With nearly three decades of experience directing commercial lending, corporate finance, and insurance for leading brands, Perficient’s Insurance Principal, Brian Bell, stands at the forefront of our financial services practice. In the increasingly competitive insurance landscape, organizations must strategically leverage digital transformation, and Brian excels at navigating this evolution to deliver maximum client value across all industries.  

Brian believes insurance serves a noble purpose and is a great source of pride. Continue reading to learn more about his ever-evolving approach to insurance, the favorable circumstances for digital transformation in the industry, and the growing momentum our insurance experts are seeing in the marketplace.  

What is your role? Describe a typical day in the life.  

Perficient, though not new to insurance, is consistently realigning to capitalize on the industry’s digital transformation potential. In my role as our Insurance Principal within our Financial Services business unit, I spearhead our strategy and delivery efforts in insurance. I often engage with account developers and clients to address their requirements in transitioning legacy processes and technology to meet the expectations of a digital operating environment.  

Beyond this, my days typically revolve around three major aspects:  

1. Strategy. It’s important to think about what’s happening in the industry, and to help our clients and teams understand what’s now, new and next. This approach helps leaders to pragmatically prioritize and optimize focus.  
2. Delivery. Successfully executing delivery excellence in a timely manner while proactively addressing roadblocks is a necessity to growing our expertise.  
3. Sales support. I see myself as a resource for sellers throughout Perficient by offering thought leadership and strategy that elevate conversations with our insurance clients and prospects.  

How would you say your role supports Perficient and our clients?  

We’re developing industry solutions needed by many of the largest insurance companies in the market. Carriers choose us to solve complex business challenges through capabilities like personalization, commerce, and platform modernization, and we’re constantly evolving our end-to-end capabilities so we can equip insurers to work smarter, drive value, and stand out in a competitive environment. Our brand point of view is resonating in the marketplace, and we’re being invited to take part in many new opportunities and develop strategic relationships – all helping to grow our Insurance expertise. 

How have you seen priorities shift as the insurance market becomes more competitive and new risks emerge for insurers? 

Property and casualty insurance is feeling the pinch of increased loss costs due, in great part, to the growing frequency and severity of natural disasters, and heightened automotive accident rates and repair costs. In response, many companies are tightening the market by closely examining expense ratios. 

However, this challenging landscape presents an opportunity to leverage digital transformation tools like cloud-based modernization for efficiency, personalization to enhance customer relationships, or intelligent automation to streamline experiences. These strategic investments, paired with data-driven insights, are essential in offsetting some of these loss ratios. Now is the time for businesses to address market shifts by enhancing their infrastructure with a focus on digital transformation, personalization, and predictive modeling. 

LEARN MORE: How Perficient Empowers Insurers in the Digital Era 

How have you seen key themes from the 2022 InsureTech Connect (ITC) Conference come into play at Perficient throughout the past year? 

Many of my conversations and learnings from this year’s ITC event involve agent systems and ecosystems, embedded insurance, and – of course, the hot, new topic for 2023 – generative AI.   

• Personalized Experiences Across the Ecosystem

  We are looking at a lot of different technologies and platforms to help enable personalization. We’ve had some of the most well-known insurance companies make investments to personalize journeys for agents, direct consumers, and plan participants. 

• Embedded Insurance: Not a Fleeting Opportunity

  Embedded insurance, one of the main focuses of last year’s conference, has been a bit slower to catch on than the industry anticipated. After conversations with industry leaders at ITC 2023, we believe that, while embedded insurance is still in its infancy, it’s still something to watch.  

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  I believe there’s a time and a place for AI, and we have the opportunity to use it as an aid to our jobs. It can also support employees with the proper content and insights so they can work smarter and more efficiently, freeing time to tackle more important business needs. A great AI use case is a chatbot that can help deflect unnecessary human interaction.

  This is a huge value of AI, however, insurance is still highly consultative, and access to a trusted agent or advisor who can personalize and customize an insurance profile as risks and life evolve is still valued and necessary. These agents or advisors can leverage AI to monitor life changes and prompt customer outreach, delivering a better personalized, customer-centric experience.

LEARN MORE: Brian Bell’s Takeaways From ITC 2023 

What did you learn in your conversation with an independent research firm during ITC Vegas 2023? 

Our ongoing engagements and relationship with this independent research firm have prompted relevant report inclusions, and I was excited to meet with a key industry analyst while at ITC. In this meeting, we discussed digital transformation in the insurance space, specifically as it pertains to true sustainable development. Beyond this, we also talked about the major trends this independent research firm is tracking, and how those mirror what we’ve seen and heard throughout the past year. Some of the main talking points were around agent systems and ecosystems, embedded insurance, and of course, generative AI.  

We’re approaching conversations with analysts through the lens of our Now, New, Next (N3) framework, and exploring how and where insurers should prioritize modernization efforts for greater business impact. This approach equips insurers to better differentiate themselves and stay ahead of the pack. 

Why are you Proudly Perficient?  

I’m proud to be a part of Perficient because of the great people I get to work with. People show up collectively to win and want to win together by working as a team. It starts at the beginning in creating the playbook and is prevalent throughout delivery and beyond. Working with such a diverse group of individuals and mindsets allows me to learn and grow every day, and this is something I see reflected across industries and subject matter knowledge in each project we deliver.

Perficient + Insurance 

We believe insurance serves a noble purpose – to protect property, liability and financial obligations. We leverage our technical expertise, delivery excellence and deep understanding of insurance to help our clients transform digitally. Explore why leading insurance carriers count on us to drive results. 

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT  

It’s no secret our success is because of our people. No matter the technology or time zone, our colleagues are committed to delivering innovative, end-to-end digital solutions for the world’s biggest brands, and we bring a collaborative spirit to every interaction. We’re always seeking the best and brightest to work with us. Join our team and experience a culture that challenges, champions, and celebrates our people.   

Learn more about what it’s like to work at Perficient on our Careers page. See open jobs or join our talent community for career tips, job openings, company updates, and more!   

Go inside Life at Perficient and connect with us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.   

Our consultants bring decades of deep industry and technical experience to help our client’s build strategies for an evolving market and solve complex technical challenges.​ I recently connected with Kaushal Shah, lead business consultant at Perficient to discuss his 20+ years of experience in IT quality, validation, and regulations management.

