From rerouting his career path after 9/11 to confronting his son’s life-threatening illness, Dr. Ashwani Bhatia’s experiences have strengthened his leadership of BayCare Clinic.
Photographs by Shane Van Boxtel, Image Studios
Ashwani Bhatia believes adversity and opportunity are inextricably linked, like two tributaries of the same river.
The chief executive officer and chief medical officer at BayCare Clinic in Green Bay says whether in a steady trickle or a sudden torrent, when the two meet, it almost always leads to innovation.
“Whenever there’s adversity, there’s an opportunity for innovation,” Bhatia says, “because you don’t think about certain things until you are faced with some sort of hurdle.”
In September, the hurdle came as a hurricane named Helene.
When Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic flooding in North Carolina, it shut down one of the country’s leading manufacturing facilities of intravenous fluids, leaving health care providers nationwide scrambling.
At physician-owned BayCare Clinic, a group of physicians gathered to discuss how to manage the IV fluid shortage while maintaining high-quality patient care. One anesthesiologist posed an intriguing question: Are IV fluids truly required for every procedure in which they are currently used?
In some cases, Bhatia says the answer turned out to be no. For some patients receiving elective eye and gastrointestinal procedures, for example, it was found the use of IV fluids could be reduced or even eliminated without changing patient outcomes.
“We are taking this as a learning moment to look to the future — do we really need fluids for these patients?” Bhatia says. “We can’t completely eliminate IV fluids for all patients, but for most elective surgeries we could minimize the use of fluids and conserve those we have for bigger surgeries and patients who really need it urgently.”
Bhatia says the small but significant change could have long-term impacts such as reduced cost and waste, and improved efficiency.
“Innovation can be done at very high levels, but innovation is also defined by small steps that make people’s lives better,” he says. “For that innovation to occur, you have to empower employees and create a culture where ideas are given weight so they are not afraid to speak up.”
Finding strength
Hurricane Helene’s destruction across the southeastern United States and resulting IV fluid shortage was not the first time Bhatia has experienced turbulence in his life. In 2001, the New Delhi native and recent medical school graduate was preparing to come to the United States to pursue a career in specialty care. But on Sept. 11, he watched the news as the second plane collided with the World Trade Center’s South Tower and realized life would never be the same.
“Given the circumstances and the prevailing uncertainty, my aspirations of coming to the United States were put on hold,” Bhatia says.
Bhatia rerouted to the United Kingdom, where he was licensed to practice as a trainee physician, but the competition was incredibly high. He refers to this time as “the first test of my resilience.”
“As an immigrant, you get comfortable being uncomfortable,” he says. “I think the entrepreneur in me decided to start looking for other avenues to make a living.”
Bhatia secured a job developing medical courses for students. The work buoyed him enough to make the decision to apply for his U.S. visa, which he received. In 2003, he matched with a residency training program at Texas Tech University and he finally arrived in the U.S.
“But there was a caveat to it. I was on a visitor exchange visa, which meant that once I completed my training, I was supposed to go to an underserved area — and that led me to Wisconsin,” he says.
Bhatia joined Aurora Health Care in Door County in 2007 and quickly rose to leadership positions, becoming the Door County clinic’s quality director and later its president. Just as Bhatia and his family were preparing to embark on their next chapter in Pittsburgh, where Bhatia planned to complete a fellowship in critical care, things were dismantled again — Bhatia’s four-year-old son was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.
“It was like a gut punch. I was angry,” says Bhatia, whose second child was one month old at the time. “When you are in health care yourself, you feel a little invincible. You don’t feel like this is going to happen to you.”
All career aspirations were put on the back burner as Bhatia’s family rallied together to fight the illness. Today Bhatia’s son is a healthy 17-year-old, but the experience had a lasting impact that shaped Bhatia’s worldview.
“The way my son handled the treatment process gave me valuable insight, all without him saying a word,” Bhatia says. “My whole approach had changed because now I was a patient’s father personally experiencing the struggles of the health care system.”
