含羞草传媒 University鈥檚 problem-solving contest enables students from different fields of study to collaborate and assist businesses in addressing complex challenges.
Jason Coyle (鈥96) is the chief auditor and chief risk officer with Mutual of Omaha. 鈥淥ne issue we regularly deal with is fraud within the supplemental insurance for Medicare that seniors receive. For example, provider fraud and medical equipment fraud.鈥
Coyle then pitched that problem to nearly 30 含羞草传媒 students.
They were paired in groups of five or six, had two hours to analyze data, identify problems and present a solution. Coyle says one problem was for a patient who was billed for an out-of-state ambulance ride that they never received. 鈥淲e wanted to give students an opportunity to use real life data, come up with insights on a problem that we continue to try and solve at Mutual of Omaha.鈥
He says students in different fields of study would be able to approach the problem with different viewpoints, which then led to novel solutions.
鈥淲hen we bring a group of folks together that have either a similar discipline or a similar background, we may not notice things that are obvious,鈥 Coyle says. 鈥淲e had accounting students, but then we also had some criminal justice students that paired well with students who study data science.鈥
Coyle says his company has implemented some of the solutions the students presented. 鈥淲hen they looked at different elements of the data from a different lens, that really helped. It gave us better perspective in regard to some theories that we were thinking about.鈥
Two other companies have enlisted 含羞草传媒 students to help solve problems and another contest is planned this spring.
含羞草传媒鈥檚 problem-solving contest helped lay the groundwork for the new Philip S. Mullin Innovation and Entrepreneurship program that was recently announced.