Thanks for joining me today, Kaushal. I’d love to kick off with hearing more about your role at our global digital consultancy. How are you making a difference for our clients, colleagues, and communities?  

Kaushal enjoying time with family

When I joined Perficient in May of 2020, I brought positivity, dedication, and more than twenty years of software quality and validation experience within healthcare and pharma.

As a lead business consultant in the computer system validation department, I plan, write, implement, and review the computer systems validation plan and protocols within highly regulated industries.

I also manage test management systems and application testing cycles for different client projects. Throughout the project lifecycle, I play a significant role in the requirements, qualification testing, and implementation phases.

I engage with clients to understand the project’s validation, related expectations, and requirements for successful delivery, including:

• User requirements specifications
• Validation plans
• Risk assessment reports
• Functional and technical specifications reviews
• Test plans
• IQ, OQ, and PQ protocol & reports
• Deviation management
• Validation summary reports

I am also involved in updating relevant SOPs, related to quality assessment of software and computer system suppliers, according to applicable business requirements and company procedures.

At Perficient, I am continuing to grow my knowledge and experience in the healthcare industry.

My team acknowledges the sincerity and dedication I put into every responsibility and task assigned to me. We contribute to each other’s growth constantly. We all bring different functional and technical expertise to support one, culturally and professionally diverse team.

Meet More Lead Business Consultants: People of Perficient: Meet Our Lead Business Consultants

What do you value most in your role?

I love being able to use the expertise I have acquired over the years in quality and validation management.

I value the trust and support I receive from my Perficient team and my client teams to successfully validate the system. I am so grateful for Perficient! The opportunity to represent Perficient to clients through my work is very valuable. I get to learn more about the healthcare industry every day.

What made you decide to work for Perficient? What makes you stay and want to do your best work? 

I consider Perficient to be the best in the regulated and technology consulting industry. It has seen exponential growth and still has a lot of potential to continue to grow. The work environment is great. Perficient always values people and ideas.

The company recognizes individuals despite being a large company with a great number of colleagues across the continents. In addition to all this, Perficient has great advancement possibilities. I also have work-life balance at Perficient. This has enabled me to learn Indian classical music- a lifelong dream!

EXPLORE NOW: Culture and Connections

How is a culture of inclusion important to our success?

Due to diverse culture within our teams, we enable our people to exceed our clients’ expectations and grow with Perficient. The factors that enable my teams to achieve this growth include:

• Establishing processes of assisting collaboration across multiple geographies, ensuring that everyone gets the support they need
• Triggering processes to show professionals when opportunities arise
• Enabling them for their next role

READ MORE: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Healthcare

Life Sciences Leaders Turn to Us

Our deep expertise in life sciences and digital technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, helps transform the R&D process and deliver meaningful value to patients and healthcare professionals. More than 150 ​​pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and clinical research organizations have counted on our world-class industry capabilities and experience with leading technology innovators.​

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build every day within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

After nearly two decades with our global digital consultancy, John Ideler, director in our healthcare and life sciences (HLS) business unit, is expanding his role and helping to build a culture of collaboration at Perficient. I recently sat down with him to learn more about his role and how he manages tactical and strategic responsibilities. I loved hearing about how his team is consistently exceeding client expectations with a “can-do” attitude, and I’m sure you will too!

John, Thanks for joining me today. I’d love to kick off with hearing about your career journey with Perficient. How do you impact the company’s culture of collaboration? What does a typical day or project look like?  

John and his wife, Merri

I have been with Perficient for 19 years. In 2002, Perficient acquired the small technology company I was working for in Chicago. Our healthcare practice incubated out of the Chicago team in 2008, originally focusing on data analytics and warehouses. I joined the healthcare team several years later, as I had already been managing multiple healthcare projects. While a part of the healthcare team as a senior project manager, leadership asked me to lead the execution team. This team consists of all project and program managers, scrum masters, product owners and product managers.

The team grew from three project managers up to 22 team members as of today. Last year, Brent Teiken, the general manager of healthcare and life sciences, asked me to expand my role to develop processes and procedures that build a stronger and more robust delivery excellence presence and operational mindset. I initiated the HLS onboarding experience, providing a sense of belonging and community to new hires. I also developed an HLS account dashboard to track the performance of all HLS accounts.

I am focused on building stronger collaboration between HLS colleagues.

My typical day consists of balancing the tactical needs of the execution team with the more strategic role of delivery excellence. The execution team requires:

• 

  John’s three kids, Matthew, Mara, and Mark

  Staffing

• Recruiting
• Career counseling
• Career growth
• Training
• Reviewing the team status
• Any operation support required

In the delivery excellence role, I am usually:

• Onboarding one or two HLS colleagues per week
• Tracking the health of all HLS owned accounts
• Developing new processes
• Assisting in managing daily operations

Since joining the HLS team, I have been managing the delivery of projects and ensuring the HLS execution team is enabled to meet and exceed client expectations. We are accomplishing this through best practices in project management. The HLS team is bringing delivery excellence to each client project.

What energizes you in your daily responsibilities?   

In my role: I like providing value to my team at Perficient. Every day presents a unique challenge to solve.  As Forrest Gump says, “Life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get”. That sums up my daily routine. There are always unexpected items that need answers, guidance, or action.

On my team: I thoroughly enjoy watching my talented team members consistently exceeding client expectations and going above and beyond to support the execution team. I enjoy my interactions with the team and am energized by their hard work and enthusiasm.

At this company: I am impressed with the entrepreneurial environment at Perficient. We establish opportunities to grow your career with challenging and fulfilling work at every client. I have worked on many projects, with many practices and team members. I am consistently amazed at the “can do” spirit of every team that I have worked with at Perficient.

What has kept you with Perficient for the last 19 years? What continues to excite you about the company, today?

John visiting Pere Marquette State Park

If you would have asked me 19 years ago, when my company was acquired, if I thought I would still be working at Perficient, I probably would have said no. But over the years, I came to appreciate Perficient as a very entrepreneurial place to work.

Perficient greatly appreciates out-of-the-box thinking and new and improved ways to meet client’s needs. 

The size, scope, breadth, and complexity of client work has grown, which provides challenging and rewarding project and program management experiences. Perficient also allows you to be you, and to do your job without a lot of unneeded oversight, provided things are going well.

