Dr Lachlan Henderson’s time as a GP has informed his work in medical management, which extends to his recent appointment as CEO of WA-based health insurer HBF.
By Ara Jansen
A young Lachlan Henderson would have preferred to be an international sports star out on the cricket pitch. But during his much-loved career as a doctor and now medical administrator he has still managed to stay connected to the sport.
Back in Perth after six years in Melbourne, Lachlan has been reacquainting himself with seeing our big blue sky more often.
“I’m home and it’s familiar,” says Lachlan. “I like that I know where I am going in the car. Most of my family and friends live here.”
For the first time in his career, Lachlan is working in the CBD. He’s seeking out his favourite local coffee haunts and sushi bars. One of the first orders of business was putting his toes back in the Indian Ocean. He’s also enjoying having his office out of Tigers territory and being able to barrack for the Eagles in their home state.
Lachlan returned home at the start of the year and took up the position of CEO of one of the largest not-for-profit health funds in Australia – HBF, with $2 billion in revenue. His previous position was Group Chief Executive of Epworth HealthCare, the largest private, not-for-profit hospital group in Victoria with revenue in excess of $900 million, employing more than 7,000 staff across 10 sites. It was also where he saw the group through a pandemic in the most locked down city in the world.
Hailing from a family of school teachers, Lachlan did medicine at UWA, the usual hospital rounds and his first year of residency at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and PMH. He worked south of the river as a GP in the 1990s and had no aspirations to move into a management role, though it unexpectedly provided solid grounding for the future.
“GPs get a very broad knowledge across the health system and I was dealing with patients and families for 10 years. That helped me become very aware of how things worked in later roles.
“I had an interest in science and health when I started my degree and it also proved a good introduction to science and people. Over that time, the rise of digital technology has changed things and that has been a transition for those of us who studied in the Eighties and Nineties. The rise of technology in health and what it is going to do for diagnosis and care is changing the role of doctors and hospitals.”
In the mid-90s, Lachlan says WA was one of the first states to take on the corporate GP model and around 1997 he was one of the first GPs to work under a corporate umbrella. While he didn’t know it at the time, the experience of working in a group practice and learning the ropes of its administration gave him a new skills base. It also showed him examples of how to stay in the medical field but move away from being a GP.
This corporate model allowed non-doctor owners into medicine and paved the way for salaried doctors who didn’t run the practice and for related specialties to create one-stop shops.
“It was a different model and some GPs might have lost a bit of their autonomy, particularly older GPs. Just like the corner deli which turned into a shopping centre, there are not many doctors in a house at the end of the street anymore.”
As one of the first GPs working in a corporate practice in the country, those 10 years fostered Lachlan’s interest in the business of health and how organisations run.
The first role he stepped into was as GP Liaison Doctor at St John of God Murdoch, with a little bit of surgical assisting on the side. He was still assuming he would be a GP for part of the time.
“Being a GP was one of the toughest jobs I have done. I admire GPs who continue to work solely in that space. For my sanity I started to do some different things.”
It was with a twinge of regret, but with an eye on the future, Lachlan saw his last patient in April 2007 as he set a course for a career in the business of health. In order to move forward, he needed to supplement his medical qualifications with business knowledge and did a Master of Health Services Management at Monash University – basically a medical MBA. This “gave me more of the language of the business of health”.
“I was a bit of an anomaly going in to running a hospital in my early 40s as people with medical business backgrounds usually do it earlier.”
Subsequent roles included being Executive Director Perth Northern Hospitals at St John of God Health Care and General Manager at the Mount Hospital. He’s also held a variety of university and board appointments, including President of the Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) and was a board member for SwanCare.
Lachlan says having been a doctor helped moving into hospital management because “having been a doctor now in these roles, you have knowledge about how it is to be a patient navigating a hospital and how to co-ordinate their care.
“Plus, I think working in a hospital with a medical background gives you more credibility in the role. You understand the language and can talk to people in their language.
“I think it has allowed me to use some of the medical and tech skills I have learnt, along with a reasonable aptitude with people I needed as a GP, to translate that to solve bigger problems in more complex organisations.”
Having worked for a number of not-for-profits, of which HBF is one, Lachlan says he’s found his niche.
“Doctors are big on making decisions based on evidence and my mantra is making decisions based on evidence. I think I’m relatively consistent with that. In some of the roles I have taken on, where big decisions have to be made and a lot of people impacted, hopefully I have brought a calmness in dealing with people and an empathetic attitude.”
Lachlan describes himself as “pretty competitive” and a man who likes to achieve things. In the organisations he runs, he wants to do right by people, while making the business grow. Equally his jobs require that ever delicate balance of people with a financial imperative to grow or expand.
“Working in hospitals is all about the patients. If I was in a business conversation, I was always thinking what is the impact on the person who is going to receive the care. That’s always the natural tension – how do you provide care and how does that assist the business.”
Lachlan and his wife Cathy have three children in their 20s – Anna, Ollie and Laura. The pair were in the same year of medical school and she went on to become a child psychiatrist. They married soon after completing their studies.
“We chose medical careers that work pretty well with family. I grew up with a lot of people who had medical parents and they were often the absent seat at the table. Cathy sacrificed more of her career in having children at the same time as getting specialist qualifications.”
A lover of many sports, cricket and AFL are his favourites. Lachlan played cricket growing up – the “main sporting interest which kept me going” – which included University Cricket Club and A Grade district cricket in his 20s, until family became a priority. He’ll also tell you a lack of ability halted any further progression.
At one point in his studies, Lachlan thought about aligning cricket and medicine but found in general practice he was doing plenty of sports medicine anyway. He holds a Certificate in Sports Medicine.
While not getting to play much while he was raising his family and back studying, he kept close to cricket in roles such as being Chairman and board member of the WACA for just over three years before heading to Melbourne. He was then appointed to the board of Cricket Australia, becoming Chair of the Board of Directors in February 2022 before retiring from the position on starting at HBF.
“It was a fun 12 months and a busy role. I got to see a good amount of cricket and travelled to the UK and India as well. I encourage people in executive positions to have roles outside what they do. It gives you a lens on people and another organisation as well as a different perspective on leadership.”
He likes to run and pool swim for health and fitness and is a “very average” golfer. Working in health helps you keep an eye on your own wellbeing, he says. He has always kept fit and uses sport as a way to unwind after a busy work day. While living in Melbourne he was also a member of a book club of blokes and joins remotely when he can.
A traveller, reader and music lover, Lachlan also enjoys a variety of styles from pop to classical and has kept an ear on current hits and trends through his kids, this year seeing Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran live.