Crystal Farmer strives to build a STEM pipeline into Medical Mutual for underrepresented minorities
Crystal Farmer is an unofficial conductor at Medical Mutual, where she organizes many moving parts into straightforward IT deliverables for members and providers.
“I’m kind of a traffic cop-like facilitator – that’s what I really enjoy about the job,” says Farmer, IT director for the Northeast-Ohio based health insurance company. “I want to make sure everyone has what they need to get the job done.”
Farmer joined Medical Mutual in 2008 as a project manager. Her growth into leadership roles saw the Sheffield Village resident lead a $5.3 million budget while being responsible for an increasing number of team members.
Farmer’s current day-to-day consists of managing Medical Mutual’s Electronic Data Interchange team. Insurance claims and eligibility are processed by an 18-person team under Farmer’s leadership – when a provider checks a member’s coverage, it’s Farmer’s department that verifies that information.
Among her proudest accomplishments is implementing a system that decreases processing time of medical claims by expanding the scope of information providers submit.
“This project was especially rewarding, because it was the convergence of business operations, process improvements, IT technical solutions and collaboration with several IT and business areas,” Farmer says. “We have the metrics to show value to the payer, provider and patient. It’s a win-win-win situation.”
Farmer’s 35-year career includes programming-language development and full-scale project management. Several years as a contract programmer led Farmer to a position at Progressive Insurance, where she stretched her legs as a team leader.
Innovative leadership continues to be Farmer’s mantra at Medical Mutual, both in project work and in the hiring process. An on-campus “IT boot camp,” for example, seeks talented programmers as excited about employee management as they are software, she says.
“We have tons of smart technical people, but we [value] someone more well-rounded,” Farmer says. “Those willing to share more of themselves make the best leaders. It’s about respect, openness and taking people as they are.”
Creating an innovative culture also means cultivating ideas from populations historically shut out from the IT industry. Farmer, a member of the Black Data Processing Associates advocacy group, strives to build a STEM pipeline into the company for underrepresented minorities.
Groups such as Greater Cleveland Partnership and the Tech Elevator coding bootcamp are additional avenues for Farmer to find fresh talent on the intern or employee side. Mentoring minority students provides further exposure to a bevy of new opportunities, she says.
“If kids are interested in video games, what’s behind the game, and how did it get made?” Farmer says. “Young people need to know they can get a job doing this, or that the app on their phone is someone’s job to create. If they have that aptitude, this work can be a career for them.”
As the IT industry weighs the integration of artificial intelligence and other new technologies, Farmer values the insight a diverse workforce can bring and looks forward to welcoming other women of color into the innovative fold.
“By being my open, trusted and authentic self, I can provide an opportunity for some other woman to take my place or sit right beside me,” says Farmer. “I don't want to be ‘the only one’ in any group. I want to look around and see lots of other people who look like me, with similar humble beginnings and high aspirations.”
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