FEATURE
Dr Brian Chicksen, VP, Safety and Health for Anglogold Ashanti, studied medicine at the University of KwaZulu Natal and practised with the mining giant’s health subsidiary for three years. Talk to him about healthcare now, however, and his focus is very much on business and how corporations like his have a responsibility to improve healthcare delivery and management in society at large by doing the things business does best - strategic thinking, planned execution and effective measurement. But, he says, this is no easy task, requiring joined up thinking and concerted action by all stakeholders, the government, industry and healthcare users.
Healthcare as a value proposition D
r Brian Chicksen started his career practicing medicine, and did what any good clinician would do – treated his patients and made them well again. While doing this as
head of internal medicine for Anglogold Ashanti Health’s West Wits operation, he began to think of the broader picture in terms of healthcare. By successfully treating a patient, he thought, it is possible to have a big impact on that person’s life, but what about health as a whole? What about creating a broader impact? Consequently, he moved into management and, staying with
Anglogold Ashanti Health, he began to steer the company in the direction of managing health risk and creating a clear value proposition for providing better healthcare. After all, if you keep your work force healthy, they work better; and if you treat them when they are ill, they return to work quicker – all good business practice. But that particular part of the value chain is only part of the story
as Chicksen now sees it. Business as an “organ of society” must, he believes, contribute to the positive evolution and development of that society as a whole. Of course, the more profit the business makes, the more sustainable that proposition becomes, but, as Chicksen points out, profit must not be its only motivation. “Business must always look at the role it plays in the broader societal context,” he says. For Chicksen, this is a central tenet of his role at Anglogold Ashanti,
as he embraces the idea that the company is about its people. In providing good healthcare he is both recognising their worth and also providing the measure for his value proposition. “There is mutual value here,” he points out. “Business is both the recipient of a healthy and productive workforce and a contributor to society in the fact its workers are economically and socially productive.”
16 In terms of how this healthcare is delivered and this mutual value
proposition maintained, Chicksen believes eHealth is crucial, and he is a champion of its development on a national scale. “If we look at eHealth,” he says, “we tend to focus on businesses
that have very specific technological capabilities, but we should recognise that many businesses have many other core capabilities that could be part of the contribution towards the provision of healthcare. eHealth should not be seen in isolation of the broader health context. Many innovations come from the eHealth space, but in themselves those solutions don’t provide the complete healthcare solution. “For example, look at eHealth solutions for things like record
keeping and access to information so people can access better care through mobile technology,” continues Chicksen,. “For these to provide real value, they need to be backed up by many other fundamental systems. Chicksen explains this simple model by using an example of how
beer company SAB Miller applies its internal systems to a particular societal need. As a very large company in South Africa, SAB Miller has very sophisticated information systems developed to manage its distribution network and procurement. One of its main strengths is that it also has a huge footprint
through powerful channels of
distribution – delivering beer to the remotest parts of the country. In an arrangement with the South African Department of Health, and using the support of the information systems it uses to make these channels work, it started distributing condoms with its delivery trucks, providing the government with a vital means of distribution to meet a very real need.
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