The most important reason I stay at Perficient is the philosophy that for all projects, Perficient does it with the client, not to the client.

Throughout my 19 years at Perficient, I have enjoyed the comradery of the various practices, teams, and team members I have worked with over the years.  It sounds cliché, but I do get inspired by the hard work and dedication of all Perficient colleagues.

Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us

Our healthcare experts  understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fifth-largest healthcare IT consulting firm.

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build everyday within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

Douglas Stewart, principal of healthcare and life sciences, is utilizing his 20 years of healthcare experience to offer our clients the best solutions to their most complex challenges. We recently connected to discuss how he came to join the Perficient team. I loved hearing more about his background in the healthcare space and what he values most about Perficient’s company culture. I’m sure you will too!

Thank you for joining me today, Doug! I’d love to kick off with hearing more about your background in the healthcare industry and your current role at Perficient. 

Douglas with his family

I started my career in information technology as a programmer, back when Google was new, and Amazon sold books. That led to an opportunity in New York City working in the healthcare and life sciences industries.

Subsequently, I took a role leading projects and systems for the largest health plan in New Jersey. My focus shifted toward the intersection between technology and business outcomes, where I supported organizations in defining goal-oriented needs.

I’ve been responsible for hundreds of work efforts in the payer space. I’ve been the buyer on many occasions. Now I’m using that background to help provide the best solutions based on payer needs to develop deeper client relationships.

My role involves working with sales teams, marketing teams, clients, other principals, and industry analysts to grow our healthcare and life sciences practice. An average day in this role varies based on what’s happening in the industry and what is most important and relevant to our customers. Typically, a day is about:

• One-third ensuring that our offerings address market needs
• One-third understanding problems and explaining how we have solved them, successfully
• One-third thinking about the future to make sure we stay ahead of changes and develop practical solutions

I’m frequently called on to participate in client proposals because of my background. In those circumstances, I shift my complete focus to communicating the best solutions for our clients’ needs.

LEARN MORE: Healthcare Digital Consulting Services

What do you most enjoy about your role and about working at our global digital consultancy?

The people that I work with at Perficient make it a place that’s very enjoyable to work. This company has managed to collect a critical mass of genuine, helpful people who are really interested in solving problems. In my experience, Perficient is a place where people can be authentic and make a difference in a number of ways.

I’ve been involved with many teams throughout my career, and this is the most talented team I’ve been a part of. 

We have conversations about how to preserve our culture as we grow, which tells you a lot about our company.

I think we all value the culture here, and we should do everything in our power to embody it, preserve it, and include our clients in it.

READ MORE: Perficient Giving, Employee Resource Group

What drew you to a career at Perficient? And what motivates you to stay and do your best work?

As I met with leaders at Perficient during my job search, I was truly impressed by the caliber and number of dedicated experts concentrated in a single organization. Since joining the company, I’ve continued to be impressed with the talent pool at Perficient.

My colleagues are passionate about their industry, have innovative perspectives on how to solve problems, and are eager to collaborate to get things done and make exciting things happen. The enthusiasm is contagious!

I’m applying my 20 years of healthcare experience to help clients define their needs.

The people I work with motivate me. I appreciate the people who were involved in the decision to bring me on board last year and the large group of talented people who are looking for their next assignment. Every week I speak with folks that have done really great work to solve common problems. If we can show clients how we can do the same for them – we’ll win.

We’re all really fortunate to be a part of Perficient right now as we grow and align our technical expertise to healthcare and life sciences.  The amount of money spent on healthcare continues to grow exponentially along with our business here, but the health outcomes are getting worse. We can help fix that. Anywhere you have really complex issues to solve and lots of spending, there’s a great market for industry focused technology consulting.

Large, highly regulated, and complex problems are difficult to solve, and there’s an enormous amount of money at stake. Businesses need help, and that’s where we come in. Our clients need to address these problems head on. They are especially interested in practical solutions and stories about how other organizations solved relevant problems. Right now, we’re seeing a significant shift towards:

• Consumerism
• Accurate and modernized clinical platforms
• How Artificial Intelligence will change the ways we work

We are right in the middle of the action, and that’s the perfect place to be.

LEARN MORE: Culture and Connections

How are you seeing DE&I addressed in your work and in the industry? How are you seeing the prioritization of health equity impact the industry and the clients you serve, and how are we approaching our healthcare work through an equity lens?

Professionally, I look at this from a healthcare management perspective. There is a lot of evidence that certain populations need more personalized attention to improve health outcomes. I also can’t help but view this issue from a personal perspective, having a racially diverse household.

I’d like to think that the prioritization of health equity creates passion and opportunity to become more invested in what’s possible.

In the United States, the health equity conversation has happened primarily through the lens of studying social determinants of health, which try to identify why certain population segments have health outcomes that are worse than others (i.e., infant mortality rates and maternity care).

In the life sciences industry, it’s more complex due to the breadth of global organization. It seems, however, like a large focus right now is creating accurate clinical data and ensuring clinical trial diversity requirements. To me, it’s about smarter ways to get products to market quickly while making sure everyone has equal access to those products.

Perficient has major engagements that align directly to these goals, and help drive better health for everyone, especially those who need it the most.

EXPLORE NOW: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) in Healthcare

Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us

Our healthcare experts  understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fifth-largest healthcare IT consulting firm.

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build everyday within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

We empower healthcare organizations by developing effective strategies, implementing pragmatic solutions, and creating exceptional consumer experiences. Our consultants bring decades of deep experience across an array of healthcare settings to help our client’s build strategies for an evolving market and solve complex technical challenges.​ I recently sat down with a few of our healthcare leaders to discuss how they are utilizing their depth of experience in the payer and provider industries to achieve these goals for our clients. 

Thank you for joining me today, Marybeth, Kristina, and Doug! I’d love to start with hearing more about your backgrounds in the payer & provider industries. 

Marybeth Wrabel, Payer Specialist:
Blogs |LinkedIn

Marybeth Wrabel, Payer Specialist: I’m a tenured marketer and digital product management leader with 20 years of experience working for national and international payers. I built my career by following through on promises and going above and beyond for my constituents.

My colleagues quickly began referring to me as a subject matter expert in various aspects of the payer business. 

During my career in the payer space, I got the opportunity to lead a global team of marketers. I developed a program to motivate them to think more strategically in their daily work. More recently, I led a cross functional group of Agile product owners and their respective peers across digital, analytics, marketing, and segmentation.