This new perspective allowed Bhatia to see his own health care practice and leadership role through a more empathetic lens — a skill that would later get him noticed as a potential successor of Chris Augustian, former BayCare CEO and board president of Aurora BayCare Medical Center.
Bhatia worked as a full-time hospitalist and held numerous leadership positions with Aurora BayCare Medical Center before joining BayCare Clinic as chief medical officer in 2019.
“Dr. Bhatia checked all the boxes for me. He has the personal skills and the emotional intelligence necessary to be a successful leader,” Augustian says. “Technical skills can be learned. The soft-touch skills of leadership are very difficult to teach.”
Augustian spent a year working with Bhatia on the strategic side of the clinic and forging relationships with partner organizations. “We are the only joint venture hospital within the Advocate Aurora system, so there’s a lot of nuances that go into managing that relationship,” Augustian says.
“Over that year I saw tremendous growth in Ashwani, and it impressed me. There’s so much ego in leadership; C-level leaders can quickly find themselves in situations that are above their skill level,” he says. “I was impressed that Ashwani realized he needed more time to feel ready.”
When Bhatia became BayCare’s CEO in 2022, he had already faced many personal challenges, but, much like for the health care organization he now leads, each trial only strengthened his resolve.
“Conflicts are always present in our world,” he says, “but how we manage them is more important.”
Bold moves
There are many parallels between Bhatia’s journey of resilience and that of BayCare Clinic itself. In 1999, a group of subspecialists were in talks with Aurora Health Care to form a hospital “that was not supposed to be successful right from the start,” Bhatia says.
The idea of adding a third hospital to the Green Bay market was initially rejected by the community, Bhatia adds, but the physicians themselves were hungry to practice independently.
“BayCare was not created for financial returns. BayCare Clinic was based on the fact that the physicians wanted control of their destiny,” Bhatia says. “They wanted to practice on their own terms, and that was a very bold move.”
Despite the initial pushback, the physicians’ belief in the new joint venture hospital was so strong that some even mortgaged their own homes to build it, Bhatia says.
Today BayCare Clinic is the largest physician-owned specialty-care clinic in Northeast Wisconsin, with 250 clinicians offering care to 100,000 patients annually in more than 20 specialties. In 2001, Aurora Health Care and BayCare Clinic became joint partners in Aurora BayCare Medical Center, a 167-bed, full-service hospital in Green Bay.
“We get the benefits of partnering with a big system, but at the same time, the decision making is local. We are very nimble,” Bhatia says.
From Augustian’s perspective, the opening of Aurora BayCare Medical Center was a benefit to Northeast Wisconsin health care consumers.
“We developed the first comprehensive stroke center north of Milwaukee. Prior to that you were put on a helicopter to Milwaukee or Madison,” he says. “Health care locally was elevated because there was more competition.”
Augustian says that, according to Wisconsin Hospital Association data that tracks total hospital discharges and internal patient registration data, 50% of BayCare Clinic’s surgical patients self-refer out of other systems.
“That’s extremely abnormal for any market,” he says. “When people need surgery, they come to Aurora BayCare because it’s efficient and the care is great.”
In the post-COVID world, health systems nationwide are facing many challenges, from navigating remote workforces, reimbursement changes and rising costs. As both a physician and an executive, Bhatia has the ability to bridge the gap between frontline providers and administrative leadership, which reflects a broader trend in health care.
“Physicians have been craving [leaders] who know what it’s like to be in their shoes,” Augustian says. “There has been a fundamental shift in health care to see more physicians rising in leadership roles.”
Vision for growth
While the Affordable Care Act limits the expansion of physician-owned hospital inpatient beds, BayCare can and is expanding in other ways.
In 2021, BayCare opened its first multi-specialty clinic in Manitowoc. The 46,000-square-foot Lakeshore Campus houses several specialty medical departments, including Orthopedics & Sports Medicine BayCare Clinic, BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists, BayCare Clinic Neurological Surgeons, BayCare Clinic Pain & Rehab Medicine and Aurora BayCare Urological Surgeons.
