Chef Becky is now famous.

Don’t get us wrong, she is forever famous in the eyes of CoverMyMeds’ employees, dishing out deliciousness day after day, but this notoriety is different. 

A quick back story – when not creating amazing/innovative lunches for the CMM crew, teaching cooking classes, and freelance Chef-ing, Becky trains with (or against – debatable) husband Bruce (of CoverMyOlympics fame), for the Ironman. She ran her first half this season, and is training for her first full Ironman in Tahoe next year.

The Ironman is not the fictional comic book character, but you might need his suit of armor to finish this race. An Ironman is a triathlon on steroids; start things out with a leisurely 2.4 mile swim, then a nice 112 mile bike ride, THEN a full marathon run of 26.2 miles. Phew.

The good folks at Triathlete Magazine got wind of Becky’s training, and background, and did a feature on her in their ‘Fuel’ section – focusing on nutritious and delicious foods to prepare whilst preparing for the Ironman. It’s a great piece, informative, with a healthy, and fantastic Bison recipe.

Congrats, Becky!

Read PDF version here: Becky’s article

Oooo shiny!

We here at CoverMyMeds work hard so doctors offices, pharmacies, and patients don’t have to. 

And occasionally, we get to play hard as well – like last Friday, when we had our inaugural CoverMyOlympics.

Each participant selected a country, planet, and/or fictitious land to defend and represent.

Hard not to show partiality for the Fighting Wampas

The CoverMyOlympics lighting ceremony went on flawlessly, with former Olympic ping-pong champion, Dan (representing Boggis, Bunce, and Bean) lighting the massive torch.

Behold! The flame of good sportsmanship!

You know all the staple summer Olympic games like swimming, hammer toss, and various equestrian events? …yeah, we weren’t allowed to have those (by “those”, I mean company horses).

The events we did come up with were much, much more difficult than the aforementioned. Listed below are said events, and placing athletes:

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS

A game of mental fortitude, and physical prowess – the Rock, Paper, Scissors competition was intense, but one Olympian emerged unfazed, shining in high-pressure ’1,2,3, Throw!’ situations.

Jon and Hanif

Congrats to Hanif of House of Baratheon for his nearly flawless gold medal victory, and quelling of incessant post-victory challengers.

 Gold: Hanif (House of Baratheon)

Silver: Jon (Sealand)

Bronze: Chase (Dharma)

TRASHCAN e.P.A. (P.I.G.)

A trashcan, a squishy ball, and unimaginable shots. Unbeknownst to CMM employees, we have a few semi-pro p.i.g. basketball players.

The gold medal match was quite possibly one of the greatest one-on-one b-ball matches in history. Ben of the US  Vs. Amber of Winterfell. It was Jordan Vs. Bird all over, it was Magic Vs….well, Bird again, but shot after creative shot kept falling until Ben put up a 25 foot dagger from deep in the conference room.

 Gold: Ben (USA)

Silver: Amber (House of Winterfell)

Bronze: Joey (Bryan Golden Bears)

STARING CONTEST

A true test of will power, and dry eye-ness, the staring contest bolstered the most contestants. The rules were easy; Olympians stand on their line, prepare, then stare into the eyes of their opponent. First person to blink, lost .

To use the word ‘epic’ in describing the final match betwixt Jon (Sealand) and Bruce (Hoth) doesn’t do it justice. The stare-down lasted for an eternity, eons even, with the ‘Fighting Wampas’ winning gold.

Bruce, hours later, still not blinking

 Gold: Bruce (Hoth)

Silver: Jon (Sealand)

Bronze: Ben (USA)

ARCHERY

One of the more exciting matches, with four practice shots, two ‘real’ shots with the suction cup arrows against our white board target, the archery event had an unforeseen element of danger as the Office Chair Racing lane runs right through the range. Fortunately, the Olympic organizers avoided incidental suction cup to head casualties.

Tricia takes steady aim

Intensity scorched through the brackets, with some incredibly close shoot-outs, but Brian of Pluto cooled down the competition.

Gold: Brian (Pluto)

Silver: Derek (Mars)

Bronze: Scott (Iceland)

OFFICE CHAIR RACING

Similar in treacherousness to luge, Office Chair Racing was chalk full of ‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs’, as Olympians rocketed down the our new expansion area, around the cubicle course, down through our kitchen to the finish line.

