Teja Challa

About Teja Challa

With over seven years of project management experience, I currently lead initiatives at Cigna Healthcare focused on enhancing credit risk automation and reporting. My approach emphasizes collaboration, transparent communication, and process efficiency to align with Cigna’s mission of improving health and well-being.I manage cross-functional teams to deliver automated credit review systems that have reduced manual processing by 40% and significantly improved reporting accuracy. By bridging the gap between technical teams and business leadership, I ensure alignment, foster trust, and drive continuous improvement. My leadership ensures that complex projects are executed on time, within budget, and with measurable impact.I am committed to delivering solutions that create long-term value and contribute to organizational growth and operational excellence.Core Competencies:PMP Certified | Agile & Waterfall Methodologies | Cross-Functional Team Leadership | Stakeholder Engagement | Credit Risk Automation | SDLC Oversight | Budget & Resource Management | Requirements Gathering | Data-Driven Decision Making | Executive Communication

Experience

1. Project Manager

   Cigna Healthcare

   Jan 2022 — Present

   Supported the Medicaid redetermination program for Cigna Healthcare across multiple states, working with teams to update eligibility systems, helping retain members and meet CMS post-PHE guidelines. • Collaborated with a cross-functional delivery team using JIRA for task tracking and Smartsheet for project scheduling, ensuring milestones were met despite changing state regulations. • Organized stakeholder alignment sessions via Microsoft Teams with state Medicaid agencies, vendors, and internal teams to foster clear communication and governance. • Contributed to myCigna portal enhancements, partnering with development and business teams to implement automated eligibility notifications, improving member outreach during redetermination. • Worked with vendors on EDI 834 integration with healthcare IT providers, conducting regular quality reviews to ensure deliverables met SLAs. • Helped establish a program governance framework to comply with HIPAA, CMS, and state regulations, supporting periodic audits and maintaining thorough documentation. • Coordinated User Acceptance Testing across workstreams, assisting with test planning, execution, and defect resolution in JIRA to ensure system reliability. • Supported a risk management program using JIRA risk registers, participating in stakeholder reviews to address risks and maintain program stability. • Monitored the program budget using Smartsheet for financial tracking and Excel for variance analysis, providing regular updates to Cigna leadership. • Facilitated change control processes for scope adjustments, documenting approvals in Confluence and aligning with program and regulatory objectives. • Created Tableau-based KPI dashboards to monitor program metrics, sharing insights with leadership during steering committee meetings. • Collaborated with AWS cloud teams to enhance infrastructure scalability, supporting high-volume eligibility transactions during peak redetermination periods.

Education

• Acharya Nagarjuna University

  Bachelor of Technology - BTech, Computer Science

  2009 — 2013

• Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indianapolis

  Masters in Informatics