In the early\u00a01990s,\u00a0radiology was\u00a0still an\u00a0emerging branch in\u00a0India. I\u00a0was very clear in my head that by the age\u00a0of\u00a0 27,\u00a0I needed to start earning and thus went for a specialisation in radiology which takes only three years,\u201d says\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Avinash Nanivadekar, Head Radiologist & Chief Digital Officer, Grant Medical Foundation, Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune. Avinash is an alumnus of the Advanced Management Programme for Healthcare (AMPH) at ISB.<\/p>\n
Coming from a defence background, Avinash always aspired to join the NDA. But, as fate would have it, he ended up doing his MBBS from Sholapur followed by an MD in Radiology. After his MD, Avinash moved to Pune and joined the Ruby Hall Clinic. Over the years,\u00a0he shaped, moulded and contributed\u00a0tremendously to the organisation. He took a sabbatical after serving 23\u00a0years\u00a0to\u00a0experience different\u00a0realms in the business of healthcare and, eventually, returned to serve patients.<\/p>\n
Recalling about his early years at Ruby Hall, he says, “At the age of 34, I became the youngest HOD at Ruby Hall. It was\u00a0around this time that the organisation was transitioning to a new management style, shifting focus from family-run practice to corporate culture. The\u00a0full-time\u00a0clinical practice\u00a0centres were\u00a0encouraged to be cost centres in healthcare.\u00a0The radiology department was transformed into one, and\u00a0 I turned into an\u00a0intrapreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the cusp of this transformation and as\u00a0revenue mapping\u00a0became increasingly important in healthcare, Avinash started pondering if he needed to learn management formally. \u201cA lot of MBAs came into healthcare in leadership positions around the year 2000. Things drove me to a point where I felt I needed to learn about effective time, resource and business management rather than just people management. We felt foolish in management meetings when we were not able to explain ourselves. It awakened me and felt the itch to get out of my comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avinash enrolled for the AMPH at ISB. Reflecting over his days at ISB, he says, \u201cStudying at a management school was the best thing I did at the age of 53. It has changed my life over the past three years.\u00a0I can understand\u00a0numbers much\u00a0better now, can give insights\u00a0on business and\u00a0have become a true entrepreneur.\u00a0Earlier, I was an outsourced\u00a0clinical partner\u00a0at Ruby Hall. Today, I manage the radiology and imaging business line and\u00a0am able to\u00a0provide good outcomes.\u00a0I\u00a0can impact the numbers, manage\u00a0topline,\u00a0bottom line, optimise resources and\u00a0strategise through\u00a0crises effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the age of 50, one has nothing to\u00a0loose, comments Avinash. \u201cThe biggest learning at ISB was that there is no age for learning. I was one of the elders in my batch and even had younger faculty teaching us. The whole experience humbled my clinical arrogance.\u00a0I gathered wonderful insights at ISB on not just management, marketing, HR or operations but also\u00a0collected\u00a0perspectives on how to balance teams, financial metrics of running healthcare businesses, and so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, in between the waves of Covid-19 in India, Avinash switched from radiology to digital transformation.\u00a0\u201cThere are several technologies around us, but they cannot be blatantly replicated in healthcare. We need to understand how health businesses will be impacted by them. I was able to become the bridge between the two domains. Covid propelled rapid deployment of technologies, enabled fast-paced clinical validation, prompt regulatory clearances, fast-tracked\u00a0innovation in digital\u00a0health and\u00a0provided value-based monetisation opportunities. I am happy that I was a part of this digital journey in healthcare.”<\/p>\n
Talking about driving digital transformation at Ruby Hall, Avinash shares,\u00a0\u201cWe moved into automation and brought patient monitoring devices\u00a0like smart\u00a0wearables, watches, and monitoring over wi-fi.\u00a0We also deployed devices for speech-to-text change, discharge summaries, face recognition, mask vigilance, temperature checks, and whatnot. We took small steps and did pilots before going all out. The whole journey has been extremely rewarding. The pandemic was like an opportunity for me to prove myself in the new role, and I explored things beyond medicine. I had studied digital transformation at\u00a0AMPH\u00a0and the learnings lent me a great deal of confidence to implement many of these initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
“During Covid-19,”\u00a0he adds, “we\u00a0accelerated the power of imaging by adoption of exponential technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning and moved away from traditional care delivery models. This out-of-the-box thinking empowered me and, in the process, empowered my team, clinical\u00a0partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the occasion of\u00a0Doctor\u2019s Day, Avinash says, \u201cStay\u00a0strong\u00a0 and\u00a0Stay morally true to your profession.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the early\u00a01990s,\u00a0radiology was\u00a0still an\u00a0emerging branch in\u00a0India. I\u00a0was very clear in my head that by the age\u00a0of\u00a0 27,\u00a0I needed to start earning and thus went for a specialisation in radiology which takes only three years,\u201d says\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Avinash Nanivadekar, Head Radiologist & Chief Digital Officer, Grant Medical Foundation, Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune. Avinash is an alumnus of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[24,25,29],"yoast_head":"\n