Noridian – The Nicest Healthcare Solutions Partner in GovCon

Partnering in GovCon can be critical to meeting complex needs of federal clients, especially when that client is as complex as CMS. It can also be challenging to find a team that aligns with your culture and is interested in a reciprocal relationship beneficial to all parties involved. Looking to better understand nearly six decades of success, OS AI sat down with Noridian Healthcare Solutions’ Christine Dunleavy, Vice President of Channel Management, and Anne Simon, Vice President of Customer Experience, to find out more about this team’s focus on partnerships that are collaborative, agile and high integrity.

Growing up Alongside

A MAC before it was a thing, Noridian has grown and evolved alongside CMS, helping the agency as it grew. “We consider it a point of pride that we are helping drive innovation and providing support for the largest healthcare provider in the US but there is also a level of humility, understanding we are really supporting the beneficiaries,” says Simon.

Seeing the people behind what they do, understanding that human interaction, Noridian takes its role seriously. An example? During COVID, the team saw an increase in talk time with end user due to navigating uncharted times for providers, helping solve complex issues, and fulfilling a desire for greater human engagement due to isolation. “People calling in seemed like they needed a few extra minutes of conversation and engagement. We considered it part of our role to provide that balance of professionalism and personal touch,” says Simon.

From the agency side, there was collaboration on lessons learned, on navigating the move to virtual, adapting training and requirements to meet the new norm. “Again, it came down to a point of pride, seeing the agility and our staff of they, we, everyone banded together, no metrics were missed,” says Simon.

Partnership – Internal and External

Noridian’s culture of engagement, of focusing on people, played a vital role during COVID, before and has continued since. “Constant communication is the most pivotal component of really ensuring that everyone is OK, that we are functioning at a high-level to meet expectations,” says Simon.

Part of functioning at a high-level means engaging with partners that become an essential part of successful delivery. Internal policies and initiatives, dictated by leadership, are focused on how best to utilize and work with small businesses, both as a prime, but also as a sub. “We recognize that we don’t have to be the leader to provide value to our customer and can serve as a subject matter expert in a sub role, helping smaller teams grow their business, as well as support the customer,” says Dunleavy.

Beyond complimentary capabilities, culture is a key identifier for potential partners as Noridian seeks to not only support its customer but create long-term relationships that will continue, even as the small sizes out of its status, as a mid-tier, and even becoming a large itself. “We strive to be more of a thought leader, a trusted advisor, so finding those that think of themselves in that way as well enables us to collaborate further and really drive value through the work that we do together. A real partnership will leverage the skill sets and the strengths of each, identify opportunities to improve on both sides, and bring both sides together to make the best product or solution for our customers,” says Dunleavy.

Identifying passion and an innovative spirit as markers for a good match, Noridian then focuses on how best to support those partners to ensure their success. “We were humbled to be nominated as large business of the year for the NCMA Zeny Awards. One small business owner shared that we really support her organization, training employees such that we’ve been able to impact her retention rate. That is the kind of marker of success we seek,” says Dunleavy.

Focused on Making Connections

You’ll find members of the Noridian team anywhere an HHS, CMS and VA focus exists, including networking at Shelley’s Events like the October CMS Looking Ahead event, matchmaking sessions through NCMA, and other upcoming events. “When we attend these Beltway in-person events, we book meetings in our Baltimore office as an alternative to traveling to our headquarters in Fargo. We call them small business tours and include team members from various parts of organization like leadership, business development, and operations,” says Dunleavy.

Noridian also has a dedicated Small Business Liaison Officer who manages all the infrastructure around our contracts including supporting small businesses. This includes training both internally and externally and continuous monitoring to ensure we collectively deliver high quality work. Their goal is to support our small businesses all the way through the life of the contract. “A partnership doesn’t happen overnight. It is built on trust and is a long-term commitment. It is staying in touch enough to understand their full capabilities, not just what we’re utilizing now,” says Dunleavy.

Part of that staying in touch includes a Partner Spotlight Series, launched in early 2023, through which a partner organization comes in and takes center stage with the goal of educating the broader organization. “We have the partner talk through their entire business, their capabilities, their experience with the idea that we can collaborate further and identify potential new business, including in other markets,” says Dunleavy.

Noting its commitment to CMS to have a small business plan and to meet those goals, there is also a commitment to deliver the highest quality, most innovative solutions that can come from working with smalls, mids and larges. “Our mission statement is enabling access to care, eliminating barriers and elevating people. That means looking at pulling in the right people to create the right solutions for those that we need to serve, both internally and from a partner view,” says Simon.

What’s Next

Leveraging perspective gained with CMS over its extensive partnership, relationships with State and Commercial payers, Noridian is now looking to translate that expertise and success to other markets and other federal clients, taking care as it does so that it will continue to do right by existing clients, while expanding its offerings to others. “Rural health is a big focus right now, not only from a CMS perspective but thinking of agencies like VA and others. Having expertise, understanding systems and challenges, we are positioned to support programs like these and in a way that is intended to best serve the customer and their citizens,” says Simon.

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