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In this panel discussion, payment integrity leaders will share how they are building data workflows that support day-to-day PI operations. The session will focus on how to move from fragmented systems and static reporting to connected, actionable workflows that enable earlier intervention and better decision-making.

  • Connecting core data sources (claims, eligibility, provider, UM) to support effective PI workflows
  • Turning analytics into usable insights for reviewers and operations teams
  • Building scalable, standardised workflows for triage, case management, and audit tracking
Panelists

Author:

Diane Nguyen

Senior Project Specialist, Payment Integrity Planning and Implementation
Priority Health

Diane Nguyen

Senior Project Specialist, Payment Integrity Planning and Implementation
Priority Health

Author:

Sri Saikrishnan

VP Data and Intelligence
InnovAge

Sri Saikrishnan

VP Data and Intelligence
InnovAge

Author:

Melvin Moore

Director of Informatics Reporting & Analytics
Independence Blue Cross

Melvin Moore

Director of Informatics Reporting & Analytics
Independence Blue Cross

Building a successful Special Investigations Unit takes more than just hiring investigators. It requires the right mix of people, technology, and processes to detect and act on fraud across commercial, Medicaid, and pharmacy lines of business. In this session, Carl Reinhardt draws on over two decades of SIU leadership at Anthem to share a practical blueprint for building and scaling an effective investigations function. Attendees will learn.
- The key roles, skill sets, and team structures needed to build an SIU from the ground up
- The tools and applications required to support investigations across multiple lines of business and geographies
- How to scale SIU operations as membership grows, and lessons learned from managing investigations across commercial and Medicaid populations

Author:

Carl Reinhardt

Director of Special Investigations Unit – West
Anthem Blue Cross

Carl Reinhardt

Director of Special Investigations Unit – West
Anthem Blue Cross

In partnership with Optum

Author:

Tisha Holden

Market President
Optum

Serving as Market President at Optum, Tisha has spent more than 25 years at the forefront of health plan innovation, helping clients build strategic, comprehensive programs to address their toughest challenges and achieve financial health and operational excellence at scale. 

Tisha Holden

Market President
Optum

Serving as Market President at Optum, Tisha has spent more than 25 years at the forefront of health plan innovation, helping clients build strategic, comprehensive programs to address their toughest challenges and achieve financial health and operational excellence at scale. 

While traditional payment integrity concepts continue to deliver more savings, AI and advanced technologies are enabling new PI concepts. How are health plans identifying the “next big thing” in payment integrity? This panel will explore how leading organizations are scaling new savings concepts, the role of AI in accelerating discovery and prioritization, and what will differentiate top-performing payment integrity programs in the year ahead.

  • How new PI concepts are identified, vetted, piloted, and scaled
  • How to prioritize the right opportunities without overwhelming PI teams or creating provider abrasion
  • New tech-enabled billing (e.g., digital therapeutics, remote monitoring, AI-assisted services) and unlisted codes

Payment integrity is evolving from a downstream claims audit function to a proactive, critical lever for upstream cost avoidance. Payment integrity leaders note that ‘shifting left’ can cut administrative duties by at least 10-15%, in addition to improving provider abrasion. But evolving to cost avoidance not only requires a shift in mindset, but an evolution in how data, AI tools, and cross-functional collaboration are used to enable proactive decision making.

  • Case studies: Critical strategies for launching pre-pay programs and measuring ROI
  • How AI is expanding pre-pay capabilities and required governance
  • Rethinking the impact and attribution of provider education initiatives

In partnership with Optum

Moderator

Author:

Stephanie Jackson

Senior Vice President, Payment Integrity
Optum

Stephanie Jackson is Senior Vice President of Payment Integrity at Optum, where she leads strategy and growth across solutions that help health plans improve payment accuracy, reduce costs, and strengthen compliance across the claims lifecycle. She partners closely with payer organizations to deliver scalable, technology-enabled capabilities that drive operational efficiency, mitigate risk, and improve financial performance. Stephanie brings more than a decade of leadership experience at Optum, with a strong background spanning payer solutions, business development, and enterprise strategy. Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and a Master of Business Administration from St. Cloud State University.

Stephanie Jackson

Senior Vice President, Payment Integrity
Optum

Stephanie Jackson is Senior Vice President of Payment Integrity at Optum, where she leads strategy and growth across solutions that help health plans improve payment accuracy, reduce costs, and strengthen compliance across the claims lifecycle. She partners closely with payer organizations to deliver scalable, technology-enabled capabilities that drive operational efficiency, mitigate risk, and improve financial performance. Stephanie brings more than a decade of leadership experience at Optum, with a strong background spanning payer solutions, business development, and enterprise strategy. Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and a Master of Business Administration from St. Cloud State University.

Panelists

Author:

David Kagan

Chief of Healthcare Delivery
LA Care

David Kagan

Chief of Healthcare Delivery
LA Care

Author:

Linde Wilton

Senior Director of Operations
Provider Partners Health Plan

Linde Wilton

Senior Director of Operations
Provider Partners Health Plan

Author:

Philip David

Manager, Program Integrity Unit
Sentara

Philip David

Manager, Program Integrity Unit
Sentara

The payment integrity vendor landscape has expanded rapidly, with plans now juggling specialist partners across pre-pay, post-pay, DRG validation, COB, FWA, clinical review, and an ever-growing list of AI-enabled point solutions. While each vendor promises incremental savings, the cumulative cost of sourcing, contracting, onboarding, integrating, and reconciling reporting across a sprawling stack is becoming a payment integrity problem in its own right. This panel brings together PI leaders who have wrestled with rationalising their vendor ecosystems to share practical approaches for building a leaner, better-orchestrated, and easier-to-manage vendor stack without losing savings yield.

  • How to evaluate and source new vendors efficiently, including which proof points and pilot structures actually predict in-production performance
  • Designing a waterfall and integration model that minimises duplicate findings, claim leakage, and operational drag across multiple vendors
  • Consolidating vendor reporting and KPIs into a single view so PI leaders can defend total program value to senior leadership
Panelist

Author:

Melissa McCabe

Payment Integrity Program Lead
Quartz

Melissa McCabe

Payment Integrity Program Lead
Quartz