Happenings
Division 10 Highlights Outstanding Employees
Coach of the Quarter
Jason McEwen
Recently promoted to data analyst III in Medicare Quality Assurance, Jason McEwen provides ongoing support to several areas, including the Eastern Region Site Verification Services (ERSVS), Medical Review, Part A Appeals, Quality Assurance and Recovery Audit Contractor. A member of Jason’s team recently approached him for help with generating a report from the ERSVS. Jason gladly fit his colleague into his schedule and coached her through the process of creating the report. In addition to guiding her through the process, Jason also educated her about alternative scenarios that might change the report. Named Division 10's second quarter Coach of the Quarter, Jason is highly prized for his informative training style and his commitment to high-quality customer service and Palmetto GBA.
Associate of the Month — April
Katie Ocasio
Katie Ocasio is a communications specialist I in Division 10’s Policy and Content (P&C) Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) Department. Although she has been with the company for less than a year, she has already proven to be a highly skilled, team-oriented worker. Katie’s commitment to quality and exceeding customer expectations has earned her the April Associate of the Month award. Her meticulous attention to detail helped ensure her team met quality metrics and ensured they were accurately recorded for the month of April. She also submitted a process improvement to enhance the CBIC’s onboarding process.
Katie demonstrated a commitment to teamwork by representing Division 10 in a couple “Battle of the Divisions” fundraising events and attended other events to cheer on her team. Katie’s motivation and positive attitude are an inspiration for her teammates.
Associate of the Month — May
Cana Johnson
Cana Johnson joined National Provider Enrollment West (NPE West) as a senior provider enrollment analyst in November 2023. Despite her short tenure, she has proven to be a valuable team member, earning her the May Associate of the Month award. Because of her experience, skills and willingness to do more than is required, Cana has contributed to multiple projects for other teams. She clearly communicates her work status, responds to requests quickly and has the foresight to ask appropriate questions, which improves efficiency. By multitasking and prioritizing her workload for maximum efficiency, she has helped other areas meet timeliness metrics and to meet contract requirements.
Associate of the Month — June
Porcha Howard
Porcha Howard, a senior quality assurance analyst, always meets departmental quality metrics and has a 100 percent peer review average. She recently did not hesitate to take the lead on a process improvement project to create a PowerPoint presentation for the Medicare Part A Quality Assurance team for use during the Provider Call Center training. As she worked on the presentation, she shared it with the team periodically to get their feedback and updates. Porcha’s commitment to quality and willingness to take on additional responsibility has earned her the June Associate of the Month award.
Process Improvement of the Quarter
Automated manual report to monitor new CMS EFT Process
Team members: Brian Banks, Shannon Collins and Tanya Mattingly
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) new electronic funds transfer (EFT) process adds a do not forward (DNF) designation to supplier enrollments to prevent payment before the verification process is completed. Analysts have monitored this process through a series of manual steps—entering the DNF, creating an EFT for suppliers with a DNF, pulling weekly reports and manually manipulating them to determine if the DNF should be removed.
To eliminate the manual step of pulling the report, the NPE West team worked with the Medicare Statistical Analysis Department to develop an automated weekly report that reviews the Provider Enrollment Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) extract and lists suppliers with a current DNF. This report is systematically emailed to the NPE West team to determine next steps.
This Process Improvement of the Quarter eliminated multiple manual steps, saving time and reducing the chance for human error. During the first month after the process improvement was implemented, calls from providers regarding payment decreased by 89 percent.
Team of the Quarter
Training Delivery & Development Team
Team members: Michelle Carter, Brianna Cornelius, Nicole Inabinet, Mary Latta, Gwendolyn Sabb and Harriett Shepherd
The Training Delivery & Development Team works as a cohesive unit training new hires and individual lines of business. The team continually seeks innovative solutions and travels to other Palmetto GBA locations to ensure the training needs in each are met. Recently they revised their training request form to make it easier to complete and submit. They also submitted process improvements on the personal identity verification certificate and for using the CMS online declaration of employment. The team is currently drafting two more process improvements. Their commitment to quality and consistently meeting performance metrics has earned them the Team of the Quarter award for the second quarter.
During the first six months of 2024, their overall evaluation scores for instructor-led classes ranged from 3.82 to 3.9 out of 4 points. One of their many positive evaluations stated, “My trainer was awesome. I have not ever in all my 10 years of being in customer service had such a great trainer. Mrs. Carter was very hands-on, and her energy made it so exciting to come to training class and learn. I give her 20 stars because 5 is just not enough . . . .”
