Our People

Lilian Lazarevic

Lilian Lazarevic
Managing Director

  • Lilian has been a management consultant for over 20 years and has extensive experience in the health industry at policy and health service provider levels. Lilian joined HOI as a Partner in January 2006 and in early 2010 became the sole owner/director of HOI. She was a Director of Healthcare Management Advisors for six years (1999 to 2005), the Director of KPMG’s National Health Care Consulting practice from 1991 to 1996 and then Managing Director of HealthTech Australia for three years. Lilian is a highly experienced management consultant and is best known for her work in project managing and leading a range of projects of national significance in the areas of program, service model and economic evaluations; activity based costing and funding and information systems strategic planning and management. She has earned a reputation for achieving high quality results in complicated projects through a combination of highly developed technical skills, and project management and leadership ability.

    The portfolio of major projects for which Lilian has been responsible for directing and managing include:

    • AHMAC national review of issues impacting on the length of stay for older persons in both the acute and sub-acute sectors
    • National review of the Royal Flying Doctor Service
    • National review of Paediatric Palliative Care service models
    • National review of breast cancer service models
    • Development of the National Activity Based Framework and Implementation Plan
    • Evaluation of the supply and demand trends for eye and tissue donation and transplantation in Australia
    • Review existing regulatory frameworks relating to solid organs and tissues and reproductive tissue
    • Review of the Jean Hailes Founding public health education programs
    • Evaluation of the Victorian Better Skills, Best Care Service-Wide Initiative
    • NSW Health Review of Mental Health Aged Care partnership Initiative
    • Review of the National Homeless Youth Health Services Program
    • Evaluation of the Victorian Needle and Syringe Program
    • Evaluation of the Pathways Home Program
    • Review of the Quality Use of Diagnostic Imaging Program
    • Scoping of Victorian clinical trials strategy
    • Review of the HACC social support and respite system in Victoria
    • Evaluation of the state-wide infant hearing screening program in NSW
    • Review of Medihotels for the Department of Health and Ageing
    • Review of the operational activities, funding and governance arrangements of the Royal Flying Doctor Service
    • Review of Victorian public hospital Emergency Department staffing configurations and funding options
    • Development of the Hepatitis C Resource Manual for DoHA
    • Evaluate the operations of the Rapid Assessment Units established by Specialist Medical Colleges
    • Pricing review for the Oral Health Centre, Western Australia and benchmark analysis of dental costs with the dental services in Victoria and South Australia
    • Impact analysis of population based funding on rural health services
    • Cost benefit analysis of three NSW hospital substitution models of care
    • Performance Audit of NSW Out of Hospital Care Program
    • Evaluation of the Individual Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Support Services Program
    • Process and outcomes evaluation of the Positive Futures Initiative in Queensland
    • Evaluation of the Victorian Needle and Syringe Program
    • Provision of strategic and technical advice to the NSW Ministry of Health regarding the implementation of the National Health Reform Agreement including mental health reforms
    • Review the health and social support needs of the ageing Croatian, Ukrainian and Belarusian Communities in South Australia
    • Evaluation of community based perinatal mental health services provided by the St John of God Health Care Raphael Centre  
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    Paul Zadow
    Director

  • Paul has worked across the health and community services sector for over 30 years.  His career began with ten years in the South Australian Health Department working across a number of operational areas.  He undertook a number of health planning studies across country regional and community hospitals, quality assurance projects encompassing all country hospitals, was at the forefront of establishing casemix funding for country hospitals in mid-late 1980s.  From 1989 to 1998 Paul developed a consulting career in the health sector working on the staff at KPMG (initially Touche Ross) followed by Price Waterhouse Coopers (initially Coopers & Lybrand).  He was then a founding partner of the Healthcare Management Advisors consulting firm until 2011.  Since 2011 Paul has worked as a contractor with a number of consulting groups across Australia.

    Paul is an experienced management consultant and business operator and has undertaken projects across a variety of policy and technical areas in all states/territories specifically as well as those focussed nationally. He has an extensive background in the design, management and operation of large, technically complex projects.  These have included the National Costing and National Service Weights projects, the design of components of the national evaluation for the coordinated care trials, assessment of the anaesthetic relative value scale, benchmarking and profiling of Aboriginal Medical Services and a review of PBS arrangements for aged care providers.

    Paul has also undertaken many projects focussed on planning, evaluation and assessment of the operational and financial efficiency across a range of health service settings including the acute, aged care, pharmaceutical, drug and alcohol as well as the community focussed sectors. He has worked with a range of stakeholder groups. Stakeholders vary from project to project but include the full range of clinical and allied health professionals, health service management, health authority personnel and consumers.