Milda flying around the course as Derek makes sure she doesn’t crash into a judge

The times were close, but USofA once again took gold with a scorching time of 24.3 seconds . Way to represent, Ben!

Two Golds and a Bronze

Gold: Ben (USA)

Silver: Kevin (Cybertron)

Bronze: Derek (Mars)

RACE WALKING

Separate time trials were held during the course of the day. Each Olympian had to race walk around our building, down the block, and circle around to the finish line, keeping one foot on the ground at all times.

The top four times (Bruce, Tricia, Derek, Ross) then competed together in one final Super-Action-Awesome Heat, the final event of the ’12 CoverMyOlympics.

The intensity was tangible as the athletes raced around the block, to the joy of the throngs of spectators cheering them on.

Abbey Road or Racewalkers?

Tricia of Spain was the winner, beating out Bruce (Hoth) by a stride. Tricia received a gold medal, and fancy gold trophy for her victory in the final event.

 Gold: Tricia (Spain)

Silver: Bruce (Hoth)

Bronze: Ross (France)

Congrats and thank you to all the hard-working Olympians participating in this year’s events. Start training for next year….

]]> http://blog.covermymeds.com/2012/10/25/covermyolympics/feed/ 0 http://blog.covermymeds.com/2012/10/16/columbus-fall-classic-rowing-for-a-cause/ http://blog.covermymeds.com/2012/10/16/columbus-fall-classic-rowing-for-a-cause/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:10:32 +0000 mabukach http://blog.covermymeds.com/?p=541

It was a beautiful afternoon at the Columbus Fall Classic last Saturday. While the changing colors of fall foliage created a gorgeous backdrop for the rowers at the Hoover Reservoir, one October hue shone brightest above all: Pink.

This is the Breast Cancer Survivors Rowing Team – coached by CoverMyMeds’ own, Brian Haas

The team was started as a means for support, exercise, and overall recovery after successful bouts with breast cancer.

An instant bond was formed betwixt the group, friendships cemented, and eight years later, the ladies are still at it.

Overall, there’s a rotation of twelve on the team, but on race day, eight rowers, and one coxswain (basically the field-manager) man Bud’s Pride, the name of their impressive vessel.

The Columbus Fall Classic is a taxing 4,000 meter race, with a 1,500 meter start, a buoy turn, then a 2,500 “dash” to the finish.

To prepare for such brutal races, Coach Haas brings the ladies together twice weekly to train for the (generally) 3-4 races throughout the year.

As an outsider to the group, it didn’t take long to feel part of the team. The rowers are incredibly warm, and completely open to newbies tagging along. And, there’s the sense of humor…

The infamous CoverMyMeds ‘butt shot’

The Breast Cancer Survivors Rowing Team finished second in their heat, earning silver medals for their efforts.  A special congrats to them, their supporters, and everyone involved in Saturday’s race.

The ladies are an inspiration to all; in over-coming such incredible adversity, and forming a special bond/camaraderie through rowing – truly the ultimate (and arguably hardest) team sport.

If you are interested in joining the Breast Cancer Survivors Rowing Team, or would like to donate to their cause, please email Coach Brian Haas at bhaas@covermymeds.com

CoverMyMeds is always on the look-out for budding Software Developers to join our expanding product development team, so, yesterday, we teamed up with ACM-W and headed to The Ohio State University.

Boyan, fresh from class, assists Alan G. with the masses

What better way to garner attention, than providing the hungry, sleep-deprived mass of students with gallons of Starbuck’s Coffee, and Columbus staple –  Block’s Bagels.

Nums!

And attention we received. The turn-out was fantastic, as the Buckeyes descended upon our booth. We not only got a great response in regards to potential future CoverMyMed(ers), but also pharmacy techs interested in using our online Prior Auth service to expedite the PA process.

Fooood!

Overall it was a great day – turn out was awesome – and the hungry Buckeyes cleaned us out.

Special thanks to Rosi at the ACM-W for hosting/helping us with the demo.