Kristina Kaufmann, Senior Business
Consultant: Blogs | LinkedIn

Kristina Kaufmann, Senior Business Consultant: I’m a lead business consultant at Perficient. I’m also a registered nurse (RN). Although I no longer provide direct patient care, I will always be a nurse. Prior to joining Perficient, I was an outpatient internal medicine and cardiac nurse for over seven years. Before that, I was a cardiac nurse in the hospital setting for about seven years. It was always such an honor to help save someone’s life, to advocate for patients throughout the continuum of care, or to comfort them during their last moments.

With each nursing shift, I felt like I made a difference and helped change lives for the better.

During my time in the outpatient setting, I was utilized as an expert on new rollouts and implementations. I enjoyed helping my fellow nurses and physicians with new technology. This guided my career towards healthcare technology, where I completed my master’s degree in health informatics and joined Perficient.

Douglas Stewart, Healthcare Principal

Douglas Stewart: I started my career in information technology as a programmer, back when Google was new, and Amazon sold books. That led to an opportunity in New York City working in the healthcare and life sciences industries.

Subsequently, I took a role leading projects and systems for the largest health plan in New Jersey. My focus shifted toward the intersection between technology and business outcomes, where I supported organizations in defining goal-oriented needs.

LEARN MORE: People of Perficient: Meet Marybeth Wrabel, Payer Specialist

Describe your current role at Perficient. What motivates you in your role?

MW: Today, my role as a payer specialist at Perficient gives me an opportunity to help support clients with strategy and delivery. Payers have so many constituents to serve. The strategies, experiences, and messages for each constituent group must be truly unique if you expect to earn their engagement.

The company culture at Perficient is one of openness, collaboration, and respect. I enjoy working on the cross-functional strategic teams where there is mutual respect for different backgrounds, strengths, and contributions.

KK: My current responsibilities at Perficient include clinical subject matter expertise, clinical business analysis, project management, medical terminology specialty, and healthcare strategy. I bring a unique perspective to the company through the lens of an actual provider in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. I’ve been able to help generate new ideas, use cases, and potential solutions to clinically oriented projects and initiatives.

I’m able to help integrate the clinical world with technology and business.

DS: As I met with leaders at Perficient during my job search, I was truly impressed by the caliber and number of dedicated experts concentrated in a single organization. Since joining the company, I’ve continued to be impressed with the talent pool at Perficient.

My colleagues are passionate about their industry, have innovative perspectives on how to solve problems, and are eager to collaborate to get things done and make exciting things happen. The enthusiasm is contagious!

I’m applying my 20 years of healthcare experience to help clients define their needs.

Read More: People of Perficient: Meet Kristina Kaufmann, Senior Business Consultant

What perspectives can you bring into your role based on your background? How has your expertise helped you serve our clients? 

MW: After spending nearly my entire career with payers, I have developed a perspective on many aspects of their business. Payers have much potential to engage with their constituents in new and improving ways.

Achieving this engagement is determined by a payer’s strategic goals and appetite for change. It’s fascinating to see payers and providers around the country shift to integrated delivery models. This shows that there is a desire to impact the entire experience for members from service to payment. This is also an attempt to control costs for highly engaged populations.

There is great opportunity to help payers improve member experiences.

KK: My background gives me a good understanding of what the end user is expecting or needing from a product. I often use my personal experience with clinical workflows to support healthcare related decisions and solutions. I’m able to step back into the shoes of a provider and ask myself, what would help me as a nurse provide higher quality care or complete my tasks more efficiently, so that I can spend more time with my patients?

This has ultimately led to improved virtual health implementations through understanding of healthcare needs and change management.

DS: I’ve been responsible for hundreds of work efforts in the payer space. I’ve been the buyer on many occasions. Now I’m using that background to help provide the best solutions based on payer needs to develop deeper client relationships.

What does the emergence of the quadruple aim and the prioritization of health equity mean to you, as an industry expert? How are you seeing this impact the industry and the clients you serve?

Marybeth Wrabel: I’m proud to work with clients that are forerunners in health equity. These organizations strive to help bridge the gap of systemic health inequity and racial injustice. They have freely shared their findings and challenges obtaining self-reported race and ethnic data, assessing its accuracy from other sources, and even designing a program that meets high validity and reliability standards.

If payers and providers are striving to improve health outcomes, it can’t just address the health outcomes of specific groups. It must include everyone.

KK: Health equity is a critical step in improving the quality of care. If you’re not able to reach certain patient populations or geographic locations, resources and services cannot be utilized properly.

Making health equity a priority, is pushing the needle towards innovative care and digital health through remote monitoring, virtual visits, better communication, and collaboration, helping to close gaps in access, treatment, and patient outcomes.

DS: Professionally, I look at this from a healthcare management perspective. There is a lot of evidence that certain populations need more personalized attention to improve health outcomes. I also can’t help but view this issue from a personal perspective, having a racially diverse household. I’d like to think that the prioritization of health equity creates passion and opportunity to become more invested in what’s possible.

Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us

Our healthcare experts  understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fifth-largest healthcare IT consulting firm.

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build everyday within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

With robust industry expertise, our healthcare team achieves excellence in transforming how the world’s biggest brands connect with consumers and grow their businesses. I recently sat down with one of these experts. Marybeth Wrabel is a lead of payer strategy at Perficient who applies her 20 years of expertise in the payer industry to deliver excellence for our clients.

Marybeth, thank you for joining me today. I’d love to kick off with hearing more about your background in the payer industry. 

Marybeth Wrabel | Payer Specialist

I’m a tenured marketer and digital product management leader with 20 years of experience working for national and international payers. When I was in my mid-twenties, early in my career, a marketing leader saw my potential. She would continuously encourage me to lead initiatives that would put me in a position to grow. I developed confidence in my ability to navigate completely new and uncomfortable situations. I built my career by following through on promises and going above and beyond for my constituents.

My colleagues quickly began referring to me as a subject matter expert in various aspects of the payer business. 

During my career in the payer space, I got the opportunity to lead a global team of Marketers. I ensured I was able to make genuine connections with each of them and bring them together as a team. I developed a program to motivate them to think more strategically in their daily work. They built a better brand through strategic thinking and growing capabilities within their respective regions. One of them told me, “We live all around the world, but you never make us feel that way.”