    Notable consulting assignments include:

    • Preparation of a business case for acquisition of a clinical decision support system
    • National Mental Health Costing Project
    • Review of the sustainability of private hospitals
    • Review of Medicare utilisation within OATSIH funded health services
    • Analysis of Fee for Service payment arrangements for medical specialists
    • Evaluation of the National Integrated Diabetes Program
    • Evaluation of the National Diabetes Improvement Program
    • Evaluation of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Quality Enhancement Program
    • Needs assessment for a Melbourne metropolitan Medicare Local
    • Analysis of aged care demographics for assessing home-based care in country NSW
    • Assessment of ambulance response times in Victoria
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    Associate Professor Samantha Battams
    Associate Researcher

  • Dr Samantha Battams  has over 23 years’ experience in the health and community service sectors, in strategic planning, project and program management, community development, research and consultancy, governing boards and tertiary education. She has completed consultancy and research assignments in Australia and Switzerland, for state and national governments and NGOs and research for the World Health Organization.

    Samantha is connected to the academic sector as Adjunct Associate Professor (Torrens University). Prior to commencing with HOI, Samantha was Associate Professor and inaugural Public Health Program Director at Torrens University (2014-2016). She also established the inaugural Massive Open Online Course: Global Health, An Interdisciplinary Overview as Course Director at the University of Geneva (2013). She worked as Research/Visiting Fellow on the Global Health Europe Platform, Global Health Programme, The Graduate Institute, Geneva (2011-2013). Samantha has had a longstanding connection with Flinders University’s Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (2003-present): from 2003-2010 she was Project Manager, Lecturer and Research Fellow (Discipline of Public Health; Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity; and, National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction) and currently has academic status as Associate Professor (Southgate Institute).

    Samantha spent 5 years as Panel Assessor on the District Court of South Australia, hearing appeals under the Mental Health and Guardianship Acts (Governor appointed). She was also a community member on the Occupational Therapy Board of SA (Governor appointed) and on University Council (Flinders University), Academic Council (Torrens University) and the policy sub-committee of the Carers Association of SA.

    Prior to entering academia, Samantha worked in program management, strategic planning community development and direct service provision in the health and community service sectors (1993-2003). This included 7 years with general practice organisations including the start-up phase of Divisions of General Practice, and roles in health service integration (hospital-general practice service agreements, shared mental health care, outcomes based funding), community liaison, research and grant development. Samantha has previously undertaken consultancy work on health system governance, NCD strategy, drug and alcohol research, primary health care models, health promotion for people with disabilities, mental health promotion and family carer policy.

    Samantha is an experienced researcher, consultant and project manager in the areas of health policy and governance, social determinants of health, mental health, alcohol and other drugs, carers, health service integration and community partnerships in policy development and services. She also has considerable experience in tertiary education, curriculum development strategic planning, needs assessments and project development, implementation and evaluation.

     

    Samantha is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia and Associate Editor of the international journal BMC International Health and Human Rights.

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    Kelly Batsiokis
    Senior Consultant

  • Kelly joined HOI in 2015 after spending over 10 years’ in the allied health industry particularly in a training and education capacity in both the private and public sectors. Kelly has experience in in-depth interviewing, including motivational interviewing techniques which she honed in a previous role working for (former) Quit SA, targeting clients of a low socioeconomic status around sensitive topics such as addiction. Kelly has also trained service providers and community members in behaviour change and health promotion awareness to promote smoking cessation. She also has training and experience working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients through partnership with the ATSI Cancer Prevention team in a previous role.

    Her key competencies include: program review and evaluation, survey planning, design and testing (including online surveys), stakeholder and community engagement, management, facilitation, tool development (including resource development, workshops), literature reviews/policy and document analysis and qualitative data analysis.

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    Vanessa Heading
    Senior Consultant

  • Vanessa  has over 10 years’ experience in the South Australian public sector, in human resource management and medical education and training. She was most recently the Accreditation Manager with the South Australian Medical Education and Training Unit and  led projects and programs to improve junior doctor training and education in South Australia. Prior to this Vanessa was a Senior HR Consultant with the Department of Health providing leadership in times of transition and change and fostering collaborative working relationships with a wide range of professionals. Vanessa has experience in establishing new processes and systems, quality accreditation, change management, evaluation and human resource management.

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    Neha Gupta
    Associate Consultant

  • Neha has recently joined HOI as an Associate Consultant. She has over 10 years experience working in the healthcare industry and has extensive experience in pathology services, with a focus on the biomedical sciences and health promotion. Neha has experience in comprehensive interviewing techniques which has been enhanced during her previous role which involved liaising with clients of low socioeconomic status around sensitive topics such as sexually transmitted diseases. Neha has experience in writing scientific reports, conducting quality audits and searching scientific literature using electronic databases. She also has experience in conducting validation studies to benchmark against industry standards, streamline processes and reduce turnaround times.

