Specialization at Scale: Preserving What Works While Expanding What’s Possible

Scale can give healthcare organizations access to greater technology, talent, and capability, but only if growth preserves the specialized knowledge that makes those resources valuable. Russ Branzell, President and CEO of CHIME, welcomes Venky Ananth, Head of US Healthcare at Infosys, for a conversation on balancing global scale with the realities of individual health systems.

Together, they explore what successful technology partnerships should deliver, how leaders can modernize critical environments without disrupting daily operations, and where standardization must give way to provider-specific context.

Key Takeaways:

• How health systems can gain the advantages of scale without sacrificing healthcare expertise, responsiveness, and institutional knowledge.

• Which areas of technology operations lend themselves to standardization and which decisions should remain close to individual health systems.

• How leaders can balance modernization with the reliability of critical systems and day-to-day operations.

• What disciplined sequencing looks like when modernization and operational demands compete for the same resources.

• How CIOs can structure strategic technology partnerships around clear accountability, measurable performance, and long-term value.