More recently, I led a cross functional group of Agile product owners and their respective peers across digital, analytics, marketing and segmentation. I was responsible for strategy and delivery. That team is one of the best I’ve ever been a part of. Through mutual trust and strong communication, we helped each other grow in areas where we didn’t have extensive expertise. I helped many in the data and analytics group to learn the payer business, and I learned a lot more about data, technology and delivery.

EXPLORE NOW: Marybeth Wrabel, Author at Perficient Blogs

How did you come to work for Perficient? What makes you stay and want to do your best work? 

I got an offer from a payer an hour before Perficient made its offer. I chose Perficient for the variety of work and opportunity to grow in my career. The ability to learn continuously is important to me. Additionally, I will have the opportunity to work in provider and medical technology as our clients think strategically about breaking down silos. From the consumers perspective, the healthcare experience is connected. They don’t see the silos that businesses create for themselves. Healthcare consumers do not think of payers without thinking of providers, and they do not pursue the medical technology they need without thinking of how a payer can help them attain it.

Describe your current role at Perficient. How are you applying your experience with payers to serve our clients? 
Today, my role as a payer specialist within Perficient’s healthcare practice gives me an opportunity to help guide sales opportunities and support clients with strategy and delivery. Payers have so many constituents to serve. The strategies, experiences, and messages for each constituent group is truly unique if you expect to earn their engagement. The company culture at Perficient is one of openness, collaboration, and respect. I enjoy working on cross-functional strategic teams. There is mutual respect for different backgrounds, strengths, and contributions.

After spending nearly my entire career with payers, I have developed a perspective on many aspects of their business.

Payers have much potential to engage with their constituents in new and improving ways.

Achieving this engagement is determined by a payer’s strategic goals and appetite for change. It’s fascinating to see payers and providers around the country shift to integrated delivery models. This shows that there is a desire to control the entire experience for members from service to payment. This is also an attempt to control costs for highly engaged populations. There is great opportunity to help payers improve member experiences in this area.

EXPLORE NOW: Empowering our People: A Culture of Collaboration

After decades of experience in the payer industry, what continues to excite you about your role?

I value the variety of the challenges that we solve for our clients, at every stage from pre-sales to delivery. Working for payers, I would focus exclusively on the challenges directly impacting my segments and constituents. In my role at Perficient, I get the opportunity to apply my expertise more broadly. On my team, I value the different perspectives and deep expertise my colleagues apply to their work.

After two decades at payer companies, I’m pleased that I am able to utilize my experience to help my company and my clients grow. It’s common to see people with a long tenure at payers. Because of this, actively introducing new ideas is valuable. I enjoy listening to what my talented colleagues have to say while brainstorming solutions.

How are you seeing the shifting focus onto the quintuple aim affect the payer industry and the clients you serve?
I’m proud to work with clients that are forerunners in health equity. These organizations strive to help bridge the gap of systemic health inequity and racial injustice. They have freely shared their findings and challenges obtaining self-reported race and ethnic data, assessing its accuracy from other sources, and even designing a program that meets high validity and reliability standards.

If payers and providers are striving to improve health outcomes, it can’t just address the health outcomes of specific groups. It has to include everyone.

LEARN MORE: The Emergence of the Quintuple Aim

Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us

Our healthcare experts  understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fourth largest healthcare IT consulting firm.

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build every day within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

Today, it is more important than ever for healthcare organizations to offer an excellent digital experience. In an industry that is highly regulated, understaffed, and still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, David Perkins, account manager, is striving to enable healthcare organizations (HCOs) to provide better patient care. I recently sat down with him to learn more about his passion for supporting his healthcare clients. We also discussed what it takes to thrive at Perficient as an account manager and what he values most about his teams.

Hi David, Thanks for speaking with me today! I’d love to start with hearing more about the facets of your role as an account manager at Perficient. How are you impacting our culture, growth, and clients? 

David gardening with his now-5-year-old twins, Jayne and Ryan

As an account manager, my role is to represent and effectively communicate Perficient’s end-to-end capabilities and services. I also work to understand my client’s current challenges to qualify new support opportunities. This role involves a lot of internal coordination. I work with our team of subject matter experts to finalize pricing and deliverables. A typical day in this role likely includes the following:

• Lots of coffee
• Updates to internal records
• Project creations
• Team and client calls
• A diet Coke
• Contract writing & approval efforts
• Pursuit coordination
• Prospecting emails
• Sales training

In a company culture, positivity is very important to me. I try to have an upbeat and cheerful presence on my internal and external calls. This certainly puts me in the position to act as a “hype-man” for my clients and get subject matter experts excited to participate — LET’S GO!

I am also a culture ambassador within our healthcare and life sciences business unit. Our group works to better understand and promote our employee’s motivations.

Perficient’s healthcare and life sciences sales team is made up of highly motivated top performers. It is really a great team, and I’m glad to be a part of it!

To help my team maintain its momentum, I strive to stay focused on my individual sales goals, aid my managers, and share and assist in any way I can.

I help my clients understand what new systems and technologies are available and consider which options make the most sense. Some of my long-time clients have been working with me for more than seven years. I have built a solid relationship and foundation of trust with my clients. These relationships have given me an understanding of my clients’ needs and challenges and helped me grow and expand our services into different departments of the organization.

SEE MORE: People of the Healthcare BU

How did you decide to join Perficient, and how have you since been enabled for continuous growth? 

I came to Perficient through an acquisition of a smaller agency called MedTouch. Once the acquisition was finalized, I immediately saw the advantages in expanding my technical knowledge at the more mature digital agency, and I have been enabled to do so.

I am grateful to be working at Perficient. I have the opportunity to learn and sell many different technologies and services, and I have access to so many great minds and applications.

LEARN MORE: Empowering Our People

What do you value most about your role supporting our healthcare clients? 

I enjoy my role and the opportunity to HCOs. Many are operating with small, underfunded teams and are still managing the effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.

What I value most about my role and what I want to do with my career is improving operations and patient experiences for HCOs so that they can focus on providing better patient care.

Many HCOs need help, in many forms. They are widely underfunded and understaffed. Prior to working in healthcare, I worked in digital marketing for a large e-commerce company. It was a night-and-day difference around the available budget for digital transformation and advertising compared to most healthcare organizations. Seeing these ongoing challenges in this industry has helped me focus on what I want to do with my career.

