When Bill Quarles ('09) was a student at Baldwin High School, he saw high school as a training ground to try new things and explore options for the future. “I was able to learn from a wide breadth of experiences, whether successes or failures.” He was constantly evaluating those experiences as he continued to forge a path in business. The curious, exploratory attitude he developed while in high school, serves him well supporting the process of designing and managing solutions within the health insurance industry.
Insurance is complex. Quarles, who holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Robert Morris University and M.S. in Healthcare Informatics from Chatham University, and his team work to ensure Highmark’s products are developed and working as intended. He explains “The various health insurance products that my organization provides include a multitude of different benefits and experiences that make them impactful, differentiated, and competitive across the healthcare landscape. My organization develops those products and the solutions for our customers. Ultimately, our goal is to improve the health experiences our members and clinicians encounter day-by-day. That is our priority.”
Their role extends from ideation to evaluation, Quarles notes, “my team measures and reports how our teams are progressing through solution and product development, in addition to measuring their impact across customers within our footprint. This data is crucial as it fosters transparency and allows our leaders and stakeholders to make real-time business decisions on critical issues and determine next steps for a given product or solution.”
Quarles finds great satisfaction in his work. “Overall, I love knowing that the work that I support makes a positive impact to our customers. In addition, it is empowering working with other dedicated, intelligent individuals and teams,” he shares.
A variety of complex factors can be barriers to accessing healthcare, particularly cost. He explains, “Simply put, some individuals and families are fortunate to have health insurance. In the future, Quarles hopes to do more professionally to support making healthcare more accessible and equitable. He shares, “An area that I am passionate about is health equity and social determinants of health. Essentially, social determinants of health (SDOH) are all the factors that make an impact on an individual’s health (e.g., housing, transportation, food insecurity, etc.). I have been fortunate to support SDOH initiatives in past experiences, however, I want to eventually make more of a direct impact across these factors, hopefully eliminating barriers that underserved and underprivileged individuals face daily.
Quarles encourages students to use high school as an incubator for growth. He shares, “Never stop learning. Take advantages of all opportunities to learn, whether it’s reading, studying abroad, tuition reimbursement opportunities with employers, or certifications — always strive to expand your knowledge set. That is something no one can ever take from you.”
