Q&A with Tony Ambrozie, Part 1: “Digital and Data Technologies Are Part of My DNA.”

For many leaders, transitioning to a new organization — and a completely different industry — during a pandemic might not seem like a logical move. But for Tony Ambrozie, coming to healthcare was a no brainer.

“This is a place where a lot of transformation will happen, and a lot of it will be around technology, digital, and machine learning, which is what I’ve been doing,” he said during a podcast interview. And it will happen “in a relatively short period of time.”

Recently, Ambrozie spoke with healthsystemCIO about the enormous opportunity as Baptist Health South Florida’s first Chief Digital and Information Officer, and how he hopes to leverage the experience he has gained working for organizations like American Express and, most recently, Disney. He also talked about why 5-year plans are becoming a thing of the past, what he has learned from Elon Musk, and what he believes are the biggest challenges in healthcare.

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Key Takeaways



* The best pieces of advice for transitioning to a new industry? Read books, listen, and prepare to immerse yourself in it as much as possible.

* Having spent time in a number of verticals, including software engineering, retail, financial services, and hospitality, Ambrozio has learned that the one common denominator is a “focus on high-quality technology” to support digital growth.

* The four dimensions of digital experiences in healthcare involve consumers (before and after clinical encounters), patients, clinical staff, and operations/administration.

* Developing a solid digital strategies means letting go of the ‘perfect’ vision and instead adopting an agile model.





Q&A with Tony Ambrozie, Part 1

Gamble:  Thanks so much for taking some time to speak with us. Let’s jump right into the questions.

Tony:  Sure. I’m guessing you want to start with, ‘What in the world were you thinking going into healthcare during a pandemic?’

 

Gamble:  Exactly. In fact, you did a webinar with us in December where you talked about the ‘tremendous opportunity in healthcare from a digital perspective,’ but, as you alluded to, it was an unusual time. Can you talk about how you made the transition?

Ambrozie:  Of course. Transitioning to healthcare during a pandemic was very unusual. But I’ve been interested in healthcare for a while. I think this is a place where a lot of transformation will happen, and a lot of it will be around technology, digital, data and machine learning, which is what I’ve been doing for a while. A lot of great things will happen in a relatively short period of time, I believe. And so, especially given that I’ve been in a number of places already, where else to be but here?

Now, in terms of how I’ve managed that transition, obviously coming from a different business, there’s a significant learning curve. But I’ve done it a few times before. I started in software engineering for a startup almost 30 years ago. I then went into manufacturing and retail, financial services with American Express, and then hospitality with Disney.

People ask me, ‘How do you do this?’ There are two things. One is that once you’ve done a few transitions, you learn how to learn. You gain the knowledge of how to learn new things and you know where the opportunities and limitations are, who the players are and what are the rules, and you build that mental image.

The second part — which is just as important — is once you get into a new domain, especially one as fascinating as healthcare, you need to do a deep and absolute immersion in...