57: The Margin and the Mission, with Niyum Gandhi, CFO and Treasurer, Mass General Brigham
Meet Niyum Gandhi:
Niyum Gandhi is the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at Mass General Brigham. Previously, he was the CFO, EVP, and Chief Population Health Officer at Mount Sinai Health and a Partner of Health and Life Science at Oliver Wyman. Niyum is a co-founder and Board Chair for Dandelion Helath AI, and on the Board of Directors for HealthPass New York and Northeast Business Group on Health. He received an A.B. in Economics from Harvard University.
Key Insights:
Niyum Gandhi highlights the relationship between finance and strategy, and showcases how finance can support operations and further an organization’s mission.
- Solving at Scale. Scale can be an asset and liability. It is harder to integrate at scale, but health systems have an obligation to do so, as it advances quality of care, fortifies the balance sheet, and can diversify sources of margin. (05:34)
- Fundamental Tradeoffs. Niyum describes that some healthcare services are high value but will never make margin. Margin is fundamental to financial health, but also providing those services is important to the local community; both are a part of the mission. It is important for health systems to balance those tradeoffs. (13:04)
- The Economics of Healthcare. Traditionally, health systems stay in the black by forgoing investments for the future. Recently, more systems are making more long-term investments; however, inflation is raising costs. A challenge for healthcare leaders is balancing between investing in the future, while effectively addressing the financial challenges of today. (15:54)
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