Convenient Care: Rob De Luca

Before signing on with Zenitas Healthcare in May 2019, CEO Rob De Luca had amassed more than 20 years’ experience in various roles ranging from financial services to wealth management, disability and health care.

As CEO of the National Disability Insurance Agency, he led the national rollout of the NDIS – Australia’s largest reform since Medicare. During that time, he helped grow the scheme from 90,000 participants to 300,000.

And before that, he was Managing Director at Bankwest, securing strategic plans, laying out the bank’s future and delivering what he calls "happy banking".

Today, he’s largely doing the same thing, just to a new standard in a new industry. It’s what drew Rob to the position in the first place. "I saw the opportunity for Zenitas to deliver high-quality, person-centred outcomes while leveraging its national footprint of trusted healthcare professionals," he shares.

"Zenitas had a proposition that included a broad range of services across health, disability and aged care." Together with favourable shifts in the market, increased funding from the government and the company’s strong position, Rob couldn’t deny the opportunity to make a real difference in the market.

"We have the ability to deliver a more integrated service experience for our customers in a more convenient manner – how they wanted it, where they wanted it and when they wanted it," he says. "Zenitas has the ability to grow rapidly to become the largest health, aged care and disability service provider in Australia."

We exist to help people live healthier, happier and more independent lives.

Since its founding in 2016, that’s what Zenitas has always aspired to be. And getting there all starts with purpose. "We exist to help people live healthier, happier and more independent lives," Rob beams.

"And now, we’re able to do that how and where they like it, whether it be in clinics, in residential aged-care facilities, in homes or via telehealth." The name Zenitas is Latin for ‘peak health’ and it’s something the healthcare provider doesn’t take lightly.

For the company, peak health extends far beyond physical health into the realm of total wellbeing. That’s why it chose to take an integrative approach to care, growing by roughly 20 acquisitions over the past few years all to provide convenient and connected wellbeing services across health, aged care and disability services by way of a network of trusted healthcare professionals.

Zenitas boasts one of the largest clinic networks with around 50 clinics, which delivered more than 600,000 consultations last year; it has one of the largest mobile allied health professional networks with more than 1,100 practitioners, which served more than 150,000 aged-care residents last year; and its disability accommodation network is one of the leading and most diverse, servicing more than 200 locations, underpinned by more than 3,000 support workers who put in more than one million aged care and disability community client hours last year.

"Scale is certainly one of the core strengths of our business model," Rob grins. "But our model continues to be successful due to its focus on highquality, person-centred outcomes and our access to a breadth of services and leading technology."

To keep up the company’s positive momentum, Rob has laid out an ambitious growth strategy for the next couple of years. It sees Zenitas continuing to invest in technology, its people and its operations platform, all with one goal in mind. "It’s all about delivering a better experience for our customers," he explains.

"Our management team proactively works with the sector, advocates and emerging technology companies to explore ways to deliver better customer outcomes. Innovation is critical to that and critical to us in maintaining a leading market position." However, driving that innovation has less to do with technology and more to do with people.

We had the ability to deliver a more integrated service experience for our customers in a more convenient manner – how they wanted it, where they wanted it and when they wanted it.

"Fostering a person centred culture drives continuous improvement in innovation, and it’s something that permeates our organisation," Rob says.

"We’re creating a more convenient and integrated experience through the scale of our multiple services and national footprint that’s underpinned by investments in data and technology. But even more, we’re making a tangible difference every single day. It’s great to be part of a purpose-led organisation."