CommonSpirit Health’s first Chief Information and Digital Officer to reimagine technology transformation in health care

Chicago, Ill.—August 7, 2019—CommonSpirit Health, the $29 billion nonprofit Catholic health system operating in 21 states, today announced the next step toward achieving its mission to transform the future of health care with the appointment of its first senior executive vice president, chief information and digital officer (CIDO), Suja Chandrasekaran. In this role, Suja will lead the integration and modernization of technology systems to connect the 142 hospitals and more than 700 care sites of CommonSpirit Health, which was formed from the February merger of Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health.

An important component in the alignment of CommonSpirit Health is to create interoperability between the technology capabilities of the formerly-independent health systems. Suja will redesign business processes with forward-looking technology and operating models that connect the 150,000 employees and 25,000 physicians across the different geographies and communities of CommonSpirit Health, in addition to designing digital capabilities to transform the patient experience.

As a member of CommonSpirit Health’s executive leadership team, Suja will report to Kevin E. Lofton in the Office of the CEO.

“Suja’s experience driving technology and digital transformations across major consumer-driven corporations will set the trend for how we integrate today’s emerging technologies into a health system,” said Kevin E. Lofton, CEO of CommonSpirit Health. “To truly change health care in our country, we need the very best leaders at the table. Suja has a distinct vision to accelerate the development of innovative operating capabilities and new digital pathways to support our people as they deliver the highest quality of care to our patients.”

Suja’s first priorities as CIDO will be to:

• Set the operational technology strategy for CommonSpirit Health;
• Deploy systems to ensure the hospitals and care facilities are supported by a high-perfoming technology infrastructure;
• Digitize core processes and improve the use of analytics and artificial intelligence across the organization;
• Design digital experiences that empower patients and consumers to seamlessly navigate their care; and
• Inspire and lead the IT professionals of CommonSpirit Health.

“I believe technology can play a unique role in health care. By linking CommonSpirit Health’s clinical and digital strategies and modernizing work processes, we can free up time for our physicians and staff to focus on their number one priority – the patient,” said Suja. “Whether you work for CommonSpirit Health or are a patient or family member, we are all consumers who expect technology to provide easy, engaging experiences in our everyday lives. I look forward to working with the talented individuals across CommonSpirit Health as we integrate technologies that will lay the foundation to create healthier communities across the country.”

With over 25 years of technology leadership experience, Suja most recently developed and led the global strategy and deployment of digital technologies, cyber security, artificial intelligence capabilities, enterprise applications, software, technology infrastructure, and talent transformation at the Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Her experience includes IT leadership roles at Walmart Inc., Nestle S.A., and The Timberland Company, where she led multi-year IT transformations and championed digital strategies as differentiators of business outcomes.

Suja has a master’s in business systems from Monash University, Australia, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Madras, India.

About CommonSpirit Health
CommonSpirit Health is a nonprofit, Catholic health system dedicated to advancing health for all people. It was created in February 2019 through the alignment of Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health. CommonSpirit Health is committed to creating healthier communities, delivering exceptional patient care, and ensuring every person has access to quality health care. With its National Office in Chicago and a team of approximately 150,000 employees and 25,000 physicians and advanced practice clinicians, CommonSpirit Health operates 142 hospitals and more than 700 care sites across 21 states. In FY 2018, Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health had combined revenues of $29.2 billion and provided $4.2 billion in charity care, community benefit, and unreimbursed government programs. Learn more at commonspirit.org.

Media Contact:

Joann Wardrip
External Communications Manager
Dignity Health
joann.wardrip@dignityhealth.org
Tel. 415.438.5543