Computer Sciences Corp.: Healthy Growth

Healthy Growth

Computer Sciences Corp.’s business with the health care industry is booming. In fact, it’s grown faster than the company’s other practices, says Dan Garrett, vice president and managing director of Global Health Solutions.

CSC first made inroads into the health sector with the July 1996 acquisition of American Practice Management, a prestigious health care consulting firm. Until that time, CSC developed its reputation handling large government contracts, such as providing command-and-control systems to the U.S. Department of Defense.

At about the time of the purchase, the health care industry began recognizing the competitive advantage of cutting infrastructure by contracting out operations, turning to CSC among others. Garrett says CSC health care customers include big pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, health insurers and hospital chains. “The rest of the consulting business wasn’t doing so well” over the past year at CSC, he says, “but specific services within our health care offering—particularly outsourcing—have very significantly grown.”

Health care customers generally praise CSC’s depth of expertise when it comes to understanding not only the scientific and regulatory complexities of the medical industry but also the political realities of working with hospitals.

Evan Crawford, executive director of the e-Transformation/ e-Medicine Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, says his group started its search for a consultant to expand Web-based services to patients, doctors and administrators by inviting five companies for informational meetings with clinicians, administrators and IT professionals. Those interviewed included larger service companies “on the scale of IBM Global Services” and major consulting firms.

“CSC really understood health care—that an academic medical center is not one entity, that administration does not have direct reporting authority over all components,” such as medical staff, he says. “They had the best combination of knowing where new technology was and knowing where health care was.”

System Consulting: Computer Sciences Corp.
2100 E. Grand Ave., El Segundo, CA 90245 / (310) 615-0311 www.csc.com/consulting

Ticker: CSC
Exchange: NYSE
Employees: 68,000

Van B. Honeycutt
CEO, Chairman
Honeycutt joined CSC in 1975. He has held executive positions in several divisions, including business services, credit services and industry services. He received a B.S. from Franklin University in Ohio, and completed Stanford University’s executive graduate program.

Edward P. Boykin
President, Chief Operating Officer

Rich Wunder
President, Consulting Group

Russell H. Owen
President, Chemical

Robert M. Denny
President, Credit Services

Mary Jo Morris
President, Technology Management

James D. Cook
President, Financial Services

Services

Offerings include customer relationship management, enterprise application integration, enterprise resource planning, information security, knowledge management, management consulting, research services and supply chain management.

Competitors

IBM, EDS, Accenture, Deloitte & Touche, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG Consulting.

Reference Checks

BON SECOURS HEALTH SYSTEM
Edward Boyer
Senior VP of Corporate Services
(410) 442-5511
Project: Catholic hospital retained CSC to revamp its finance and supply chain businesses in a two-year deal estimated to save BSHSI $25 million-$35 million annually.

CAREGROUP HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
John D. Halamka
CIO (Chairman, NEHEN)
[email protected]
Project: Caregroup is part of the NEHEN consortium to establish HIPAA-compliant links among insurers and health care providers.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT M. D. ANDERSON CANCER CENTER
Alan D. Powell
Director, Internet services
(713) 745-7876
Project: The cancer center contracted with CSC to re-engineer its external Web site, including new content-management technology, an updated site structure, and a refreshed look and feel. CSC also went on to develop an intranet faculty directory application for M. D. Anderson.

PARTNERS HEALTH CARE
John Glaser
CIO
(617) 278-0400
Project: The health care provider was among the founders of the NEHEN consortium, which has worked with CSC to create a HIPAA-compliant network with insurers.

CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA
Evan Crawford
Executive Director, e-Transformation/ e-Medicine Center
(215) 590-9077
Project: From March 1999 through December 2001, CSC advised the hospital’s efforts to create a strategic plan for the Internet.

DUPONT
Diane Strickler
Director, IT
(302) 774-1000
Project: Starting in June 1997, DuPont moved 2,600 of its staffers to CSC for infrastructure support and application development.