EXPLORE NOW: Healthcare Digital Consulting Services / Perficient

Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us

Our healthcare experts  understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fourth largest healthcare IT consulting firm.

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build every day within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

Driving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is top-of-mind for healthcare and life sciences organizations. Since the COVID-19 pandemic revealed disparity across industries, consumers are expecting organizations to play a more active role in safeguarding against health disparities and under-represented clinical trials.

According to Forrester, “By 2030, HCOs (healthcare organizations) must actively dismantle the inequities that affect marginalized communities. As the industry reckons with this inequity, HCOs must use their mission and values to guide decision-making, rather than hard ROI.” There is still much improvement to be made, but DE&I is now more firmly positioned in the healthcare landscape.

As we begin the new year, this momentum is continuing to accelerate, and our experts are dedicated to enabling our clients to implement meaningful DE&I initiatives within their companies. I recently sat down with some of our industry experts to discuss how their work in healthcare and life sciences is approaching this.

Driving DE&I With Strategy and Expertise

Healthcare organizations play a critical role in offering access to care and acting as social safety nets in their communities. They, along with life sciences organizations, are at the center of reducing health inequities. Utilizing industry and technical expertise to build inclusive care pathways is critical.

Marlana Voerster, senior healthcare strategist, shared, “Diverse voices and a focus on inclusion, prevents blind spots that leave groups behind and create more inequity. This is particularly important in healthcare. It’s hard to think of anything more important than one’s health. Creating care pathways that all people can access, regardless of their color, economic background, first language, sexual orientation, etc. can only truly be accomplished through representation and collaboration.”

READ MORE: People of Perficient: Meet Marlana Voerster, Senior Healthcare Strategist 

An inclusive messaging strategy is a major factor in supporting DE&I in healthcare. Adding inclusive functionality to the user experience gives patients confidence when seeking care which, in turn, reduces health disparities. Kayla Brown, solutions architect, supports her clients in this area.

“With clients, the work we do with personas and journey maps highlights the difference between the approach to care and the consumer’s decision-making process. We must thoroughly consider how the following factors could affect the necessary language or messaging:

• Level of access to healthcare
• Insurance type
• First language
• Preferred pronouns
• Sexual orientation

We also think through the user experience by providing clear and unified pathways for those who might need to consume the digital presence in a different format (e.g. keyboard alternation, language translation, screen reader, etc.).”

LEARN MORE: People of Perficient: Meet Kayla Brown, Solutions Architect

Supporting representation in healthcare benefits the overall patient experience. Providing patients with care experiences that they feel represented by leads to better health outcomes.

Iyappan Rathina, delivery director, shared, “Patients see better health outcomes when they are able to trust their provider. Research has shown that patients are more likely to trust healthcare providers where they see themselves represented. This leads to a better understanding of their health condition and, ideally, more successful treatment.”

EXPLORE NOW: Driving DE&I In Healthcare With Global Collaboration: Insights from Chennai

There has been growing awareness and concern around the historical under-representation of minority groups in clinical trials due to a small percentage of represented zip codes. The need to address diversity gaps through remote access to clinical trials has become apparent, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Traditional trials have led to a serious lack of diversity,” said Param Singh, director of clinical operations solutions. “The solution is to allow socio-economically and geographically diverse patients to participate in clinical trials independent of their location via a modular and flexible bring-your-own-device solution.”

READ NOW: People of Perficient: Meet Param Singh, Director of Clinical Operations Solutions

Healthcare & Life Sciences Leaders Turn to Us

Our healthcare practice is comprised of experts who understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fifth-largest healthcare IT consulting firm.

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build every day within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

With robust industry experience and a drive for productive collaboration, both internally and with our clients, our healthcare practice achieves excellence in transforming how the world’s biggest brands connect with consumers and grow their business. I have had the chance to connect with some of our most knowledgeable healthcare professionals to discuss their expertise, and how they collaborate with their teams to drive excellence for our healthcare clients.

Powering World Class Expertise in Healthcare

Kristina Kaufmann, senior business consultant, Healthcare, uses her specialized background as an RN to enhance the work we are delivering for clients.

“Prior to joining Perficient, I specialized in cardiology and internal medicine for more than 14 years in inpatient and outpatient settings,” said Kristina. “I always saw technology as an opportunity to improve clinical workflows and patient care. My nursing background encompasses hands-on provider experience and reassures clients that I’m a credible resource when it comes to healthcare operations.”

READ MORE: People of Perficient: Meet Kristina Kaufmann, Senior Business Consultant

The Healthcare BU fosters a rich culture of collaboration through every step of its end-to-end service. Each voice matters as peers work seamlessly to achieve Perficient’s mission.

“There is a family atmosphere with my peers at Perficient, and we enjoy and encourage giving back to the community,” said Melinda Schmidt, solutions architect, Healthcare. “I have been impressed with how much I matter to my peers and to my leadership team. We are a collective team, working toward a common goal of being the best global digital consultancy.”

LEARN MORE: People of Perficient: Meet Melinda Schmidt, Solutions Architect

At Perficient, every member of the team uses their personal expertise to support their peers.

Param Singh, director, clinical operations solutions, shared, “In my 22 years of consulting, this is the most talented team I have worked with. They prioritize the goals of our company and our clients above all else, all while supporting each other and myself. I am constantly in awe of their talent and dedication, and value all that they do to impact our collective success at Perficient.”

EXPLORE NOW: People of Perficient: Meet Param Singh, Director of Clinical Operations Solutions

The variety of talent and expertise within the team also promotes efficient problem solving. For Paddy Cozens, technical architect, collaborating with peers makes daily tasks enjoyable.

“Along with the day-to-day challenge of thinking outside the box to solve complex problems, my colleagues are without a doubt the single biggest factor that I value about working at Perficient,” Paddy said. “The wide range of people I get to meet and collaborate with motivates me. Plus, the individual perspectives, skills, and experiences of the team collectively helps navigate the complex obstacles we encounter daily. The nature of my job means that I am always solving problems, and they are usually urgent. What makes it enjoyable is the people I work with, the relationships I build, and the teamwork and camaraderie to problem-solve together.”

