In the mid-1980's, Burns McFarland was assigned to represent the business office at Vanderbilt University Medical Center by his law firm in Nashville, TN. A patient that was injured in a vehicle accident and his attorney were given a $200,000 settlement from the liability insurance carrier. Burns urged them to pay the medical bills that were not covered by the patient's absent health insurance. They refused, claiming that since there was no requirement that bound them by law to pay it, they would therefore keep the entire sum, leaving the hospital to absorb the consequential loss.

Burns began to research the issue and discovered that hospitals nationwide were collecting little or nothing from third-party trauma cases. There was no legal backing to mend the issue and Burns became determined to find a solution.

In 1995, after forming his own copyrighted documents and procedures, Burns founded an innovative company to expel the problem at hand: HealthOne. Based in Jackson, Mississippi, the consultants at HealthOne have helped a growing amount of hospitals recover money that they most likely would not have received otherwise.

Since then, HealthOne has expanded from its Southern base to the Midwest, opening offices in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Nashville, Tennessee.