Departments maintained their own drug lists. I helped turn those separate lists into a centralized catalog with shared source data, a consistent model and a workflow for creating and approving lists.
Business and functional requirements; product roadmap and workflow design
My contribution
I led business-process and requirements sessions, analyzed First Databank and Medi-Span feeds, and worked with an analyst on the data model, user interface and roles. The first milestone used GPI and GCN criteria to retrieve the matching NDCs.
What the work delivered
The team delivered a transaction store, a master drug-data model and a librarian interface for creating and approving drug lists for consumers.
Cigna Pharmacy · 2013–2017 · Delivered product
I built the drug catalog from scratch, connecting external drug data, administrator decisions and the digital experiences that depend on them.
Separate departmental drug lists became a shared source of truth. The work joined daily and weekly data feeds with a master model, list administration and cross-team integrations.
The catalog journey
From source data to a usable decision.
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Inspect the selected decision and evidence boundary
My role
Product leadership across the pipeline.
I led business-process and requirements sessions with pharmacy groups, translated business needs into functional specifications, and reviewed the requirements with business, development and QA. With an analyst, I shaped the model, interface and workflow roles.
The product delivered
A raw-data transaction store, a master drug-data model and a librarian interface for creating and approving drug lists. The catalog supported digital medication price quotes and cross-team integrations.
The choices that connected it
Begin with a focused NDC lookup milestone; build ingestion, master data and administration as connected capabilities; make list rules useful to downstream experiences. Preserve the distinction between source data and a reviewed list decision.
01
The fragmented starting point
Individual departments managed and maintained their own drug lists. I worked with pharmacy business groups to capture the current process, define the future process and identify the requirements for a shared drug-list repository.
02
The work I owned
I facilitated business-process modeling and requirements sessions, translated business needs into functional specifications, and reviewed the requirements with business, development and QA. The work included data mapping, GUI use cases, report specifications, API service specifications and calculation rules.
03
A focused first milestone
I shaped a roadmap that began with an MVP: select GPI and GCN criteria and retrieve the available NDCs. With an analyst, I divided the delivery into source-data ingestion, the supporting data model and the user interface with workflow roles.
04
The delivered workflow
The resulting product combined a raw-data transaction store, a master drug-data model and a librarian interface to create and approve lists. The later use of this catalog by another Cigna business was a separate reuse decision, rather than the original catalog launch.
Complete transcript
The full journey, without motion.
Receive feeds
First Databank and Medi-Span supplied the drug data. Daily and weekly feeds entered the catalog pipeline.
My contribution. I analyzed the external feeds and shaped the ingestion requirements as part of building the catalog from scratch.
Ingest & stage
Ingestion and staging separated incoming data from the master drug database. The delivered product included a raw-data transaction store.
My contribution. I divided delivery into source ingestion, the supporting data model and a user interface with workflow roles.
Build master data
The master drug database represented drug data at NDC and GPI/GCN levels. The first milestone let users select GPI/GCN criteria and retrieve matching NDCs.
My contribution. I worked with an analyst on the data model, mappings and product roadmap, connecting the source data to reusable downstream access.
Review changes
Formulary administrators reviewed weekly NDC changes: discontinuations, new drugs and NDA/ANDA-related information before applicable list inclusion.
My contribution. I shaped the administration workflow and roles so drug-data changes could be reviewed in the context of the lists using them.
Configure lists
The catalog supported nested drug lists: formulary, step therapy, exclusion, prior authorization and MAC. Administrators created and approved lists for consumers.
My contribution. I led business-process and requirements work and defined functional, UI, API and report requirements for the shared repository and list workflows.
Use across teams
The catalog became a source of truth for cross-team integrations. A digital medication price-quote tool explained applicable formulary and drug-list rules.
My contribution. I connected the catalog to downstream digital and integration needs. Later reuse by another Cigna business remains a separate decision and account.
Regulatory context
Regulatory context: FDA NDC Directory distinguishes listing from approval. FDA describes NDA and ANDA as application/review pathways. Filing alone does not establish approval or commercial launch.
Proposed controls for a future technical treatment
Per-feed source lineage, schema validation, quarantine/replay, effective-date versioning, audit trails and downstream reconciliation are recommended acceptance controls. These details are not presented as delivered architecture without further evidence.
Separate contribution · Amazon Pharmacy
SMS verification in customer care.
I launched automated text/SMS OTP authentication for customers contacting Amazon Pharmacy care. It replaced manual verification and saved a reported 90 seconds per contact. This is separate from Cigna drug catalog, health-plan enrollment and automated wrap-up.