SEE MORE: People of Perficient: Meet Paddy Cozens, Technical Architect

Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us

Our healthcare practice is comprised of experts who understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fifth-largest healthcare IT consulting firm.

ed know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build every day within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

Perficient is a global digital consultancy transforming how the world’s biggest brands connect with customers and grow their business. With Perficient, you get experience and expertise, speed and agility, and a healthy dose of pragmatism to drive your business forward. I recently got the pleasure of sitting down with Marlana Voerster, senior healthcare strategist, to discuss how her role supports this mission. Along the way, I learned what makes Perficient’s culture special and what Marlana values most about her team.

Thanks for joining me today, Marlana! Could you tell me more about your role at our digital consultancy?  

Marlana’s work-from-home office mates caught napping on the job.

As a senior healthcare strategist, my role is multifaceted, and that’s one of the aspects I love most about my job.

My focus is helping organizations understand their audiences and create enhanced healthcare consumer experiences.

But that can take many different forms, including:

• Market research and consumer interviews
• The development of personas and journey maps
• Creating omni-channel strategies that help drive conversions and build loyalty

We tailor everything we do to the client and the needs of their audiences. Therefore, no two projects are ever the same.

The work I do every day ties right into Perficient’s mission to transform how organizations connect with customers and grow their business. The patient experience can be uncertain, stressful, and scary. Helping healthcare organizations create deeper relationships with their audiences can take some of that uncertainty and stress out of the patient’s journey. The industry has come a long way, but there is much more opportunity to make pathways to care more seamless. I am very proud to be a part of that transformation.

READ MORE FROM MARLANA: Marlana Voerster, Author at Perficient Blogs

What do you most enjoy about your role and about working at Perficient?

In my role, I have tremendous freedom to explore projects. There is no one-size-fits all structure that we must adhere to as strategists. This means that we can put our detective hats on and go down the odd rabbit hole that we know will unearth valuable insights. My favorite part of my job is uncovering those little nuances that create big ‘a-ha’ moments!

The healthcare consumer experience team at Perficient is second to none! I know I’m biased, but I work with an incredibly smart, creative, and passionate group of people. Our backgrounds are diverse, which means that we are constantly learning from one another. We’re always happy to jump on a brainstorm call to lend our expertise to another colleague’s project. I learn something new every day and have a great time doing it.

My favorite part of Perficient is the culture. We seem to attract people who love what they do and are very good at it.

I often work on projects with other teams, such as commerce or management consulting. Each time I do, I feel valued for what I bring to the project, and I learn a lot from my colleagues. I am proud of the work we do together. It’s a team atmosphere, and I love working with people who share that spirit.

LEARN MORE: About our Promise to Challenge, Champion, and Celebrate our People

What drew you to a career at Perficient? And what motivates you to stay and do your best work?

In my case, I worked with a Perficient colleague at a past job, and always wanted to have an opportunity to work with her again. I had been itching to get back to consulting work, and I knew that she had a great team and an open position. Long story short, the stars aligned. It’s always nerve-racking to move to a new employer, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity that Perficient represented. I’m now a year and a half in, and I’m still thrilled with my choice.

Why are diversity and inclusion important to our culture at Perficient and in the healthcare industry? 

Diversity & inclusion is important to Perficient, as it is to all organizations. Without diverse voices and a focus on inclusion, our work runs the risk of having blind spots, leaving groups behind, and creating more inequity. This is particularly important in healthcare. It’s hard to think of anything more important than one’s health.

Creating care pathways that all people can access, regardless of their color, economic background, first language, sexual orientation, etc. can only truly be accomplished through representation and collaboration.

READ MORE: DEI in Healthcare

Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us

Our healthcare practice is comprised of experts who understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fifth-largest healthcare IT consulting firm.

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build everyday within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

Perficient transforms how the world’s leading enterprises and biggest brands connect with customers and grow their businesses. I recently sat down with Kayla Brown, a solutions architect at Perficient, to learn how she promotes this transformation in healthcare. We also discussed what she values most about her job, and why she loves her team.

Kayla, Thanks for joining me today. I’d love to start with hearing more about the day-to-day functions of your role as a solutions architect. How do you impact healthcare clients? 

I work with clients to help set the overarching vision for their digital ecosystem. This is often related to their public-facing website but could also include their portal, content strategy, visual design, marketing automation platform, or some combination of those tools. I also work with clients to expand their audience’s knowledge and interaction with the digital brand.

Because I work exclusively with healthcare clients, we work to understand a consumer-centric approach within the context of a care journey, which can be intensely emotional and sensitive.

We couple consumer motivations with business and growth objectives to build an impactful future state from an internal and external perspective. A lot of my day-to-day work involves taking in client’s inputs from a variety of areas of their business and consumers; synthesizing and pulling out relevant themes as they relate to their consumer audience and helping articulate those in a clear and focused way to be leveraged in design and implementation of a given digital platform.

READ MORE: Healthcare Digital Consulting Services

What do you value most about your role, your team, and your company?

• 

  Kayla spending time with her niece and nephew

  In my role: I love being able to take apart complex digital initiatives and find an approachable path to success – which looks very different for different clients.

• My team: is constantly pushing healthcare organizations to transform their businesses by empowering digital, marketing, and operational teams to advocate for business growth and transform consumer experiences.
• At Perficient: I value the breadth and depth of expertise and solutions. I am consistently amazed at the level of knowledge Perficient possesses across technologies and strategic objectives.

Perficient is an ecosystem where the sky is the limit – you are allowed to push yourself to deliver exceptionally and retain your relationships with clients far past the initial project.

EXPLORE NOW: Empowering Our People

What made you decide to work for Perficient? What makes you stay and want to do your best work at Perficient?

Perficient acquired my company at the very beginning of the pandemic. What keeps me at Perficient is my desire to impact change. I see tremendous growth within our practice. Working with clients to develop compressive cross-department client relationships, truly impacts measurable change.

I have an incredibly intelligent collective of colleagues who collaborate, and deliver at an incredibly high caliber, and my leaders support innovation, critical thinking, and a growth mindset.

What do diversity and inclusion mean to you, and how does this play a role in your work at Perficient? 

In my own life, it is about alleviating barriers and advocating for those who battle bias. I challenge myself to promote representative diversity. I try to always analyze situations, keeping in mind how audiences without my own privilege would approach it.

