New Employee Spotlight – Suneel Ratan

by Joi Wilson

Suneel Ratan is one of CHCN’s newest Leadership Team members. He is filling a new position to the company, Chief Strategy Officer. Because we so rarely get new leadership staff, and because this is a brand new position, I asked Suneel to sit down for a short interview. Read below to learn more about Suneel and the position.

Joi Wilson (JW):  What is the highest degree you have achieved in school and from where?

Suneel Ratan (SR):  I achieved my Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

JW:  Can you share with us some of your past work history?

SR:  After college and graduate school I worked as a newspaper and magazine reporter, including five years covering health care policy and economics in Washington. I then went into the Internet business and oversaw the design, development, and launch of consumer-oriented Web sites. Over the past ten years, I’ve worked in the area of Internet-based technology for chronic disease management, looking at ways that we can better support folks, even ones who struggle with multiple, complex conditions, stay relatively healthier and out of the hospital.

JW: The Chief Strategy Officer is a new position for AHC / CHCN. Can you explain what strategy is and why you are qualified for this position?

SR: To me, strategy is about how our mission and values are translated into a set of achievable goals and action plans, and then driving to make sure those objectives are achieved. I’m particularly excited for CHCN and the eight clinics we serve because of everything that’s happening with healthcare reform, as well as what’s becoming more and more possible with technology, particularly mobile technologies. Since leaving journalism, I’ve spent my career working at companies defining and executing successful strategies, and have a diverse set of experiences that I think can really benefit the team here at AHC / CHCN and the patients and providers we support and serve.

JW:  What are some of your goals/ideas for helping to grow AHC/CHCN?

SR: I have a lot of ideas that come out of the work I’ve been doing the past 10 years. For instance, over the past six weeks, I’ve been working at the Public Health Institute to develop a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations Center proposal that focuses on culturally competent community health workers as the center of community health center-based care teams who will be using secure, private social networks to collaborate with each other, as well as their patients and families. The proposal is geared toward health centers in the Central Valley, but it could very easily be applied here.  At the moment, the focus is on implementing the strategic plan that was developed in the months before I started in August. I’m also trying to learn as much as I can from all of you and as many folks as I can meet with at the clinics to get a sense from you of your visions for CHCN and where it should go.

Suneel is looking forward to learning as much as possible about each health center. You can reach him at sratan@chcnetwork.org.