Employee Spotlight: Scott Ward, President, Qlarant Integrity Solutions

Scott Ward has been with Qlarant since 2009, when he started as a Program Integrity Investigator. Now, as President of Qlarant Integrity Solutions, Mr. Ward has much to share about the growth of Qlarant over the last 15 years.

“I was first attracted to Qlarant due to the organization’s culture, flexibility, and a healthy work-life balance. It has an employee-centric approach emphasizing benefits and positive relationships among coworkers. Qlarant continues to prioritize these benefits and to keep employees engaged, happy, and satisfied with their jobs. This environment has evolved as the company has grown. I have always been proud of trying to be part of keeping that foundation in place.

“Dr. Ron Forsythe, our CEO, often highlights dedication and passion as key characteristics in our associates. Over the course of my career, I have become passionate about the fact that the work I have been doing is protecting the public’s interest. I believe this work is just a part of moving toward the security and general welfare of the people who benefit from Qlarant’s programs. Overall, my main passion—personally and professionally—has been the pursuit of the ‘high road’ for my development and the development of others. I define the ‘high road’ simply as the greater good and includes compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and kindness. This is the act of choosing to help a stranded motorist rather than selfishly racing by at breakneck speed—the ‘low road’ is the opposite. Often times it is easier to travel the ‘low road’. Yet, choosing the ‘high road’ leads to long-term growth and transformation. Rising to be passionate about the ‘high road’ takes effort and courage. However, the wisdom gained along the way makes it worthwhile.”

Mr. Ward’s new role is one held previously by long-time President Sandy Love. She was well-regarded in the industry and retired from Qlarant in May 2024, at a high point in the company’s 50-year history.

Mr. Ward: “Working under Sandy Love was one of the greatest honors of my career. I had the opportunity to grow over the last 15 years and develop a solid professional relationship as well as one of my greatest friendships. Sandy was a mentor in a way that helped me enhance my introspection and develop practical management and long-term planning skills. She taught me to look past possible barriers to success and seek out suggestions for overcoming them. Sandy showed me that influential leaders don’t just hire people for general tasks. They recruit the right mix of personalities to form a cohesive unit that thinks and acts as one. This is our ‘secret sauce’.”

Mr. Ward is one of many upper level associates that have been promoted from within, creating a tenured team that is familiar with both Qlarant’s culture and abilities as well as each other.

Mr. Ward: “Promoting and training associates within the organization is also a part of the ‘secret sauce’ that benefits our clients, as well as our employees. Internal promotion develops a more positive growth environment. Qlarant’s practice of promoting associates from within the organization gives us an edge over organizations that exclusively recruit externally. This results in improved employee morale and engagement; efficiency, and a continuity of experience.

“Filling management positions internally can also lead to better engagement. Associates who are promoted to management positions are already familiar with the organization and how it works. Organizations that promote from within retain their staff and have a higher level of employee morale and allows for a smoother transition. Qlarant focuses on retaining top talent; creating a sense of loyalty and trust in leadership; and ensuring that everyone is working towards the same goal. Organizations that emphasize promoting from within have been known to grow faster and become stronger market leaders, as I have seen here over the past 15 years.”

In addition to his internal-hiring philosophy, Mr. Ward carries with him a central focus on leading through service and clarity.

Mr. Ward: “When I consider my leadership style, I think of what it is to be a transformational leader, a servant leader, and an authentic leader. Every day I want to make sure that I am working with the leaders and associates to elevate understanding and motivation to a higher level. I want to create a vision and convert it into a concrete, well-understood strategy. I also want to help associates achieve their fullest potential and foster a climate where associates feel safe, valued, and empowered to be successful. Considering all aspects, I ultimately want to encourage openness, transparency, and consideration—ultimately building trust.”

A key component in building that trust is ensuring that Qlarant associates operate in a work environment in which they are familiar, comfortable, and able to thrive.

Mr. Ward: “Qlarant has a unique culture based on various factors—the industry, organizational structure, and geographic location. We have a set of accepted values (defined as well as unspoken), norms, and beliefs that inform how things work ‘around here.’ This process has worked out naturally over time where people share values, roles develop, and culture forms. Beliefs and assumptions have been passed down in both formal and informal ways. As the organization continues to grow and become formalized, underlying assumptions can get lost, and culture may become more rigid and misunderstood. Qlarant has done a good job of maintaining this culture and evolving with the growth of the associate at the core.

