An Interview with Aline Yurik of Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA
Aline Yurik, Director of EDI Solutions Delivery at Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, discusses technology in the Healthcare sector, working at Blue Cross Blue Shield, and her Computer Science journey
- How did your interest in computer science begin?
I was initially interested in mathematics, and in high school, I took a lot of mathematics courses. When I got to college, I wanted to look for applied ways of using math and technology that could be used in real life. Computer science seemed to be a good intersection of both. Putting mathematical skills, problem-solving skills, science skills into applications that could be used in our everyday life in many different industries and environments was very interesting to me. I like the problem-solving aspect of it and I like the teamwork and collaboration aspect of computer science. That got me involved in this field then and it still keeps me in the field now.
2) Who is your favorite female computer scientist?
Grace Hopper — one of the first computer programmers and a US Naval Rear Admiral. There is an annual Grace Hopper Celebration conference, which is considered the world’s largest gathering of women technologists. I had the honor of giving a presentation on the connected/smart home at this conference in the past.
3) What drew you to the health care sector?
Healthcare is growing in the ways that they’re using technology. The technology is making a big impact on making health care more efficient and also improving the ways that we can stay healthy or the ways that we can get more medical attention through technology.
So, for me, this was an industry that was growing and impacting people all over the world and in all parts of the U.S.A. The technology was making a huge impact especially in some of the ways that doctors are using technology to interact and try to catch up with patients and make sure patients keep on their path to recovery. Apps with reminders to take medications or reminders to do certain things for their therapy are just a few examples. It’s a very interesting technological development area.
4) What kind of problems are you working on solving in your current role?
I work for Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA which is a health insurance company. The problems my team solve involve things related to health insurance, such as enrolling people in health insurance or when people go to see their doctor, they may need to check their health insurance benefits to see coverage for tests or procedures that need to be done. Once they finish the doctor’s visit, the doctor submits a claim to get paid. Then my team has software that processes those claims and pays doctors and providers for the work that was done.
5) Could you describe your role as director of EDI solutions delivery?
I manage a team of software developers and system analysts and architects who are involved in the technical implementation of software projects. We take projects from the very beginning from the point where they’re just ideas to the point of complete implementation and rolling it out. This may be a project that’s used internally in our company or something that’s rolled out to all of our consumers or something that’s rolled out to our partners and providers.
6) What does a typical day at work look like for you?
I find my job revolves around problem-solving. Problems may involve how to get started on a new project, who needs to be involved, what technologies should be used, and so on. Another part of it may involve a project that’s in the middle of its implementation. We may be falling behind because we’re running into these issues. What do we need to do to get back on track? Maybe we need to collaborate with another team to work on a joint effort. Let’s get together and discuss how we split up the work, how we collaborate… where we just need to make some time for brainstorming or make some decisions to move forward. It’s usually very flexible and we address problems as they come in.
7) What advice do you have for young professionals entering management?
There are lots of opportunities for leadership. It doesn’t matter what position you have today or what your current role in a company is. You can always find an opportunity for leadership. You can always step up and take on a task that will show that you can lead, make decisions, and collaborate with other teams and outside customers or vendors. There is always an opportunity to do that. It could be, for example, that your company may be looking at comparing two different vendors and other people are too busy to get engaged in that effort. It’s something that may be of interest to you. You may raise your hand and say “I would be interested in taking a look at these two tools and working with vendors to compare and understand the features”. Then, you come back with a summary of the features of each of these tools and why we should use one versus the other. That is a good way to showcase what you’re able to achieve independently and a good way of stepping up and showing initiative and leadership.
8) Are there any conferences or symposiums that you recommend?
I like Connected Health Symposium which usually happens in Boston every year in the fall that really showcases how technology is used within the healthcare sector.
9) Would you like to share anything else about Blue Cross Blue Shield?
We are a very collaborative environment. People who work in our company enjoy coming to work every day because we work together in teams and the only way things can happen in technology is by working together. It’s a very pleasant environment to work in where you’re able to achieve your best potential. We have open space areas which are useful for teams that are working jointly because they can easily approach who they need to talk to at the moment to get questions answered or to brainstorm.
We have an opportunity to work from home where it is appropriate. There’s also a lot of flexibility in the schedule which is important for women, especially as they have multiple priorities in their life, whether with aging parents or with small children. It’s valuable to be able to structure your schedule and work from home when it makes sense and be able to come into the office and work collaboratively.
10) Would you say one of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s corporate values is recognizing their employees’ commitments outside of work?
Yes, one of the key corporate values in our company is people. That translates into many aspects. There is excellent tuition support for education. People who want to continue their education can complete an undergraduate degree or go for a graduate degree. There’s a lot of support within the company. We show managemental support to go for further education because we feel that’s a large part of growing as a professional.
There are lots of opportunities to try out new roles. Whether you want to move to another group or to participate in an area of the business that you may have never done before, there are opportunities to do so. There’s a lot of opportunities internally for people who may not have a leadership role right now but who want to be engaged in employee activities or clubs and try out for leadership roles in those.
11) What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve ever received?
The best piece of advice is “Go for it. Take on challenges. Don’t shy away from stepping out and doing something that you’ve never done before.”
We would like to thank Aline for sharing with our team and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachussets for not only supporting technologists of all identities but also for supporting the empowerment of its future technologists at events like TechTogether hackathons. If you enjoyed what you read, follow TechTogether on Medium and subscribe to our mailing list below!
