Happenings
Congratulations to the 2025 Annual Awards Winners!
Associate of the Year
Gokul Sethuram
Gokul Sethuram, Senior Developer in Division 34, has been recognized as this year’s Associate of the Year. With eight years at Palmetto GBA, Gokul is known for his technical expertise, professionalism and ability to guide complex projects from planning through completion. As a Senior Developer, he leads major technical initiatives and delivers software development, modernization and compliance-driven projects with speed and accuracy.
Key Achievements:
Process Improvement: Implemented 14 process improvements in 2025, helping strengthen workflows and support more efficient operations.
System Redesign: Delivered a major Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services system redesign, completing the work weeks ahead of the original time estimate.
Compliance and Team Support: Ensured full compliance while safeguarding critical reporting operations. Gokul is also recognized for his problem-solving ability, collaborative leadership and willingness to mentor others.
Gokul is a standout contributor to Division 34’s success and continues to help move important technical work forward with care and precision.
Coach of the Year
Tawanda Dunn
Tawanda Dunn, Provider File Operations Supervisor, in Division 10 has been named Coach of the Year. Tawanda has played an important role in strengthening Provider Enrollment operations through her coaching-focused leadership and the creation of the Provider Enrollment Inquiry Team, one of the most notable operational improvements of 2025.
Her hands-on coaching approach helps staff develop quickly and with confidence. She provides step-by-step guidance, walks team members through real inquiry scenarios, explains policy reasoning and reviews drafted responses with clear feedback. Tawanda also sets clear expectations, provides personalized instruction and reinforces the importance of accuracy and consistent documentation.
Key Achievements:
Team Development: Provided direct coaching and guidance to help team members improve their inquiry research, response writing and policy understanding.
Operational Improvement: Created the Provider Enrollment Inquiry Team, supporting stronger performance within Provider Enrollment operations.
Workload Efficiency: Guided the team in reducing a large inquiry workload while consistently meeting required timeliness standards.
Tawanda is recognized for her steady leadership, strong coaching skills and ability to help others grow while supporting high-quality work across Provider Enrollment operations.
Process Improvement of the Year
SAGE, Provider Contact Center’s Automated Assistant
Team Members: Shravya Boochireddy, Venu Gopal Boppa, Georgette Cantey, Yunus Chhipa, Melissa Cloud, Brenda David, Gerald Eichelberger, Vishvada Ganapati, Amukta Jambula, Jeejun Kim, Marlowe Leverette, Juwan Murphy, Daniel Navis, Satish Palakurthi, Derek Roberts, Melissa Thompson, Santhosh Thota, Ramya Vaddempudi, Yamini Vytla, Emily Wright
SAGE, the Provider Contact Center’s automated assistant, has been recognized as this year’s Process Improvement of the Year. The automated chatbot provides a faster, more efficient way to access claims data, reducing reliance on live agents, the Interactive Voice Response system and the eServices portal. SAGE also helped streamline workflow for Customer Service Associates by integrating with the Inquiry Tracking System for transcript capture, reporting and analytics.
Key Achievements:
Claims Status Access: Delivers secure, real-time claim status information, including reason codes, in under three seconds.
Call Volume Reduction: Significantly reduced claim status-related calls to the contact center.
Chat Resolution: Answered a majority of chat inquiries without agent involvement by the end of the year.
SAGE helped reduce operational costs, improve provider satisfaction and support continuous improvement through reporting and analytics.
Team of the Year
Jurisdiction J and Jurisdiction M Part B Appeals Department Lead Team
Team Members: Cheryl Hannibal, Rae Mahaney, Ryan McCall, Jane Parsons, Trecia Sexton, Shondra Smith, Cassandra Teeters
Jurisdictions J and M Part B Appeals Lead Team has been named this year’s Team of the Year for their performance during a challenging operational year. The team experienced significant workload surges but helped keep appeals processing on track by supporting associates, monitoring workflow systems, researching complex cases and working extra hours.
Key Achievements:
Team Support: Supported more than 85 appeal associates and answered more than 11,000 questions throughout the year.
Training and Quality: Provided monthly and refresher training and conducted quality audits to help maintain accuracy and timeliness.
Decision Letter Processing: Managed more than 20,000 manually printed decision letters and implemented process improvements to handle large‑volume cases.
The leadership team was instrumental in meeting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services timeliness standards and Award Fee metrics, even while workloads increased across all appeal categories.
