Former Navy surgeon general joins BearingPoint

Dr. Michael Cowan, former Surgeon General of the Navy, has joined BearingPoint as chief medical officer of its health services practice, part of the company’s Public Services group. Cowan will lead the development of new service offerings and provide advice in the strategic recruitment and development of key practitioners.

BearingPoint is trying to develop a government health market, and Cowan's hiring will boost that effort, said Kelvin Womack, federal health services lead.

“It significantly energizes a push we had already started," Womack said. "With his credentials and his connectedness across the health care space, I think we can do great things.”

The government has several active health care organizations, including the military health services, Medicare, Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs. All are involved in ambitious information technology projects, Cowan said.

“All the activity is centered around becoming more connected," he said.

In addition to his Navy career, Cowan has served as deputy director and chief operating officer of Tricare, the health insurance system for current and former military employees and their families.

“In all of these roles, I was attracted by the potential that information technology had to improve the quality of health care we delivered to our patients," he said. "I was frequently frustrated by how much these things could cost and when they didn’t live up to their potential.”

He also served as vice president of health care solutions at Oracle.

Womack said BearingPoint will accelerate its efforts in the health care arena in coming months.

“We are pursuing strategy for how to identify places where we can be the very best," he said. "That’s where we want to concentrate our efforts.”