Jason McEwen, Associate of the Year

Associate of the Year

Jason McEwen

The 2023 Associate of the Year is Jason McEwen, a data analyst III in Medicare Quality Assurance, who leads data analytics in the Support Operations Division for the Customer Experience (CX) Initiative. Winner of the Fall 2023 CX Award, Jason exemplifies superior service to internal and external customers. During the ten years he has been a Palmetto GBA associate, Jason has become a Qualtrics platform subject matter expert. He can mine and decipher data and create partner report requests, dashboards and widgets. Having both exceptional analytical and communication skills, Jason attended the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) one-on-one advisory interviews to provide and quantify Medicare Administrative Contractor information. Kathy Kardules, director of Medicare Part A/B Appeals, said, “Jason is one of the employees you wish you could clone. He is knowledgeable, prompt, efficient, always helpful and displays an excellent, ‘how can I help’ attitude for internal and external customers. He is a great asset to Palmetto GBA.”

Process Improvement of the Year

CCTG IVR Recording Studio

Team Members: Deirdre Asbill, Isaac Badillo, Christine Brown, Kendrick Crawford, Shane Locklair, Jason Sumpter, Alexandr Umanskiy, Chris Upham and Jeanine Valvano

From left: Shane Locklair, Jason Sumpter, Isaac Badillo, Alexandr Umanskiy and Chris Upham 

The Systems & Support Division’s Call Center Technology Group (CCTG) supports and maintains nine Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications that guide phone callers through self-service options. The system uses thousands of voice message recordings and routes an average of 150,000 calls each month. Prior to the process improvement, an external vendor updated and created IVR messages. The process was costly and took up to eight days to change or add recordings. The vendor’s changes then had to be tested and approved by management before being implemented.

Through research, the CCTG team learned of a software program called Studio by WellSaid Labs, Inc. that is a more efficient and less expensive alternative. With management approval, the team purchased the software license and customized it to manage system changes. Now, the team pastes the approved IVR script changes into Studio and the software converts the text to voice within seconds. By bringing this function in-house, the team significantly reduced script implementation time from eight days to one and eliminated third-party costs. To streamline the process, they created a universal voice for all recordings allowing the team to re-use common voice tags in each of the nine IVRs. By instituting a standardized naming convention, they eliminated duplicate recordings. With this new application, the team created 8,933 minutes of recordings in-house, resulting in a significant cost savings.

Tricia Cordell, Coach of the Year

Coach of the Year

Tricia Cordell

Tricia Cordell currently serves as the Medicare Part B Operations Support Unit manager for Palmetto GBA’s Medicare Administrative Contractor Jurisdictions J and M. With more than 20 years of experience at Palmetto GBA, she has become a subject matter expert for the claims processing operation and is responsible for quality assurance reviews. She provides feedback and processing guidance to CMS and other external stakeholders. Her attention to detail, meticulous mapping out new or updated instructions for projects, ensures everyone is aware of their role in the process. In 2023, she supported her team in completing more than 4,200 inquiries with an average six-day answer time, well below the ten-day requirement. Tricia is an excellent team player who doesn't hesitate to help with maintenance approvals in the workflow management system to ensure work is completed accurately and on time. She provides guidance to team members who have questions or need additional training. Her practical and constructive feedback enhances their skills and self-confidence. She has been named Coach of the Year because she regularly makes contributions that reach beyond her management responsibilities to ensure every member of the team is set up for success.

“Tricia has been an excellent leader and member of our Medicare Part B Claims management team,” said Lori Holsinger, a Palmetto GBA claims manager. “She often assists the production side in explaining the system logic and provides helpful resolutions for problem issues with our claims processing. She takes the time to thoroughly explain the situation in language that those without a systems background can understand.”