HLTH News--Healtheon Taps American Express
Executive to Oversee Operations
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter
April 12, 2000
ATLANTA -- Healtheon/WebMD Corp., moving to fortify its management team as it integrates its business, tapped a longtime American Express Co. executive as its chief operating officer.
Steven C. Grant, 49 years old, was executive vice president of U.S. Service Delivery, the credit-card operations unit of American Express. Mr. Grant was responsible for operations at the 15,000-employee unit, including Internet servicing, telemarketing and customer service. He joins Healtheon April 17 in Atlanta, reporting to Jeff Arnold, Healtheon's chief executive.
Mike Long, who had held the chief operating officer title at Healtheon/WebMD since its creation in November, continues as company chairman. Mr. Long said in a statement that he is "delighted" to relinquish operational duties, which frees him to work closely with senior management, the company's board and its major corporate partners.
Mr. Grant will oversee all the company's operations, including technology and customer service. He said his 19 years at American Express, where he helped manage the shift in the credit-card industry from paper to electronic transactions, will benefit Healtheon, which also is trying to eliminate paper -- in its case, by linking various elements of the health-care industry over the Internet. Indeed, Mr. Arnold said Healtheon set out to recruit for the job from the transaction-oriented credit-card industry. A major part of Healtheon's business plan is to earn fees from conducting high volumes of health-care transactions, such as insurance claims and referral authorizations.
In trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market Tuesday, shares of Healtheon closed at $25.3125, down 43.75 cents. |
