Former Health Net executive joins Cognitive Medical Systems’ advisory board
Steven D. Tough led one of the longest-serving TRICARE managed care support contractor businesses.
Cognitive Medical Systems, experts in helping large public and private organizations make the most of their comprehensive healthcare IT investments, announced today its newest advisory board member, Steven D. Tough, former president of Health Net’s Government Programs Division.
He also served as president of the company’s Federal Services division until 2011 and led one of the longest-serving TRICARE managed care support contractor businesses during his tenure.
Additionally, Tough led Health Net’s group for its Veterans Affairs, Medicaid and Dual Eligible Programs. He transitioned to the role of President of Health Net Corporation Government Programs Division in 2011.
“Steve’s insight into the complex and fragmented healthcare system will provide great benefits to our mission of helping patients, providers and payers utilize health data to measurably improve healthcare delivery while significantly reducing administrative costs,” said Douglas W. Burke, President of Cognitive Medical Systems. “We’re more than excited to have him part of our team that understands both the complexities of the clinical health field and the technologies that can successfully address them!”
Health Net’s Government Programs segment consisted of Health Net Federal Services (HNFS) Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Corrections Programs, the Medicaid/Medi-Cal lines of business and the company’s dual-eligible program operations. Since November 2009, Tough had been responsible for serving more than 4 million members across government contracts, Medicare Advantage and California health plans. He rejoined Health Net in January 2006 as president of HNFS. In early 2008, Tough was appointed the president of the Government and Specialty Services division, where he oversaw the health care management and government contracts, which also included the Managed Health Network, Inc., the behavioral health subsidiary of Health Net, LLC.
Prior to his various Heath Net roles, Tough spent 20 years in various advancing roles with the Foundation Health Corporation, a predecessor company of Health Net, including nine years as president and chief operating officer of its Government and Specialty Services division. After leaving FHC in 1998 post acquisition of FHC by Health Net, he started his own health care consulting services firm. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of the California Association of Health Plans and Western Region President of MAXIMUS, Inc., a health care services organization.
Tough earned his bachelor’s degree in health and safety studies from California State University, Sacramento, and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan. He also is a graduate of the National HMO Fellowship Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), Office of Health Maintenance Organizations. Since leaving Health Net Corporation as an employee in March of 2016, he continued as a consultant/advisor to HNFS and provided consulting services to various healthcare and IT companies.
About Cognitive Medical Systems, Inc.
Cognitive Medical Systems helps public and private organizations make the most of their healthcare and other IT investments. The company draws from decades of operational experience in clinical healthcare delivery, informatics, UI/UX, human factors engineering and enterprise software development, specializing in complex infrastructure, workflows, decision support and systems integration.
Since its founding in 2010, Cognitive Medical Systems’ consistent focus on innovative and solutions-based IT applications drives our progress forward. Our rapid expansion is driven by our continued improvement and innovative approach to solving IT-related challenges. Major contract wins prove our results-driven approach to make our customers successful works.