With clients, the work we do with personas and journey maps highlights the difference between the approach to care and the consumer’s decision-making process. This includes thoroughly considering how the following factors could affect the language or messaging that needs to be used:

• Level of access to healthcare
• Insurance type
• First language
• Preferred pronouns
• Sexual orientation

We also think through the user experience by providing clear and unified pathways for those who might need to consume the digital presence in a different format (e.g. keyboard alternation, language translation, screen reader, etc.).

LEARN MORE: Healthcare Personas & Journey Maps Jumpstart

Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us

Our healthcare practice is comprised of experts who understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fourth largest healthcare IT consulting firm.

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build every day within our teams and with every client.

With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

SEE MORE PEOPLE OF PERFICIENT

I recently connected with one of our colleagues in Latin America (LatAm) to discuss how she participates in global collaboration, and how that collaboration supports diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in the healthcare industry. Laura Catalina Navarro Rodriguez, an account manager at Perficient, facilitates a culture of collaboration and strong communication across global teams. I enjoyed hearing about how she has seen projects support accessibility in healthcare, and I’m sure you will too!

Thank you so much for joining me today, Laura! I’d love to kick off with hearing more about your role. How does your work impact Perficient’s culture, growth, and clients? 

Laura Catalina Navarro Rodriguez, Account Manager

I define my role as being the “synapse between neurons” to facilitate and promote communication between Perficient teams and clients to strengthen our position as a global company. The objective of my role is to collaborate, build, and maintain a robust relationship with each partner, client, and account stakeholder, ensuring multiple points of contact and staying especially attuned to individual and business needs. I work closely with partners, clients, and stakeholders to:  

• Clearly define business needs 
• Create winning and innovative strategies 
• Coordinate with global operations and capacity teams to ensure maximum business value for our clients  
• Support our LatAm teams in their efforts to deliver the highest quality services 

 How is Perficient – as a global team – driving excellence for our clients?  

Perficient’s main excellence-driving factor is our people. We have strong technical talent, with senior level roles represented in all of our global delivery centers.   

Most importantly, our people are accountable, vocal, caring, and driven to deliver high-quality solutions and exceed client expectations.  

We have a strong unity mindset. We are part of a global team, and despite our differences in location, culture, beliefs, collaboration styles, and in some cases language (or slang), we belong to the same united team – global delivery. We are a fully diverse team working for the same purpose: to deliver excellence.  

We drive excellence by ensuring that we involve the right experts at the right time. We all have the same opportunities to participate, propose, challenge, and explore. Being respectful of differences and utilizing each person’s unique skills to their fullest potential gives us the ability to implement the best solutions successfully.  

Why is it valuable for organizations to promote diversity through global teams, and within global teams? 

Diversity is a part of the human experience.  While working with a diverse group of people, we cannot take a “one-size-fits-all” approach. This is why our people are the most important factor in delivering excellence. If we ignore our differences (language, culture, time zone, motivation, and ability), the spark in our highly motivated team will fade.  

Working with teams across the globe, we can utilize strengths from every team. When working on a proposal, in most cases, the best recipe for success involves utilizing a blended team. For example, a blended team may be the best option when a client needs a specific skill set best represented in one part of the world, but also must meet a formal requirement, such as having a team in their time zone. Within blended teams, the key to success is communication. The team must have strong communication to stay aligned on delivery needs.  

In LatAm we have a saying that goes “two heads think more than one.” Understanding that we all think differently helps us communicate successfully while working in a diverse team. All ideas should be listened to and considered. The LatAm delivery center is now a compound of five different countries, each country with several offices. There is a whole lot of variety in ways of thinking and skillsets, and there is a lot of potential. So, promoting a culture of openness, unity, and strong communication helps us feel included and work together equitably.  

Digital transformations can either help healthcare organizations achieve greater equity or inadvertently exacerbate it, so it’s important that we approach our healthcare work through an equity lens. How are you seeing Perficient’s collaboration across the globe help deliver projects through this lens? 

As end-to-end partners to our healthcare clients, it is important that we:   

• Foster collaboration and inclusion with our global delivery centers, with the common goal of achieving excellence for our clients 
• Utilize blended teams, giving everyone the opportunity to participate in the construction of solutions 
• Fully understand and address the client’s needs 

Healthcare organizations in the US are increasingly focused on equity in healthcare. Our work can create a huge impact to society, especially in the healthcare industry. Utilizing virtual health and other technologies, we are seeking to make the most effective tools available at the right time and place and with appropriate support for every patient to improve access to care. 

Through a partnership with one of the top digital health cloud platforms for Software as a Medical Device in the US, we’ve collaborated to improve the patient experience by enabling healthcare and life sciences organizations to better understand and address consumers’ needs.

READ MORE: A Tide That Lifts All Boats: Overcoming Inequity in Digital Health

See Success in Action: Improving one of the largest health providers in Colombia’s digital experience 

Here’s an example of a project we delivered through an equity lens. Our payer client partnered with us to improve their digital platforms.

The Colombian healthcare system is divided into two types of payers:

• subsidized, insures people with lower income
• contributory, insures the people that can afford a monthly payment

We helped this client ease the process for enrollment, login, change logs, and information updates, reducing the amount of time invested from the payer and the paperwork needed. This resulted in higher coverage of people accessing the healthcare system. It also provided more efficient service for people already covered by subsidized or contributory payers. We also added the ability to enroll over the phone, expanding accessibility to people without internet access. 

EXPLORE NOW: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) in Healthcare

Healthcare Leaders Turn to Us

Perficient is dedicated to enabling healthcare and life sciences organizations to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within their companies. Our healthcare practice is comprised of experts who understand the unique challenges facing the industry. The 10 largest health systems and 10 largest health insurers in the U.S. have counted on us to support their end-to-end digital success. Modern Healthcare has also recognized us as the fourth largest healthcare IT consulting firm. With more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Perficient is a trusted, end-to-end, global digital consultancy.

We bring pragmatic, strategically-grounded know-how to our clients’ initiatives. And our work gets attention – not only by industry groups that recognize and award our work but also by top technology partners that know our teams will reliably deliver complex, game-changing implementations. Most importantly, our clients demonstrate their trust in us by partnering with us again and again. We are incredibly proud of our 90% repeat business rate because it represents the trust and collaborative culture that we work so hard to build every day within our teams and with every client.

Contact us to learn how we can help you plan and implement a successful DE&I initiative for your organization.