With hundreds of hospitals, primary care clinics, and mental health services across eight countries, and over 90,000 employees, Ramsay Health Care provides a broad range of healthcare services to millions of patients. Integral to that success is its commitment to utilizing the best technologies to ensure efficiency, accuracy, and safety. Lives are on the line, after all. Spearheading the IT initiatives and planning is global chief digital and data officer Rachna Gandhi, whose team won Team of the Year for customer value at last year’s CIO 50 awards. That recognition illustrates her understanding that nothing is done in isolation, and aligning with the right business partners is integral to success.
“It’s not just about the digital or technology team looking for a partner,” she says. “We’re looking at patient-facing or employee-facing solutions. It’ll be the digital team procurement and the business owner looking to find, identify, and progress partners together. If vendors are good, they’ll deliver what they said they would in a timely way. But partnership is really about having a vested interest in a common outcome.”
Having things in a safe pair of hands is one thing, but making sure that care remains for years to come is in the hands of those not yet in the IT workforce — and those who will look for roles that don’t exist yet. On the other hand, says Gandhi, a lot of important roles a couple of years ago aren’t critical anymore. So having that kind of lens into the future takes a good sense of balance, and a strong sense of belief in the fundamental vision of ambitious and cohesive teams. To Gandhi, having a diverse team is also essential. It’s not only good business and good thought leadership, but it’s a better way to solve problems and be more reflective of patients served, as well as the entire workforce.