(Boyan, Alan, and Kevin - A few of our newest team members)

It’s been a few weeks since we last updated everyone on the progress of the new CoverMyMeds expansion project (LINK). Things have been moving along swimmingly; carpet’s in, walls are painted, and we even got a new fridge! Here are some progress pics for:

(Behold! The largest white-board this side of the Mississippi!)

(Our sami-complete kitchen, with new fridge...which we haven't named yet. TBD)

Aside from our awesome spacial addition, we’ve also added a slew of personnel to the CoverMyMeds team we’d like to introduce:

Alan Gilbert. Born and raised in Cleveland, Alan is the Vice President of Engineering at CMMeds, responsible for all technical activities/product development and management.

Alan had this to say in regards to working at CMMeds: “I love working with such talented people. I love the ‘we’re all on the same team’ approach. I love our ability to zero in on things that aren’t working, and attacking/fixing. I love the free lunches.”

We agree on all fronts, Alan (especially the lunches).

Mr. Gilbert is a music afficiando, his favorite bands/artists being: The Beatles, Phish, and John Coltrane. His favorite movie is ‘The Big Lebowski’, and he recently went on a week-long hiking/camping expedition, traversing the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, to the North Rim, and back…and survived to tell the tale.

Hailing from Sofia, Bulgaria,  Boyan Alexandrov  - a Senior at the Ohio State University –  is a Software Co-op Engineer here at CoverMyMeds. We asked Boyan his favorite part of working at CMMeds so far, ” The company culture. The team upholds an aura of constructiveness and openness conducive to getting things done.”

Well said, sir.

Boyan recently volunteered his weekend at the Start-Up Columbus event. He’s is a mountain biker, a snow boarder, and a DJ. His favorite tv show is ‘Archer’, and he hosts a free Podcast called ‘House Around the world’, focusing on House Music with traditional folk origins.

Kevin Lanning. A recent OSU grad, Kevin is an Account Coordinator at CoverMyMeds – helping  manage existing accounts, providing tutorial webinars and support to clients.

Kevin has a background in retail pharmacy, and correlated his current position with former experience(s), “Coming from a retail background in pharmacy, I know how difficult and time consuming the prior authorization process can be.  I love being able to help pharmacies and physician offices help the patients get the medications they need.”

Mr. Lanning is a fan of the tv shows The Simpsons, The Office, and Lost. He’s an avid Disc Golf player, is a gym warrior, and will begin Ohio State’s Professional Graduate School for pharmacy this fall.

Good luck, Kevin.

Milda Maciuleviciute – Born in Lithuania, raised in Cleveland, Milda is CoverMyMeds’ Healthcare Data Coordinator – making sure all our prior authorization forms are current, correct, and copacetic.

Prior to CoverMyMeds, Milda interned at non-profit  ’3 Rivers Connect’ in Pittsburgh, where she did database information analysis for local after-school programs.

“I enjoy working at CoverMyMeds because of the wonderful people here, and the great chef we have making our lunches.”

Milda is a fan of the band Vampire Weekend, loves the shows ‘Dexter’, ‘The League’, and ‘Parks and Rec’. She’s a hobbyist painter, enjoys Pinterest, and dabbles in Folk Dancing.

Juan Roman – Juan is originally from Cleveland, and is our other Co-Op Engineer. Juan is a student at OSU, and will be graduating in December. Good luck to you as well, Juan.

We also asked Juan what he likes about working at CoverMyMeds: “It’s a fun, casual environment and everyone makes you feel a part of the family. It feels like a second home.”

Juan leans towards the Rock genre in music – his favorite band being ‘A Day to Remember’. He’s a huge fan of the Christopher Nolan Batman Trilogy, is an avid gamer; is double-jointed, and didn’t start programmer until his freshman year of college. Amazing.

Welcome to the CoverMyMeds team, everyone!

]]> http://blog.covermymeds.com/2012/08/03/new-faces-new-spaces/feed/ 0 http://blog.covermymeds.com/2012/07/27/a-quick-qs-1-conference-wrap-up/ http://blog.covermymeds.com/2012/07/27/a-quick-qs-1-conference-wrap-up/#comments Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:48:21 +0000 mabukach http://blog.covermymeds.com/?p=366

CoverMyMeds arrived in Orlando last Wednesday, riding the Disney Magical Express (aka, the monorail) to the Contemporary Resort, taking part – as a vender –  in the Expo portion of the QS-1 conference.

