Cross-divisional effort creates automated process to produce letters for providers

Division 34’s Process improvement of the Quarter demonstrates how cross divisional problem-solving yields exceptional outcomes.

Employees from Division 34 and Division 54 joined forces to eliminate the need for the Optical Character Reader (OCR) licensing agreement renewal as well as  manual downloading, monitoring and correcting of errors for letter text files that are received up to 12 times per day.

The team developed a process to read the letter generation text files and built records in the same format previously received from the OCR. They also automated the receipt of these files and eliminated the need to manually verify and correct OCR reports.

The team’s work resulted in a 50 percent improvement to downstream efforts and reduced the cost and time needed to generate letters for providers.

Team Members:
Lester Badillo (34), Keisha Anderson (34), Virginia Barrett (54), Melissa Cash (54), Chris Cantrell (34), Barbara Evans (54), Chris Fields (54), Doug Northam (34), Joe Strickland (54)

Division 34 team collaborates with Palmetto GBA customers to reduce search result wait times

The Fiscal Intermediary Shared System (FISS) Application Programming Interface (API) Implementation Team accomplished a user interface design and connectivity to API approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) delivering  faster response time for claim status requests. This update also delivered additional claim data that was not previously available for providers.

Not only did team members work with one another to enhance the user interface, but they also worked with Palmetto GBA customers. With customer involvement, the team was able to build a new front-end screen, resulting in an increased service speed and more flexibility in search by allowing users to search by Medicare ID and claim number. This improvement also reduced provider wait times from more than a minute to less than a second. Providers are now able to view more information about their claim than they had access to previously, including the type of bill and more detail on claim denials.

The collaboration between employees and customers made this a successful endeavor and earned this team the title of Division 34’s Team of the Quarter.

Team Members:
Robbie Cassel, Laura Yochum, Victoria Bowen, Kadedra Burgess, Jessica Duffie, Shweta Gajjar, Frances Hui, Rama Jawaji, William Laffin, Marlowe Leverette, Chiranjeevi Munaga, Bharathi Pallerla, Sudharani Parise, Candice Rabon, Suresh Rajaram, Justin Richardson, Jane Salter, Kevin Shick, Amanda Wiseman and contractor Sindhura Allam

Ying Yang earns Coach of the Quarter honor for dedication to mentoring new hires

The Division 34 Coach of the Quarter, Statistical Programming Analyst IV Ying Yang, serves as an excellent example for fellow associates, successfully fulfilling the role of team leader and mentor. She was vital in helping train and mentor nine new hires over the past six months, dedicating extra time to the new associates to help them adapt quickly.

Yang also recognizes when associates need to be challenged with a new task to promote their skill development, critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities. She is a source of praise and encouragement for her team members and clearly communicates to management the exceptional efforts of the team.

Kadedra Burgess recognized as Associate of the Quarter for providing exemplary support

System Support Administrator Kadedra Burgess wears many hats but is adept at prioritizing her workload and addressing production issues that affect portal users. Burgess is a support technician for three different portals and is mindful of departmental deadlines and requirements and is diligent with follow-ups on internal support requests.

Her working knowledge of Structured Query Language (SQL) has helped to relieve developers of the additional tasks of having to perform initial database research prior to running queries. Burgess also has stepped in to perform time-sensitive tasks such as manual updates and portal monthly reporting.

In addition to her duties at work, Burgess promotes a spirit of service in her life by mentoring teens to encourage them to participate in community service opportunities.