At Blue Shield of California, Joshua Freilich, Federal Employee Program clinical manager and Matthew Sandlow, senior manager of Care Management found more than just a nursing job; they discovered a community with a culture of compassion and innovation. From reducing claim backlogs to fostering support and growth, their stories exemplify the spirit of our organization. Join us as we discuss their career journeys and explore how your career aspirations can thrive in an environment where our values reign supreme.
What attracted/brought you to Blue Shield?
I was attracted to Blue Shield because it has an exceptional reputation and I have always been impressed with the amazing things Blue Shield does in the community. I also gravitated toward this position because it was remote, so I could spend more time with my family and less time commuting.
I wasn’t looking for a new job when I was approached by Blue Shield. I was happy where I was, but I was willing to leave because of Blue Shield’s values. Being human, honest, and courageous is in line with my core values, and nine years later, we still embrace them. We live and breathe our values and they guide everything that I do.
What are some recent projects and accomplishments made by your team?
Our greatest accomplishment is reducing our claims review backlog from 10,000 claims at the start of the year to 1,500 as of mid-April. What also makes this amazing is our claim volumes are up this year compared to this time last year. My team has rallied around this effort and worked smarter and harder to accomplish this tremendous success. I am so proud of my team and feel blessed to work with them. We are like one big ‘highly functional’ family.
-Joshua Freilich
We recently implemented Care Connect within my teams, which is a new documentation system for care management. I’ve been integral in setting that up for our commercial case managers and it concerns how we document, measure and gauge our productivity. My role is centered around giving people the tools they need to do their jobs and take care of our members.
-Matthew Sandlow
What are some strategies you use to help support the nursing team, boost productivity, and achieve benchmarks and meaningful outcomes?
I have always been a believer in hiring the best of the best and continually working to retain that top talent. This sets the bar higher concerning performance for your team. Additionally, as a leader I think it is imperative to set clear goals, communicate regularly, discuss performance and review productivity and other meaningful benchmarks on a monthly basis as opposed to annually.
I also think it is important to support my team in every way possible. Everyone is going through something, a recent death, marriage, babies, moving, scary diagnoses, etc. I want my team to know that I am here for all their needs and will support them to the best of my ability to help them through anything they are going through in life. A great boss does not just track business metrics, they also track human metrics and strive to support everyone on their team like they are family.
-Josh Freilich
What are your future career goals?
I don't plan on going anywhere and I would love to retire from Blue Shield. Of course, I would like to move up the ladder if the opportunity presented itself, but I am not actively seeking it because I am very happy in my current position.
-Matthew Sandlow
My goal tomorrow, next month, next year, and my five and ten-year plan is the same. My goal is to keep coming to work, give 100 percent, and make the biggest impact I can make with the time I am given each workday to create and maintain a phenomenal team who achieve phenomenal results. I come to work every day with the mission to create a great place to work where great people can do their best work.
-Josh Freilich
What advice do you have for prospective candidates considering a role at Blue Shield?
If your values align with being human, honest, and courageous, this is the place for you because we live our values each day. Whatever your career goals are, you can accomplish them here. The opportunities are endless.
-Matthew Sandlow
Would you like to join a company that values being human, honest, and courageous? Explore our open career opportunities and apply for your next role!