Our Lovely Expo Home - snack cart in foreground!

Pre-Conference is a bit quiet as the conventioneers are still arriving/traveling, but even during our set-up, a CoverMyMeds user comes over just to thank us for our service, allowing us to use his quote for this blog, giving us a warm fuzzy feeling:

“Anytime you need feedback, feel free to call me, I have nothing but good things to say about CoverMyMeds and your  [Prior Authorization] services” – Charlie

Thanks, Charlie.

The next couple of days flew by, and, not to toot our own horn but we had a consistent line at our table/booth in between conference speaking engagements – Long Term Care Facilities/Pharmacists/etc. wanting to know about our service.

The CoverMyMeds Line

The most satisfying part of the conference was being able to tell said customers the CMMeds integration with QS/1 will  make the PA process much easier for them. They were genuinely excited about the integration, and found it hard to believe our service could be free! (we reluctantly take the associated credit and praise)

QS-1 was a success, and our new customers didn’t walk away with just a complementary CoverMyMeds chap stick from our table; they walked away with a new, simpler means to process their prior authorizations.

Action shot of a confirmed Katie Sign-Up

As one customer summed it up (in regards to our service): “This made it completely worth the trip.”

Glad we could help.

A ‘thank you’ to the QS-1 team, and all the attendees; it was a great conference.

2011 saw the CoverMyMeds kickball team go 0 for the season.  No excuses in our fledgling kickball careers, but the losses most likely stemmed from all the hard work done at CMMeds in helping patients get their medications…mentally, we just weren’t in the game.

The hard work (and losses) continued into the 2012 season, but said defeats were a string of last inning heart breakers. Unscathed, our tenacious determination finally paid off, and we won a game, breaking our unfavorable streak.

Ross 'Lightning' Righter legs out an error. The girl in the background is stymied by his speed.

Whether it was ‘for the Gipper’ as they say, or just the perfect level of heart, grit, and teamwork, we finally won a game.

Caitlin shows off a perfect pitch form, with some sweet shades

We didn’t win another one, getting pummeled the last two games, but no matter, our victory was a glorious accomplishment, and we’re proud to say we placed SECOND to last in the Arena District Kickball League.

Nissa kicks a homerun, while Chip admires the effort

A special thanks to the ADKL (and the great pictures they provided) our sponsors Boston’s, and all the other teams we played against. Fair warning: we will be back next year. Be prepared…

Braving apocalyptic weather, the CoverMyMeds team joined a packed-house at the Loann Crane Center at CCAD, to help mentor, give feedback, and join in the fun with some pitch ideas of our own (sadly, ‘Jetpacks’ was turned down as a viable Start Up idea) for the 2012 Columbus Startup Weekend.

Brainstorming inside begets tornadoes outside

Orientation

Jon and Alan, collecting pretty post-it note votes for a pitch idea.

A quick background – ‘Startup’ is a non-profit company that organizes global, weekend events where entrepreneurs, developers, and marketeers meet to pitch ideas, and/or develop companies/applications, etc.

Friday night’s events started with a frenzy of pitch ideas, and afterwords, a scramble to solidify teams of developers/project managers/etc, with the help of roaming mentors. Teams worked feverishly into the night, continuing into Saturday morning.

A heated practice pitch to a rowdy crowd.

Matt mentoring Allison and Jeff from LinkLife

Saturday afternoon is crunch time, as teams scrambled to with presentations, websites (where applicable). Some overwhelmed pitch makers bow-out, melding with other teams to help where they can.

After helping LinkLife, Matt tells Boyan and Jon to 'type faster, or else...' They are obviously humbled.

CoverMyMeds calmly helped teams put final touches on their projects as folks were literally running around like crazy in final preparations for the 5 o’clock cut-off.

The  judges are brought in for the final presentations, which all look pretty great, but, there had to be one winner, and first place went to interior web design group – ‘Posh Haven’. Congrats!

We here at CoverMyMeds would like to also congratulate all the weekend’s amazing participants, and fellow co-sponsors. A LOT of hard work went into this event, which brings us to the folks behind the scenes – a special thank you to Nick Seguin, Suzy Bureau, and the rest of the incredible Start Up Team; it was truly an inspiring weekend.

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