Women in STEM, Featuring Meg Rowe of CGI

By Microsoft Industry for Healthcare Team

November 9, 2017

Focus on: Microsoft approach to Operational Analytics in Health

Kuethe: Hi Meg, can you tell me about your current STEM career?

Rowe: Certainly. I currently work at CGI which is a global technology and system integration company. We have a portfolio of over 400 solutions and I am responsible for business development and global growth for one such solution called CGI ProperPay. Our solution uses edits and advanced analytics to identify improperly paid claims to 1) prevent those improperly paid claims from getting processed before payments go out the door and 2) to help clients review claims post payment to see if there is anything they paid inappropriately that they can recover. In business development, we work with potential clients to be review their payment integrity requirements and recommend our solutions. I also work with our development team and recommend system updates and new functionality to meet the ever changing needs of the customers in the healthcare fraud waste and abuse market.

Within my business I work with many women in technology and STEM fields. Our solution is supported by clinical coders, nurses and doctors that work with us as we develop solutions for what our clients need. I work with many women in STEM that have such roles.

Kuethe: Sounds like a really great mix of responsibilities including being customer focused while also working to improve your solution offerings, which requires a diverse background. How did you initially get your start in a STEM career path?

Rowe: Interestingly my background is in accounting. I worked in public accounting performing audits and reviews. I was offered a role early in my career in healthcare to create models on historical data for data and payments, and that was 25 years ago! It is very fascinating to see how things have changed in analytics since that time. The way we are using data today to help make business decisions is so fascinating to me. There used to be so much data that organizations didn’t know what to do, but now we are able to process in the cloud which can handle the large amounts of data and quickly organize it in a way that drives business decision.

Kuethe: What is your favorite thing about your current STEM career?

Rowe: I love how technology changes the way everything is done. This is particularly true in healthcare where technology assist in diagnostics and treatment to improve quality of life and to extend the lives of many. Now the improvements in processing data is something that I am drawn to and using the advanced analytics and machine learning to improve efficiency really excites me. Processing time and what used to take nurses and coders a week to perform, can now take minutes! It is amazing how the administrative component of nurses jobs is becoming that much more efficient. When you think about patient care and the ability to track patients’ metrics, it is incredible, you are able to quickly capture data and then use that data in ways that were never capable before.

Kuethe: CGI is doing some really interesting things in the healthcare tech space. Can you tell me what we can look forward to in the near future?

Rowe: Specifically, for CGI ProperPay we have a large event, The National Healthcare Anti-Fraud Association Conference in November 14 to 17^th in Orlando, Florida. Here we will be releasing our new ProperPay 6.0 version that uses Dynamics as a platform for case management. This platform will allow us to have increased customization and configuration to meet client needs and allow us to service customers outside the US through language compatibility and currency. This conference is one of the largest gathering of people in the field that are responsible for identifying and combating fraud, waste and abuse. It is a great conference because these are payors that are usually competitive but here they get together to talk about what they are seeing, and they share information in a very collaborative way. Following this, we have a roundtable in Germany bringing healthcare payors together in the German market to discuss analytics to combat fraud and CGI ProperPay.

Kuethe: Sounds like a very exciting fall! One final question, what advice do you have for women looking to enter a STEM career?

Rowe: It is interesting because I am on the board of directors at an all-women’s High School in the Cleveland area and am very aware of what they are doing at the High School and primary level to encourage girls in STEM with focused curriculum and projects around STEM. With all the focus, it is crucial to get girls involved in these programs and extracurricular activities at an early age. Then they will meet other girls and women with similar interests that will hopefully encourage them to pursue STEM careers. I also believe it is important for young women to find a mentor to help break into a women in technology or STEM career because then you have someone with similar interests and background to help you navigate your way.

Thank you Meg for sharing your experience with us. For more information on the CGI ProperPay solution that Meg is responsible for, more information can be found here.

We look forward to continuing this series and look forward to hearing your thoughts. If you have additional questions you would like answered as a part of the Women in STEM series, please get in touch with us here.