Michael P.

When did you join Availity, what was your first role, and what do you remember most about your first year?

Late 2005. I was a software engineer working on AXI and Vitria, our 1^st generation systems. I had just come from Florida Blue, and I remember looking around and thinking “I literally know everyone who works at Availity, and I know what they are working on.” We were that small back then, and I loved the energy around the mission.

What’s kept you here the longest?

I love innovating, and I love re-inventing myself. I remember presenting a new innovative solution for transaction processing that was way faster, cheaper, and more reliable than our current systems. The management team heard me and gave me the space to do it. That is what became ARIES. It still runs today and is the workhorse that processes our core transactions. A couple of years later, a handful of developers and I locked ourselves up in a room for a week to put together a prototype of a new API system that would replace old tech like SOAP services. That was when nobody knew what an API was, or what client-side JavaScript applications were. Now our entire portal runs on that stuff. I’ve stayed here because the company has always given me space to innovate.

What are you most proud of from your time at Availity?

I’ve been here for a bit, so there have been many pride moments ranging from processing the first hundred thousand claims in a day—that was about 20 years ago—to showing up to help providers withstand the damage caused by the United Healthcare cybersecurity event a couple of years ago. We figured out how to show up for the industry when the network was struggling. I remember being on calls with providers, and some were so stressed out that they were crying when hearing us offer our help. It definitely felt like an “Availity saved the day” moment.

What’s a time Availity’s reliability or recovery made a difference (for a provider, plan, or patient experience)?

This is complementary to the previous question. When taking on all these new providers, we doubled our volume overnight. We would not have been able to do this without top-notch resiliency.

When you think about our Core Values, which one resonates the most with you and which do you think will propel us through the next 25 years?

This is always a tough question. They all resonate very loudly, so it’s tough to pick one. Being forced to pick one and only one, I go straight to “Explore Fearlessly”. It’s my happy place. Questioning everything, optimizing, and finding new ways to be on top of our game. Exploring fearlessly is giving yourself the permission to potentially fail. I find that more often than not, the mere fact of exploring fearlessly (aka exploring without fear of failing) leads to success, not failure. Although failing isn’t the same thing as losing. Losing is giving up after failing. Failing and then getting back up is called learning.

What are three words you’d use to describe Availity today?

Trusted. Poised. Decisive: We’re trusted by the industry. We wear this badge with calm and composure. But we’re out there to win.

What’s a favorite memory or milestone from your team?

I remember celebrating the first million claims processed in a month. Today we process almost 300 million of them in a month.

What’s one “tiny way” your team removes friction from healthcare that most people never see?

We run the largest healthcare network in the country. That’s not a one-and-done. Much like air traffic controllers, we watch the network constantly; we look for congestion, we optimize and re-route traffic, we add capacity, we watch for danger and cybersecurity threats. We constantly maintain connections to payers and providers. No one ever sees this, but if we stopped doing it, it’d be very visible almost immediately.

Pick one industry moment you lived through. How did your team or Availity adapt, and what did we learn?

Clearly everyone remembers the cyber security incident at Change Healthcare. That was one of the defining moments for us. One of these moments you’re proud to wear the Availity colors. It was so dramatic and impactful for so many providers. We sometimes forget that there are real people with real livelihoods behind all these transactions. That incident financially threatened many providers, and we showed up to help. We made a difference.

Over your tenure, what habits or mindsets helped you build a career here? What advice would you give yourself or others on their first week here?

“Think like a man of action. Act like a man of thought.” It’s a quote from Henri Bergson that one of my teachers, Mr. Arnold, kept repeating in middle school. It stuck with me. Thinking like a man of action means your thinking should be practical, grounded, and oriented toward doing something real. Not just abstract theory or endless analysis. Acting like a man of thought means your actions should be deliberate, thoughtful, and guided by wisdom rather than impulse. My advice is don’t be an order taker. Think. Then give yourself permission to execute.

What are you excited about in the next year and over the next 25 years?

We’re growing, and this growth is exponential. The bigger we are, the faster we grow. The faster we grow, the bigger we become. We’re winning. And I like winning.