In recent years, the healthcare industry has transformed I into a disruptive pattern. Technological advancements achieved in this field have helped millions of healthcare experts work seamlessly to save countless lives. Industry leaders are improving several technologies to have seamless coordination to develop advanced medicine through collective knowledge. Women leaders in healthcare are dedicating their expertise and providing strategies to help further carry out groundbreaking initiatives.
In our endeavor to find the Most Eminent Women Leaders in Healthcare, we came across Alyeah E. Ramjit, who has been leading in the healthcare industry with her expertise and brings structure to the chaos.
Ms. Ramjit works as the Associate Director and Chief of Staff to the Chief Transformation Officer at Mount Sinai Health System and President of Mount Sinai Morningside. In this role, she supports key initiatives to transform organizational culture, including patient experience, system learning and process improvement, and overseeing initiatives within operations, hospital strategy, and business development.
Up Until Now
Ms. Ramjit’s prior experience involves serving as the Administrative Manager for Northwell Health’s Mobile Integrated Healthcare/Community Paramedicine Program. She oversaw the programmatic design and care management of the Advanced Illness population through pre-hospital care providers.
Before her time with Northwell Health, Ms. Ramjit gained experience as a Project Manager of Integrated Care with the Suffolk Care Collaborative, Stony Brook Medicine. She oversaw creating an integrated delivery service using PCMH accreditation to create practice transformation, IT/provider integration, community engagement, network development and performance, and quality improvement. In addition, Ms. Ramjit also has experience in Medicare Part D operations, and Hospital and Long-Term Care & Rehabilitation operations.
Facing The Challenges
Throughout her journey, Ms. Ramjit has always found that her biggest challenge to date had consistently been herself. Early on in her career, she wanted others to believe in her, and she thought that being dependent on others’ perceptions of her would help her grow. However, eventually, she learned that she must first work on developing herself, understanding her personality, and how she interacted with others. Then, gain a further understanding of her emotional quotient and how she uses emotional intelligence to help navigate her career path.
Ms. Ramjit also understood that knowing her skillsets and speaking to those assists in creating non-traditional career opportunities. In addition, observing others’ styles and personalities has helped her improve herself, thereby providing her with the tools to understand her career growth decision-making process.
Aligning With Innovative Technologies to Improve Healthcare
It is vital to use newer technologies in health care, and Ms. Ramjit thinks Health Systems need to partner with venture capitalists and established community programs. Many health systems seek to create their own telehealth platforms or social determinants of health platforms to address patient needs and attempt to recreate the wheel.
She says, “If leaders took a step back and viewed healthcare the way I do, which is like a large puzzle with silos that need to be brought together, then instead of recreating the wheel, we would be able to bring groups of experts together and in the long run solve the large puzzle of healthcare.”
Ms. Ramjit believes that creating a population of healthy individuals is all about strategic operations and partnerships. It is about patient accountability, caregiver input, interdisciplinary team communication, and advocacy being supported by infrastructure.
Repercussions of the Pandemic
Mr. Ramjit opines that the pandemic was an experience that today’s healthcare leaders never imagined they would live through; all in all, everyone is still living through it. She thinks that telehealth will be one of the big winners post-pandemic.
Before COVID, telehealth was used within Healthcare Systems primarily for remote patient monitoring. COVID taught healthcare workers that they could care for patients and seek consultations across State lines. Ms. Ramjit remembers a time where physicians were in such high demand locally organizations had to partner across State lines to provide adequate coverage. Telehealth brought the nation together, even if for a short period.
Another thing that was learned during this timeframe, especially at MSHS, was how it truly utilizes inpatient beds. In New York, it has been on a lengthy journey to consolidate inpatient beds and focus heavily on ambulatory.
COVID stopped them in their tracks and has forced them to redesign that thought and those plans.
What Future Holds?
Mr. Ramjit thinks that the next five years of healthcare will be about recovery and resilience. COVID hit MSHS like a Category 5 hurricane, and once there is an opportunity to take a step back fully, healthcare leaders will need to reassess their views on the future and their views on how care is provided.
Organizations, whether those are Health Systems, venture capital-funded or that are community-based, need to reassess the concept of teamwork within healthcare and not just within their mission, vision & values. Healthcare in the US has come a long way through technological advances, advances in population health management, engagement with health insurance companies, Silicon-valley entering healthcare, etc., but those are all under the guise of volatility and being cutthroat. Resilience and recovery take precedent with the underlying understanding that people (employees) drive mission, vision, and values.
Precious Advice for Up-and-Coming Leaders
The path to healthcare leadership and healthcare administration is no longer what it was just five years ago. Healthcare Systems are the new normal, consistently providing a traditional approach to patient care while ventured backed healthcare continually assesses how to improve care delivery in a non-traditional setting.
Mr. Ramjit says, “I have always been intrigued by the way in which venture capitalism entered the healthcare market and identified how to efficiently create targeted care within appropriate care models. My advice is always the same, be kind to yourself on the journey, be kind to those around you, enter healthcare and strive to be a leader because your decisions impact thousands if not millions of people in a singular moment.”
“Leadership is truly about being primarily servant but understanding that transformational leadership and influential leadership create the balance,” she concludes.
Alyeah E. Ramjit, Associate Director & Chief of Staff, Mount Sinai Health System
