William "Mitch" Heroman

Dr. Heroman is a board certified Neonatologist and served as a Navy-Marine Corps physician for 30 years. Most recently, he was the Chief Medical Officer for United Health Group’s Optum Serve Clinical Services and Quality, Preparedness and Emergency Response. As CMO, Dr. Heroman was the clinical lead in a massive response to the COVID-19 pandemic establishing testing sites, monoclonal antibody sites, vaccine sites, and test to treat sites across the nation for state, county, and municipal public health departments, FEMA, and private industry. He was the Optum Serve lead in the quest for High Reliability Organization (HRO), quality, and patient and workforce safety. Prior to Optum, he held the position of CMO, UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans (UHCM&V), the managed care support contractor for TRICARE West Region covering 21 western states and 3 million beneficiaries. As a consultant for M&V to the Military Treatment Facilities (MTF) / clinics, hospitals, and medical centers, he personally worked with MTF Commanders and executive staff in strategic and operational planning. He also worked with providers and staff at the service line and clinic level to increase efficiency and to deliver measurable quality and value using a rapid-cycle improvement approach. He has consulted in over 250 MTF clinics and service lines, first as VP, Health Plan Design and Management, TriWest Healthcare Alliance and then as CMO, UHCM&V.

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 designed, justified, and oversaw construction and implementation of the Navy’s first Pediatric Intensive Care Unit that opened in March 1991. He justified and implemented AHA Pediatric Advanced Life Support courses throughout the military, teaching 22 instructor courses in MTFs worldwide. In 1994, he was appointed Director, Graduate Medical Education, and in 1996 he was named Deputy Commander (COO). In 1998, he became Chief of Staff, TRICARE Management Activity (TMA), Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. He led TMA strategic planning and development of performance metrics. He also led a Tri-Service effort of optimization of the MTFs. From 2000-2003 he was the Commanding Officer (CEO), Naval Hospital, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, CA and from 2003 to 2004, he was the Force Surgeon, Commander, Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific and Atlantic Fleets.

He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Association for Physician Leadership and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). He is the recipient of the AAP Uniformed Services Pediatric Section Lifetime Outstanding Service Award and the American Hospital Association Federal Healthcare Executive Award for Excellence. He is on the Advisory Board and lecturer in the University of California, San Diego Masters in Advanced Studies (MAS) of Healthcare Leadership Organizations program.