Former New Jersey Medicaid CIO Joins Vendor

McLean, Va.-based Cognosante has brought on Michele Romeo as director for health insurance exchange.

Romeo had been CIO for the state of New Jersey, where she led statewide health information exchange strategy and planning. In her new position, she will cover similar ground, leading development and management of health insurance exchange services at Cognosante. Romeo also led implementation of New Jersey Medicaid’s Electronic Health Record, and all Medicaid system planning, management and operations.

In the private sector, she has held IT consulting, management, and technical roles with companies including AmeriChoice, Independence Blue Cross, and EDS.

“We are very fortunate to have Michele Romeo join us to lead such an important initiative. Her in-depth, hands-on experience of having run a large state-wide MMIS and HIE effort will be invaluable to our clients as they struggle with competing priorities and tight deadlines,” Michele Kang, CEO of Cognosante, says in a statement.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced a grant program last month for states that have "ambitious yet achievable proposals that can yield IT models and best practices that will benefit all states." States will likely work with their vendors to develop those programs, Aite Group senior analyst Kunal Pandya told Insurance & Technology.

"There are vendors in the market that cater to that specific aspect for health plans," Pandya says.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio