education related to auditing, medical coding, documentation guidelines, ICD-10-CM, ICD-11 readiness, and mastering Medicare billing rules.

  • Developing nationally recognized rural coding and billing credentials,
  • Supervising, planning, directing consultations of medical records,
  • Providing subject matter expertise of federal legislation as it pertains to Medicare reimbursement,
  • Representing providers during audits from Medicare and other third party carriers.
  • Developing documentation templates for clinical providers to ensure accurate and correct documentation.

John was raised near Biloxi MS, and now resides in metro-Atlanta, GA, with his family.

Contact: [email protected]

GARY LUCAS - Vice President of Research & Development (MS Health Informatics)

Gary Lucas serves as Vice President of Research & Development and provides strategic and tactical direction for the ArchProCoding as well as maintaining and administering the RHC and FQHC certification programs offered by ArchProCoding.  Gary provides a unique perspective by having an extensive background in education & training in the healthcare industry over the last 29 years by providing over 1,900+ nationwide seminars on medical records documentation for physician and outpatient-based medical centers dealing with professional coding, medical billing, Medicare compliance, and practice management in person for 46 states.

Since accepting his current position with ArchProCoding, Gary has provided training and eLearning administration for ArchProCoding’s online and live/virtual training.  Gary is responsible for the design and development of several revenue cycle and healthcare education related IT products and services while still providing onsite professional training and project management services to the rural health clinics and community health centers.

Gary’s primary areas of expertise include:

  • physician and outpatient-based medical records documentation compliance,
  • training curriculum strategy and planning,
  • healthcare revenue cycle compliance,
  • eLearning and Learning Management Systems design and management,
  • training clinical providers and their colleagues on medical records documentation, coding, and medical billing guidelines

Starting in 2007, Gary spent 5 years with Booz Allen Hamilton providing IT consulting, organizational change, and training management services to federal government clients including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Veterans Health Administration, among others.  

In 2004, Gary opened Discover Compliance Resources, Inc. and provided similar consulting services to pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, health care facilities, and the Department of Defense (CONUS and OCONUS).

Gary holds a Master of Science in Health Informatics from the University of Illinois – Chicago and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Georgia. He currently resides in Metro-Atlanta and enjoys playing and watching live music, finding hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and making his 2 sons laugh.

Contact: [email protected]

John Burns - CPC, CMPA, CEMC, CH-CBS, RH-CBS VICE PRESIDENT OF AUDIT & COMPLIANCE SERVICES

John Burns, Vice President of Audit & Compliance Services at Arch Pro Coding, John brings over 25 years of expertise in the healthcare industry. His career is dedicated to clinical documentation improvement, accurate coding, optimizing and managing compliance risks for healthcare organizations across the United States. In his role at Arch Pro Coding, John oversees documentation and coding reviews, helping clients enhance their compliance and efficiency. He provides professional audit services and delivers customized training to a wide variety of healthcare practitioners, addressing areas such as documentation, coding, and billing compliance. His strategic guidance helps mitigate risks and ensures alignment with industry standards.

John is also an experienced instructor, leading both virtual and on-site courses, including Arch Pro Coding’s signature programs such as the Rural Health and Community Health Coding and Billing Bootcamps and the Evaluation and Management Documentation and Coding curriculum. John’s career began in 1995 with The Medical Management Institute, an Atlanta-based consulting firm, and he later founded Modern Conventions in Compliance, Inc., where he served as President and CEO from 2004 to 2013. He later joined Doctors Management, LLC as a Senior Consultant before transitioning to Arch Pro Coding in 2016.

Residing in north Georgia, John’s work has taken him across all 50 states, providing his expertise to a diverse range of healthcare organizations. He has been widely published in respected medical publications such as Coding Alert, BC Advantage, and Part B News. John’s deep commitment to improving healthcare compliance is evident through his extensive contributions to the industry and his volunteer service as a civilian contributor to the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Contact: [email protected]

 

Jackie King, MSHI, CCS, CPC, COC, CRHCP - Vice President of Hospital Education Services, ICD-11 Readiness Expert

 

Jackie King has worked in the health care field for over 35 years in both clinical and administrative positions at small rural and critical access hospitals, RHCs and physician practices. Prior roles include Medical Imaging Technologist, Quality Management and Utilization Review Analyst, and multiple Director roles of Health Information Management (HIM); ACO Compliance; and Clinical Informatics. She received her Master of Science degree in Health Informatics from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012. In 2016 she joined the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network (ICAHN) as HIM Consultant, Compliance Official, and Clinical Informatics Director for the Illinois Rural Community Care Organization (IRCCO) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) until July 2022 when she formed her own LLC. Jackie continues to work as a consultant for ICAHN/IRCCO. She joined ArchProCoding as a consultant in January 2019, creating and maintaining the Critical Access Hospital Coding & Billing Boot Camp and continues to serve as Vice President of Hospital Education Services and ICD-11 Readiness Expert.

Her primary focuses are providing education, performing documentation and coding audits, sharing resources, promoting efficiency and best practice, and improving health care services for RHCs, small rural and critical access hospitals and their rural communities across the country. Jackie has presented rural health topics nationally both in person and virtually - rural healthcare is her passion! Jackie was born and raised in Freeport, Illinois, and now resides in Rock Falls, Illinois.

Contact: [email protected]

Julia Scott - Education Operations

Julia Scott’s experience spans more than 25 years in the Healthcare Education industry, including Director of member Services, Marketing, Conference/meeting Planning, Information Technology, Learning Management Systems, Database Management and IT Support.

Julia holds a Bachelors degree in Business Management and Information Technologies. She was raised in St. Petersburg, FL but now resides in Atlanta, GA with her partner, and two German Shepherds.  In her spare time she volunteers for German Shepherd Rescue of Georgia. 

Contact: [email protected]

Dawna Beasecker - Director of Member Services

Dawna's experience includes 20+ years of working with students at the college level. She has a BA from the University of South Florida in Business Management, and a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Tennessee. For many years she worked as librarian instructing and assisting student's in their research and academic goals. Born in Ohio, she grew up in Florida and currently lives in Tennessee with her boyfriend, 4 dogs and a cat. 

Contact: [email protected]

Stacey Howe, BA, CPMA, CH-CBS - Director of Revenue Cycle Management

Ms. Howe has over 20 years of experience in healthcare revenue cycle management, billing, coding, credentialing, and privileging, and documentation auditing with 10 of those years being in the FQHC Community. Ms. Howe's academic background includes a Bachelors in Business Administration (BA), Certified Professional Medical Auditor (CPMA) through the National Alliance of Medical Accreditation Services (NAMAS), a certified Community Health Coding and Billing Specialist (CH-CBS) by the Association for Rural Health Professional Coding (ARHPC).  Ms. Howe has successfully obtained NCQA CVO Certification for multiple organizations, scoring near perfect and perfect scores on these.

Contact: [email protected]