Gregory Scott Brown is the Group Chief Executive Offcer of Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care (RSDHC) operations in Asia. Brown succeeds Bronte Kumm, who stepped down from his position on November 1, 2017.
In this role, Brown is responsible for leading the operations of RSDHC which include three hospitals and a college in Malaysia and three hospitals in Indonesia. Brown also oversees the management services and operations of Tree Top hospital in Maldives. He reports directly to the Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care Board.
He aims to accelerate RSDHC’s efforts toward improving operations, developing the right approach toward patient care, and to instill greater ‘oneness’ and uniformity in operations across the hospitals truly as ‘one RSDHC’ and in line with the company’s tagline – ‘People caring for people’.
RSDHC is looking at expansion in Malaysia and Asia through potential acquisitions in the near future, a move that will be carried out after strengthening its current operations.
Prior to joining Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care, Brown was the Operations Executive Manager of Ramsay Health Care’s Sydney Metropolitan Hospitals, a role he has served since 2015. There, he oversaw seven high acuity hospitals and four mental health facilities. In 2004 Brown joined North Shore Private Hospital as the CEO and co-jointly served as CEO of North Shore Private Hospital and co-jointly served as CEO of Castlecrag Private Hospital and Hunters Hill Private Hospitals from 2006 and 2013, respectively.
With over four decades of experience in healthcare management, Brown has held several senior management roles in a variety of public and private hospitals throughout New South Wales and Victoria, Australia. Among others, Brown served as General Manager of the Radiology, Pathology and General Practice Division of Alpha Healthcare.
He currently chairs the Breath by Breath Foundation, which raises funds for vital respiratory equipment for hospitals across Australia, and serves as a Director with the Kolling Foundation, the Sydney Neuro Oncology Group, the Lincoln Centre, the North Shore Heart Research Foundation, and the Northern Cancer Institute.
ACHIEVEMENTS
As Operations Executive Manager, Sydney Metropolitan Hospitals
Financial Performance
In FY2017, the Sydney Metropolitan hospitals as a group increased their total Net Patient Revenue by $29.5 million and EBIT by $13.2 million year on year 2016 to 2017, which equates to a percent increase of 4.1 and 9.9, respectively. In FY2016, the Sydney Metropolitan hospitals as a group increased their total Net Patient Revenue by $11.7 million and EBIT by $5.4 million year on year 2015 to 2016, which equates to a percent increase of 1.6 and 4.3, respectively.
Benchmarking
Development of detailed business rules and monthly KPI reports for operating theatres, CSSD, ICU, and maternity, resulting in imporved effciency and financial performance by focusing on outliers and sharing ideas across hospitals. Some specific examples of this are as follows:
North Shore Private Hospital Operating Theatres – Productive hours per combined operating minute have reduced from 0.1209 in April 2017 to 0.1186 in July 2017 by matching staff starting times with start of operating theatre list. Savings of $18,200.00 per month are being realised.
St. George Private Hospital Maternity – Direct labour cost per productive hour has reduced from $51.38 in March 2017 to $50.40 in July 2017 by reducing agency rate from 8% to 1% by sharing casual staff across the Ramsay Sydney Metropolitan maternity units. Savings of $7,200.00 per month are being realised.
Westmead Private Hospital ICU – The issue identified through benchmarking related to the inappropriate admission of patients to ICU who could not be billed to the health funds as they did not have appropriate interventions. The admission criterion was altered and patients are now receiving appropriate interventions, or they are accommodated on the ward with higher nursing ratios, but not at ICU levels. This has resulted in a decrease of other billable patients and an increase in category C patients. In comparing March to July 2017, other billable days have reduced from 102 to 58. Savings of $21,700.00 per month are being realised.
Projects
A number of projects have been introduced in Ramsay Australia, both from a revenue increase and cost-saving perspective, and I have been the executive sponsor for those listed. The increased revenue or savings from these projects are listed below:
Clinical Documentation Specialist – Implemented in May 2017, this project is on track to increase revenue in the Ramsay Australian hospitals by over $8 million in the 2017/2018 financial year.
Prosthesis Opened But Not Implanted – Through the negotiation with the suppliers where they will not charge for items opened in error, which will see this initiative realise savings of over $1.5 million in the 2017/2018 financial year.
Procurement Initiatives – Improved supplier pricing/agreements will see savings in excess of $6.3 million achieved through projects such as newspapers, managed print services, stationary, IV pumps and consumables, endoscopy chemicals, surgical and examination gloves, food costs.
CAFAT Contract – Assisted in the negotiations with the new Caledonian Department of Health to create an exclusivity agreement to treat their patients in either a Ramsay NSW Sydney Metropolitan hospital or a public hospital if the service is not able to be provided by a Ramsay hospital. In March 2017, the contract was finalised and this agreement commenced on April 1, 2017. In the first full year of this agreement, an additional $2.4 million revenue was achieved and this year, the increase will be over $3 million.