Behind the Data: A Conversation with Quzonna Reed, Business Systems Analyst

Payment Integrity Innovation: Q&A with Quzonna Reed

Amanda Bair: You’ve been with us for more than six years now. What first drew you to ClarisHealth, and what has kept you here? 

Quzonna Reed: I came to ClarisHealth because I felt stuck in my previous role. I wasn’t learning anything new, and the work had become routine. When I interviewed here, I was excited about the work and immediately clicked with the people on the team. I was even hired on the spot, which felt great.

Six years later, the workload and deliverables of my role are significant, no question. But what’s kept me here is the culture. The people I work with, the teamwork, the camaraderie. That’s what makes it worth it. We take on some really complex projects, and it matters to know you’ve got folks by your side who share the same vision and end goal.

AB: What do you see as the biggest challenges for health plans when it comes to PI data? 

QR: Every health plan’s data looks different. Different systems, different formats, different rules. It means no two projects are exactly alike. And now that so much activity is shifting prepay, the pace is faster than ever. Health plans need their data pipelines to be both accurate and quick.

If the data isn’t handled correctly, it creates a ripple effect. Downstream systems and teams can’t trust it, and that just makes everything harder and more expensive.

AB: From your perspective, what do health plans need most from a PI technology partner? 

QR: At the end of the day, they need to feel confident in their data. Health plans are under pressure to cut waste and lower admin costs, and if they’re worried about whether the data is complete or reliable, that’s a problem.

That’s where collaboration comes in. Our ETL and product teams collaborate with our clients to ensure data is structured appropriately. With that in place, we can deliver a user-friendly platform our clients can use to make better business decisions informed by their data. That level of trust is what matters most.

AB: Can you share an example of how your team has solved a complex data challenge for health plans? 

QR: One project that stands out is when I worked with Michael Gilbertson to create a better starting point for how we capture client requirements and communicate them to our dev team. What began as a way to streamline my own workload turned into standardized templates and layouts that we now use across Pareo projects and for basic vendor file exchanges—like audit submission files and status updates.

From there, our Data Analyst team, led by Maggi McKenzie, along with other engineering leaders, took it further and standardized our data ingestion process. Before that, every new integration felt like starting from scratch. We’d spend so much time just figuring out what the incoming data looked like.

By putting a consistent framework in place, we made the process smoother for both us and the client. Now, when a new health plan or vendor comes on board, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. And it’s one of the process improvements that opened up the Pareo One solution, which was created for earlier-stage payment integrity programs. The data feeds into Pareo in a standardized way, and we use the standardized templates/layouts to plug in client-specific info to expedite our discovery and refinement processes. Which means clients get value faster and we can deliver more reliably. It saves everyone time and stress.

AB: How does your team’s approach at ClarisHealth make a difference for clients? 

QR: We always try to think beyond just “get the data from A to B.” We ask, “What does the health plan actually need this data to do?” Sometimes that means building for prepay detection, sometimes it’s about vendor integration, sometimes it’s internalization. Whatever the case, we design our pipelines so they’re reliable and scalable.

What makes it work is the people. Everyone on the ETL team brings a different perspective that helps us creatively and efficiently meet our clients’ needs. That’s what gives clients confidence: we’ve seen it before, and we know how to make it work in Pareo.

AB: What keeps you motivated in this work?

QR: Payment Integrity is evolving quickly, and every project is different. I like the challenge of figuring things out. But more than that, I know the work we do makes a real impact on our clients’ communities.

When the data is solid, health plans can prevent waste, avoid errors, and ultimately help their members. That’s meaningful work, and I’m happy to know my small contributions have a positive impact on a larger scale.

Closing Thoughts

Payment Integrity program leaders are increasingly realizing that hiring more vendors, building better algorithms, and adopting AI tools alone can’t create a center of operational excellence. Success hinges on a strong technology foundation built on reliable data. As Quzonna Reed’s perspective highlights, ClarisHealth’s ETL team plays a crucial role in making that possible.

For health plans, the message is clear: when you partner with a team that understands the complexity of PI data and has the expertise to keep it flowing smoothly, you can focus less on chasing claims payment errors and more on driving strategic results.