Cognizant Healthcare Head Sacked Over Compliance

Cognizant executive vice-president and healthcare head Jeff Heenan-Jalil, who joined the Nasdaq-listed IT firm in July, was fired from the company on compliance-related issues.

Heenan-Jalil was said to have been handpicked by Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries after one of the top five healthcare payer CIOs in the US referred him to Humphries. Heenan-Jalil, sources said, was asked to go, but it did not have anything to do with the healthcare business.

He joined Cognizant from robotic process automation firm IPSoft, where he was CEO of Europe. Prior to that he was senior vice-president and global head of healthcare in Wipro. He joined Wipro in 2007, heading the manufacturing, pharmaceutical and healthcare division for Europe. In Cognizant, he had replaced the then healthcare head Kaushik Bhaumik. He is based in London.

When TOI contacted Cognizant, the company said Heenan-Jalil is no longer with the company. “On December 13, Cognizant announced a change of leadership in its healthcare business unit. D K Sinha, Cognizant’s head of North America, who is responsible for all vertical industry segments, will lead the organisation on an interim basis. We will not comment further on personnel matters,” a Cognizant’s spokesperson said.

Cognizant has deep roots in the healthcare business, with over 400 payers, over 340 health systems, over 347,000 care providers, 13 state governments, and 30 state and federal exchanges, showed a recent report by consulting firm HfS Research. The company has demonstrated capabilities across the value chain including claims administration and health and care management.

It counts CVS Aetna, Anthem, Cigna as its top customers and gets the majority of its healthcare revenues from North America. Around 35,000 people work in its healthcare division across North America, India and the Philippines. It recently acquired Bolder healthcare that provides revenue management solutions to hospitals. – TOI