“Leadership is key to maintaining this culture. Leaders set the example through the way they act, including reward allocation and ethical behavior, which is particularly critical. When I think about myself and other leaders transitioning into new roles, I want to make sure we all consider and align the culture and values. It is essential to take stock of what is currently happening as well.

“I have been engaging with team members across all levels and roles within the organization to identify untold stories that reveal how values are actually applied rather than merely tokenized. I will encourage leaders to reach out to team members across levels, offices, and governance functions. I ask open-ended questions to understand what motivated individuals to join, what keeps them, what they’d change. Compiling and distilling these narratives will help inform the overarching themes of Qlarant’s culture. Validating these findings with a smaller group will help clarify the most critical elements and provide buy-in for maintaining and improving the culture.”

Like many organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic forced changes in the structure and methods of how the work was accomplished at Qlarant. As a central figure leading one of Qlarant’s largest and most complex contracts, Mr. Ward was a key part in adapting to the situation.

Mr. Ward: “The pandemic shifted how many companies functioned around remote work. Qlarant was already well-positioned for the challenges and responded quickly, without any major interruption. The chaos driven by the pandemic has accelerated existing challenges—talent shortages, rising costs, and changing customer expectations. Ironically, this same chaos has unlocked new capabilities for Qlarant. I believe the company is focused on innovation, responsiveness, and partnerships. Qlarant invested in engineering new products and solutions, replicating them in similar markets, and responding quickly to short-term needs in order to create satisfied customers and a competitive advantage.”

As he settles into the role as President, Mr. Ward has begun to turn his attention to the future of program integrity, what he sees as potential hurdles ahead, and Qlarant’s greatest strengths to tackle those challenges.

Mr. Ward: “A major challenge for our program integrity work is the volume of transactions and the sophisticated means employed by some fraudsters to complicate detection. Program integrity is especially difficult for Medicaid. States employ different rules, payment policies, and coverage decisions, which affect the types of fraud that may occur. Medicare and Medicaid program evolution and characteristics that distinguish them from traditional third-party payer programs are a key factor when evaluating how they differ from health plans and private insurance companies. These distinguishing characteristics have paved the way for the current program integrity efforts, including their evolution from reactive to proactive measures as well as the shift from government-driven efforts to a collaborative effort with the provider community. Such shifts represent a major change in the manner in which the Qlarant works with stakeholders to address inaccuracies in provider transactions and fosters the grounds for a successful program integrity effort.

“Mere perceptions of fraud and abuse are insufficient to motivate government intervention if sensible criteria have not been met. By dollar amount or percentage, felonies involving millions of dollars constitute a small fraction of all payments made in these programs. The difference between fraud and legitimate marketing is difficult to ascertain and often involves conflicting perceptions of legality. Often, only hindsight provides the clearest guidance in predicting the course of events. New technologies present additional challenges. Increasingly sophisticated approaches, however, must be met with equally sophisticated methodologies. Qlarant continues to position itself to meet these challenges and offer improved solutions to meet the ever-evolving market for fraud, waste, and abuse work.

“Without a doubt, I would say that the associates are the organization’s greatest strength and power. Qlarant has achieved success over 50 years due to associates overcoming some of the toughest tasks possible. They are the ones directly responsible for the initiatives of the company, how it chooses to present itself, and what image it delivers to the customer and stakeholders. Even skilled individuals need to be trained and informed about the processes of how each contract works. This would help new associates adapt their capability to the work they have to execute, and continuous learning would keep everyone updated with the latest technologies and procedures. Events that reward associates help the company improve or maintain a good situation and could stimulate associates to speak up more often about what needs to be changed. Staff members need to voice their thoughts without feeling their jobs are threatened. There must be space for free debate about what goes wrong, and associates must feel safe while sharing their ideas. Thinking outside the box should be encouraged. Frontline members are the ones who know the most about the state of the company in the field.”

about the author

S. Scott Ward

As Qlarant President, Mr. Ward has extensive experience in healthcare fraud, waste, and abuse investigations and audits related to Medicare and Medicaid, working in the field since 1992.