BearingPoint takes on health IT management

BearingPoint Inc. has been tapped by a federal office to provide program management support on a national health information network.In 2004, the White House established the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology as part of an effort toward building an electronic and interoperable information system for health care provider organizations, payer organizations and government.The office awarded the contract to BearingPoint to supply program management services such as planning support, contract management support and portfolio management.The contract is worth $3.4 million in its first year and includes three one-year options. It could be worth up to $13.7 million over four years. BearingPoint, based in McLean, Va., will help develop a communications portal and additional communications infrastructure activities to encourage knowledge sharing with industry and government, as part of the project."The primary task is the program management support services," said Rick Swanson, vice president of BearingPoint's federal Health and Human Services account. "Also involved in that is the communications, and that is essentially standing up an environment where information that is created by Office of the National Coordinator and other groups is in an easily accessible area." BearingPoint will assist the office?which is in the Health and Human Services Department?in moving the program from concept to reality, said Kelvin Womack, senior vice president of BearingPoint's Public Health and Social Services Sector."They've got to demonstrate and prototype some examples of a National Health Information Network to prove that we truly can make electronic health information flow across the nation from various provider organizations, payer organizations and government," Womack said. Several systems integrators are developing prototypes of the network, Womack said.The Office of the National Coordinator also has to establish standards for information sharing and interoperability to be used across the infrastructure once it is built. "We have to make sure all the various health care entities can share this information in a seamless and standard way," Womack said. "So there have to be standards that guide all the vendors that will be creating products and services for this." BearingPoint has worked with HHS for more than 12 years, and with the Office of the Secretary?where this program resides?for more than five years. BearingPoint's earlier work for the department, which is still ongoing, focused mostly on helping the install the department's new financial system. The company is ranked on Washington Technology's 2006 list of the largest government IT contractors.