As CEO of Manitowoc-based Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry, Sachin Shivaram has frequent conversations with colleagues and community members about the state of health care in the area.
“This is a health care-challenged community,” he says, “so for BayCare to open this brand new state-of-the-art facility is a real shot in the arm for the community.”
Shivaram first met Bhatia through their mutual work on the New North, Inc. board of directors, which Shivaram co-chairs. He says Bhatia brings an essential health care perspective to the regional economic development organization.
“He cares about people, and that’s what drives his passion. But for him, it’s not just about the patient, but also the impact that hospitals, doctors and health care have on the larger community,” Shivaram says. “Health care is an ever-growing part of our economy. When you look around Green Bay and Appleton, probably the most major construction happening is our health care facilities.”
BayCare plans to continue that trend. Last year BayCare bought a 25-acre parcel of land on Green Bay’s east side for future development.
“As care is becoming more and more outpatient, I think we will need a location which is closer to the hospital to build either another surgery center or a multi-specialty clinic as we expand services. This will allow us to expand our services and continue delivering the highest quality of care to our patients,” Bhatia says.
Expanding services inevitably means the need for more providers. Since joining BayCare, Bhatia has led many successful recruiting efforts for various specialties.
“He’s a great recruiter of physicians, which is exceedingly difficult — especially in our marketplace,” Augustian says.
Part of Bhatia’s recruiting success has come from his ability to connect with diverse populations.
“Green Bay has experienced significant growth in the last few years yet still has the small-community feel,” Bhatia says. “While small towns don’t always have a high level of diversity, it is very much present. I feel I have the responsibility to foster and celebrate the diversity within Green Bay and its surrounding communities by promoting diversity of thought within our company.”
Thinking differently
Diversity, equity and inclusion are some of Bhatia’s core values as a leader, and they can be seen in various ways companywide.
“Diversity isn’t just about appearance; it’s about inclusiveness in ideas,” Bhatia says. “We have made strides in that as an organization.”
BayCare Clinic’s diversity and inclusion efforts have received national attention — it was named by Newsweek as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women in 2024 and one of America’s Greatest Workplaces 2024.
“Our executive team includes strong representation from women and individuals from different backgrounds,” Bhatia says. “I believe this diversity fuels innovation and sparks inspiration. The strong representation of women on our board and within the hospital has encouraged us to approach challenges from new perspectives, ultimately strengthening our collective potential and fostering continuous growth.”
One of BayCare’s executive leaders advancing new ideas is CFO Julie Duckett, who also serves as the president/CEO of the BayCare Clinic Foundation. Since assuming that role in 2023, Duckett has championed the foundation’s shift to supporting mental health initiatives in the communities BayCare serves.
BayCare has committed to provide half a million dollars over five years to area organizations that support mental health, a cause that has personally touched Duckett’s family.
Duckett, who is also one of Insight’s 2024 CFO of the Year Award honorees, says mental health should be prioritized the same as physical health, and that’s a value BayCare leadership also shares.
“Dr. Bhatia taught me the importance of supporting your team and that if you are struggling to solve an issue, come at it from a different angle,” she says. “Also, don’t forget to take care of yourself. It’s so easy as a leader, parent, spouse to get consumed in helping others, but if you don’t take care of yourself, you’re not going to be able to help anyone.”
In order to bring forth innovation and change, Bhatia says leaders must create a culture of accountability where all employees feel empowered to share their ideas.
“We are like a 25-year-old startup with ideas constantly flowing,” he says. “We need to keep that entrepreneurial mindset across all levels of the organization.”
CEO Breakfast with Dr. Ashwani Bhatia
BayCare Clinic CEO Ashwani Bhatia will present “A Prescription for Resilience” during St. Norbert College’s CEO Breakfast series
Dec. 18 from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.
at St. Norbert College in De Pere.
Learn more at schneiderschool.snc.edu/newsandevents/ceobreakfast/.
