William M. “Mitch” Heroman, MD, MBA, CPE
As VP, Health Plan Design and Management, Dr. Heroman’s primary focus is to support the overall development of the Joint Strategic Operations Planning Process (JSOPP), specifically developing market and service area based strategic and implementation plans based on data and analysis that result in substantive collaborative efforts between the DoD and TriWest that impact the effectiveness and efficiency of TRICARE health care delivery in the West Region.
Mitch joined TriWest Healthcare Alliance in May of 2004 after retiring as a Captain in the Navy. His experience in health care delivery as a clinician and as an executive has prepared him well for this position. While at TriWest, Dr. Heroman has worked with over 55 MTFs in the West Region including consultation with over 65 Primary Care Clinics to improve demand and capacity planning and clinic efficiency stressing the principles of the Patient Centered Medical Home Model. In addition he has consulted with ERs, O.R.s, Behavioral Health Clinics and other specialty clinics and worked with MTF Leadership in strategic and execution planning and operations for their Commands. He has also worked with MTFs to recapture primary and specialty care from the network resulting in substantial health care cost savings to the government. He has expertise in demand forecasting for contingency planning including troop repositioning and utilization of clinical services by retuning Active Duty Service Members from the Global War on Terrorism.
His military medicine background is extensive and diverse. In 1981, he was assigned to Naval Medical Center, San Diego (NMCSD) and became Director of the Newborn ICU. He expanded the unit from 11 beds to 36 and justified, designed, and oversaw construction of the Navy’s first Pediatric Intensive Care Unit that opened in March 1991. He was appointed Chairman and Residency Program Director in 1992. He initiated the implementation of the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) Course in the military starting 22 programs worldwide. In 1994, he was appointed Director, Graduate Medical Education, and in 1996 he was named Deputy Commander. While Deputy Commander, he led a $28.6 million increase in market share (positive bid price adjustment (BPA)) by recapturing care back into the MTF.
In August 1998, he was named Chief of Staff, TRICARE Management Activity (TMA), Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. He led TMA strategic planning and oversaw the development of performance metrics for the TRICARE Program. He was the Program Manager and one of 5 members of the Military Health System Optimization Team chartered to develop a plan to optimize the Military Health System. This plan, centered on Force Health Protection and Population Health Improvement, was implemented throughout the MHS and was funded $90 million by Congress.
In 2000 he became the Commanding Officer, Naval Hospital, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California (NHCP). Under his leadership, the primary care clinics established scheduling to demand, same day access, and evening hours. Specialty consult time decreased from 4 weeks to 9 days. He implemented the use of a data warehouse linked to the clinical and coding databases. This provided valuable information on individual patients and populations. He implemented 3 web-based Disease Management Programs. In 2002, the Command won the Surgeon General’s Customer Service Award and the Maternal Infant Service won the Malcolm Baldrige-based California Excellence Award. Region 9 presented NHCP the award for best managed catchment area for an increase in market share (positive BPA) of $9.5 million in FY2002 by recapturing care back into the MTF.
From 2003 to 2004 he was the Force Surgeon, Commander, Surface Force, U.S. Pacific and Atlantic Fleets. In March 2003, he was awarded the Lifetime Outstanding Service Award by the Uniformed Services Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In March 2004 he was the recipient of the American Hospital Association’s Federal Healthcare Executive Award for Excellence. In April 2004 the new NMCSD Children’s Health Center and PICU was named for him.
Dr. Heroman is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, School of Medicine and received his MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is boarded in Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and is a Certified Physician Executive (CPE) by the Certifying Commission in Medical Management. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a Diplomate of the American College of Physician Executives, and a member of the American College of Health Care Executives. He is on the board of the San Diego Armed Services YMCA and the Advisory Council of the Marine Corps Museum at MCRD. He is married to Dr. Karen Messersmith Heroman and lives in San Diego, California.
