An Interview with David Rosales, EVP and Chief Strategy Officer

David Rosales is already familiar to many VNSNY staff members from his previous service with the organization, which included eight years in VNSNY’s Performance and Innovation Department—most recently as the department’s Vice President. This June, after several years with a national healthcare consulting firm, David returned to head up VNSNY’s Strategy division.

Q: Welcome back! What has it been like returning to VNSNY?

It’s been thrilling to be back at VNSNY. This place is like family, and the work we do remains vital to the healthcare fabric of this city. Coming back has been a homecoming of sorts, but there has also been a lot of change since I was here last. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind—meeting staff from across the organization, re-connecting with old colleagues, getting up to speed on our current challenges and opportunities, engaging with my new team, supporting our strategic planning process, and jumping into several new initiatives.

Q: What are your top priorities as VNSNY’s head of strategy?

My job is to work with leaders across the organization to help define VNSNY’s strategic direction and support the execution of that strategy. This includes collaborating with Marki Flannery and her tremendous senior leadership team to flesh out VNSNY’s strategic plan, drawing on input from other staff members as well. Marki has done a great job developing our strategic blueprint. Now we have to identify the specific next steps that will enable us to successfully execute on our growth goals, develop our care management capabilities, and bring our quality and patient experience up to world-class levels.

Q: Recently you’ve been hosting a number of strategic workshops. Could you describe these?

As part of our strategic planning process, we’re holding a series of workshops with leaders from across the organization to incorporate their input and perspectives as we develop the strategies and tactics that will help set our course for the next 3 to 5 years. We’re also organizing a similar workshop series with VNSNY’s frontline staff. Each of these meetings is focused on a different part of VNSNY’s strategic framework. So far, these workshops have been lively and dynamic, with a rich exchange of ideas and some common themes. Our strategic plan will be much stronger with the input and ideas we’re hearing from our staff.

Q: There has been a lot of discussion about taking advantage of synergies within VNSNY. Are the workshops addressing this?

Yes, it’s definitely a key theme that’s emerging from our strategic planning workshops. VNSNY has significant opportunities to operate in a more integrated way and leverage the diverse capabilities and services across the organization. We have incredible combined assets, as both a provider with a deep history and broad clinical expertise, and a health plan that understands how to manage risk. If we can unlock the synergies in these assets, our organization’s potential is virtually unlimited, given the rapid shifts in our market towards home- and community-based care and a focus on high-need, complex populations.

Q: Is VNSNY’s strategic planning focusing on certain business areas more than others?

Our strategy is focused on growing all aspects of VNSNY’s business. Within each business unit, however, we continuing to get clarity on which activities and investments we should and shouldn’t be investing time and resources in. Strategy is mostly about deciding what you want to do, but it’s also about deciding what not to do.

Q: Improving VNSNY’s quality measures is another important strategic goal. What will this require?

In today’s healthcare landscape, quality is absolutely critical. With the rise of value-based purchasing, our quality performance relative to other organizations is going to have a significant impact on our reimbursement dollars. To improve this performance, we need to get better at designing our processes and interactions with the patient/member at the center. One thing we hear from patients and plan members is that VNSNY doesn’t always do a great job of talking among ourselves, and the right hand often doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. So improving our internal communications will be a major priority. We have fantastic clinicians and support staff, and we need to give them the tools they need to communicate smoothly and effectively with one another.