Mark Rochon’s 25 years leading health care organizations has allowed him to help shape the development of public health care in Ontario, nationally and, both internationally at the institutional and system-wide levels.
He is currently an Associate with KPMG’s Global Health Care Centre of Excellence and the Canadian Health Care practice.
Previously, Mark has led hospitals throughout periods of transformation, including serving as president and chief executive officer of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Humber Memorial Hospital, Georgetown District Memorial Hospital & Bennett Health Care Centre. Early in his career, he was the Associate Administrator and Chief Financial Officer of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry.
As a health system leader, he influenced major government decisions on the future of health care delivery. As an Assistant Deputy Minister in the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, he led the development of policies on the funding and oversight of hospital services in Ontario, and initiated health system restructuring efforts. He later served as CEO of the Health Services Restructuring Commission (HSRC), one of the most significant restructuring undertakings in Canada. The HSRC made binding decisions on the restructuring of hospitals in Ontario and provided policy advice to government on the broader health system. Mark has also served as interim president and chief executive officer of Health Quality Ontario and the Ontario Hospital Association.
Mark has been on the boards of directors of a number of health-care organizations, and chaired the boards of the Institute for Work & Health; the Ontario Hospital Association and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. He has authored a number of journal articles and co-authored Riding the Third Rail: The Story of Ontario’s Health Services Restructuring Commission.
Experience and Interests
As an IHPME Senior Fellow, Mark’s goal is to influence the next generation of health system leaders to lead and contribute towards improved health and health care services. He believes that leadership matters and that health care leaders play an important role in supporting a vibrant Canadian society.
Q. What are the immediate and long-term challenges that current students will need to address in their careers?
In the immediate term, and the long term for that matter, new graduates will face growing demand from payers (whether public or private) to pursue strategies that will achieve improvement in the value of health care expenditures. Focusing on strategies that will improve health system performance for patients who are high-cost users of the health system will be part of the answer to improving value.
Given the global ageing of the health care work force, new health care leaders will need to develop strategies that will address this expected phenomenon, while at the same time addressing increasing demand for service.
Q. What are the essential skills, knowledge and attributes that IHPME students will need in their careers, taking into account trends and direction in public health care?
In my view, leading health and health-care enterprises is one of the most rewarding undertakings in society. It provides the opportunity to make a positive difference in the social fabric of communities. In addition to the basic skills that any organizational leader would need to possess, health care leaders need to foster inter- and intra-organizational collaboration to enable staff to function as interdependent team players and to position the organization as a key contributor to the larger health care eco-system. Health care leaders need to commit to collaboration and develop and lead coalitions that are motivated by the same goals.
Q. What are your research interests at IHPME, and what are some areas of research you believe may be worthy or more attention by IHPME students?
I am interested in questions that explore value, quality and accountability within health care.