Almost two months ago, a group of 16 college students joined the ranks at Palmetto GBA as our 2020 summer interns. These young professionals spent their summer working in various areas of the company, from report analysis and application development to competitive bidding implementation to pricing, data analysis and coding.

Coastal Carolina University rising senior Caleb Fins has spent his internship assisting with software development.

“From the time that I began my internship at Palmetto GBA I have been working on a complex desktop automation software,” said Fins, an application development intern. “This software is intended to save Palmetto GBA invaluable time and funds through the process of automating what was once a human task.”

Our interns have gained experience with multiple applications and programs. University of South Carolina graduate student Nicole Nasrallah says learning to work in a UNIX environment in addition to Windows has been the most valuable skill she has picked up during her internship.

“By learning to work in more than one environment and utilizing macro programming, I have the ability in my future career to not only use the way I know how to complete a certain task but also choose the most efficient way to do so,” Nasrallah said.

In addition to working on the backend of Palmetto GBA’s operations, our interns have had hands-on experience testing and researching medical equipment. Jin Nettles, a Case Western Reserve University rising sophomore has been reaching out to researchers for his project and has been deconstructing shoes to see if they meet the requirements for patients with diabetes.

“These last couple weeks I have been researching diabetes mellitus and the technical requirements for therapeutic footwear and inserts,” Nettles said. “I’ve reached out to a few researchers for more clinical information on diabetic footwear. The one I have been talking to recently is a senior researcher at the Department of Rehabilitation, Academic Medical Center, in Amsterdam.”

Palmetto GBA interns also get a broader view of our operations, including our interactions with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS).

“I’ve been learning about the scope and process for the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) proposal to work with CMS in the coming contract years,” said University of South Carolina rising senior Raphael Ofendo Reyes. “Currently, I am constructing a staffing plan and cost assumptions project to help with CBIC’s proposal.”

The experience students gain during their Palmetto GBA internship is designed to assist them as they continue their education and embark on their future career journeys.

“I have learned career boosting skills that will prove useful in the corporate world,” Fins said. “Palmetto GBA has helped me bridge the gap between conceptual learning in the classroom, and real-world enterprise applications. Over the course of this internship I have acquired knowledge of the tools used in the job market, and undoubtedly this newfound knowledge will aid me in my job search in the post-graduation market.”