Health Plan
Change Agents
BRYJ (pronounced BRIDGE) partners with health plans to align IT and operations with business strategy. We provide deeply experienced consultants that can help plans get strategic initiatives done
Health Plan
At BRYJ, we specialize in solving complex, strategic challenges for health plans, leveraging over 25 years of exclusive experience in the industry. Our consultants partner closely with C-level executives to tackle business and IT issues, helping maximize their limited bandwidth. We work with a diverse range of clients, including Commercial health plans, Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), and Medicaid plans, offering tailored solutions that drive results across the healthcare ecosystem.
Differentiators
What sets BRYJ apart is our deep, exclusive focus on healthcare payers, with a proven track
Proven
Experienced team with over 30 years’ experience each working with MACs and other healthcare payers. Over our careers at CMS and health plans we’ve worked on dozens of complex, strategic transformation projects
Focused
We specialize exclusively in healthcare payers, with the majority of our work focused on MACs and Medicaid plans. Additionally, we've partnered with over 20 BlueCross BlueShield plans and other major commercial payers
Agile
As a small, agile team, our size and flexibility enable us to collaborate closely with clients, delivering tailored solutions to tackle their most complex challenges
Exclusive
We intentionally take on a limited number of clients to ensure we can provide each one with an exceptional, personalized experience
Services
The BRYJ Guarantee:
We offer monthly retainer-based services for both short- and long-term engagements. While our typical initial engagement lasts three months, we are frequently retained for extended periods to support implementation. Our practice includes two primary offerings:
- Need to solve problems that span IT and business
- Looking for creative, outside-of-the-organization thinking to reframe an existing problem and approach
- Need deep health plan operational, IT, and implementation experience
- Seeking ways to streamline and rethink processes leveraging people and technology
- Strategy: For clients that need to develop strategy and options, we offer Assessment and Recommendation services. Recommendations can include planning for costs and resources.
- Education: We can educate and inform staff and leadership on what FHIR is and how it can be valuable for their organization.
- RFP Facilitation: For those clients looking to go to market and purchase a FHIR solution, we organize and manage facilitated vendor demos, vendor selection, contract negotiation services.
- Implementation: We help as Project Advisors to work with the client and vendor to successfully prototype, pilot and/or implement FHIR solutions.
BRYJ Customers
We helped a large midwestern health plan analyze, define a solution and create a proof of concept for an AI-based Intelligent Data Capture solution for their mailroom. For this same firm we created an interoperability solution that allowed the exchange of medical records and other information with local providers
Large, Midwest Commercial Health Plan
BRYJ played a pivotal role in streamlining operations and enhancing efficiency as part of a series of initiatives. The strategic leadership of the team contributed to the implementation of innovative technology solutions that, along with implementing tighter management controls, reduced staffing needs by 50%. This multifaceted approach not only optimized workflow but also maintained high service quality, demonstrating BRYJ's adeptness in aligning technological advancements with broader operational goals, and resulting in substantial cost savings.
Medicare Administrative Contractor 1
For another Medicare Administrative Contractor we were asked to work with IT leadership to create a IT strategic plan that aligned with and accelerated the overall corporate business strategy. Additionally, we were asked to facilitate the implementation of several initiatives that were critical to executing the IT strategy. Other projects included helping the interoperability team gather data and analyze options for the implementation of FHIR for prior authorization. In another project we were asked to work with a provider facing area to understand their current challenges and provide specific solutions to drive critical metrics and transform performance of the function.
Medicare Administrative Contractor 2
Meet the BRYJ team
Mike Hurley
Founder/ President
Mike Hurley co-founded BRYJ in 2018. In addition to being an entrepreneur and founding several integration, consulting and software development companies, Mike has over 30 years’ experience working with health plans and related healthcare organizations. Mike has helped dozens of the largest commercial health plans, MACs and Medicaid plan clients align people, processes and technology to achieve operational success.
Prior to launching BRYJ, Mike helped start the healthcare payer practice at Hyland Software, makers of OnBase. Before Hyland, Mike founded a Robotic Process Automation software development company and founded and grew health plan focuses consulting firm focused on helping clients leverage process automation technologies to achieve operational strategies.
Kevin Erickson
Consultant
Kevin joined BRYJ as a Principal in 2024 with a specialty in transforming IT systems and processes related to business operations. Kevin founded Eightfold Consulting in 2014, a firm distinguished for its expertise in healthcare IT consulting, specializing in Medicare and Medicaid. Over the last decade, Kevin has guided healthcare payer clients through complex technology and process transformations, enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction. In 2016, he co-founded Compeer Solutions, Inc., a company dedicated to advancing interoperability across healthcare systems.
Prior to his consulting work, Kevin spent 26 years at Noridian, where he contributed to the successes of both the Blue Cross Blue Shield plan and the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) business units. His roles spanned from technical support to leading payer operations initiatives, focusing on integrating innovative technologies to improve business processes and service delivery.
Melanie Combs-Dyer
Consultant
Melanie joined BRYJ as a Principal in 2024 with a specialty in interoperability and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). Melanie worked in the federal government for 30 years at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Center for Program Integrity (CPI) where she reduced improper payments in the Medicare program, oversaw the building of the Electronic Submission of Medical Documentation system (eSMD) and represented CMS on the Da Vinci Project, using FHIR to improve interoperability between providers and payers.
After leaving federal service in 2020, Melanie became the Director of Innovation at Mettle Solutions, an 8(a) firm that built and operates the CMS CPI FHIR server. Melanie founded Combs-Dyer Consulting where she focuses on advising clients on how to operationalize FHIR transactions in the real world. Melanie holds a BS in nursing and an MS in health care administration.
Bridge the Gap
Innovative solutions that bridge IT and business, with expertise in health plan operations, IT, and implementation, to streamline and rethink processes using people and technology.
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