Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health appointed Suja Chandrasekaran to serve as senior executive vice president and chief information and digital officer, a newly created role.
Ms. Chandrasekaran, who will report to CEO Kevin Lofton, will lead the health system's efforts to integrate technology systems across 142 hospitals and more than 700 care sites. She will also be tasked with redesigning the business processes used by CommonSpirit's 150,000 employees and 25,000 physicians, and introducing new digital initiatives to improve patient experience.
Before joining CommonSpirit, which was formed in February following the merger of Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives and San Francisco-based Dignity Health, Ms. Chandrasekaran led digital and IT efforts at Kimberly-Clark, Walmart, Timberland and Nestle.
"I believe technology can play a unique role in healthcare. 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," she said in a statement.