    Neha’s key competencies include stakeholder and community engagement; literature reviews; policy and document analysis; qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    Professor Ian Rouse
    Expert Advisor

  • Ian is a Doctor of Philosophy, Adjunct Professor and consultant in health, education and change management.  Until December 31st 2015 Ian was Professor and Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at FNU – a position he held for nearly 7 years until deciding to return to Melbourne. 

    Ian has worked in the fields of medical research, public health, nutrition, epidemiology, leadership and management and health informatics in Western Australia, South Australia and at Harvard University.

    Ian has broad experience in epidemiology, public health and health research and significant experience in the design of experimental and community based interventions and evaluations.  He has authored or co-authored more than 100 refereed papers, review articles and book chapters and have been associated with approximately 60 presentations at scientific meetings.  Over the past 20 years he has acquired a broad knowledge of epidemiology and health statistics, information planning and management, health policy and planning, public health and health research.  Ian has authored or co-authored more than 35 Departmental reports and successfully supervised numerous doctoral and master’s students.

    Ian also has a wide range of leadership, management and interpersonal skills accumulated over a period of 20 years in senior management roles in large information, analysis and research organisations, tertiary institutions and government departments.   These include General Manager of the Health Information Centre in the Health Department of WA, Acting Chief Information Officer in the Department of Human Services in South Australia, Acting Chief Information Officer at Curtin University, Executive Dean at Victoria University and Dean and acting Vice Chancellor at Fiji National University. He has also acquired valuable experience from having management responsibility for a diverse range of research, service, and community organisations.

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    Adrian Esterman
    Expert Associate

  • Professor Esterman is one of Australia’s leading biostatisticians with over 40 years of experience. His career includes 7 years as a staff member of the World Health Organization based in Geneva and Copenhagen, and 16 years as Principal Epidemiologist for the South Australian Department of Health. He is currently Foundation Chair of Biostatistics at the University of South Australia, and Professor of Biostatistics and Public Health at James Cook University.

    In the 1990’s, he was statistical advisor to the national evaluation of the Australian Coordinated Care Trials. More recently, he has worked closely with McKinsey and Co on the evaluation of the Diabetes Care Project.  His expertise covers all areas of statistical analysis including survey research, cluster analysis, structural equation modelling (path analysis) and predictive modelling. He is an expert user in many statistical software packages including Stata, SPSS, Medcalc, and PASS. In the last five years he has been a chief investigator on over $3 million of competitive grants. He is the author of nearly 300 publications many in high impact journals.  He has a current h-index of 46.

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    Christine Smee
    Expert Associate

  • Christine has established a successful consultancy service supporting more than 20 aged and community services. She has provided assistance to organisations introducing new service models including transition care, home care packages and extra service places.

    Christine has supported management and staff of small organisations during their successful amalgamation with larger service providers. She has successfully facilitated collaborative change management in numerous services experiencing operational and/or financial difficulties and has established several strategic alliances.

    Christine has provided training in leadership, teamwork, service planning, management systems, nursing practice and regularly facilitates business and strategic planning for aged care service providers.  

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    Kathryn Zeitz
    Expert Advisor

  • Dr Kathryn Zeitz most recently was the Executive Director, Mental Health Directorate for the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, commencing in August 2014. Prior to this she was the Executive Director, Culture & Consumer Experience, for the same organisation leading organisational development, service improvement programs and linking this to consumer experience in pursuit of Central Adelaide's goal of becoming patient-centred in the delivery of services. Kathryn is a Registered Nurse, with a diverse career in acute hospital operational management and patient flow.

    Kathryn commenced her nursing career at Flinders Medical Centre specialising in Accident and Emergency. She successfully completed her PhD thesis in clinical nursing at the University of Adelaide in February 2003. With over 40 peer reviewed publications her research profile includes mass gathering medicine (co-investigator on a current ARC grant), acute hospital capacity management and patient centred care. She is both an Adjunct Associate Professor with Flinders University and Clinical Associate Professor for The University of Adelaide. Kathryn is a Fellow of the Governors Leadership Foundation and most recently became an inaugural member of Cumberland initiative.

    Notable experience includes:

    • Developing a consumer and carer online feedback survey (Consumer Voice). Central Adelaide Local Health Network Mental Health Directorate.
    • Development of Clinical Service Plan for Stepped Model of Care ‘Consumer centred, Community driven Care always’ for Mental Health Directorate, Central Adelaide Local Health Network.
    • Winter Demand Management Project for Mental Health Consumers. Central Adelaide Local Health Network.
    • Children’s, Youth And Women’s Health Service. Women’s and Children’s Hospital Antenatal Services Review - Redesigning Ante-Natal Care @ WCH. September 2008, Zeitz Enterprises
    • Delivery of the After Hours Triage Training & Education Program for the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency. 2005/06
    • Review of Triage Education Resource Book for the Department of Health and Ageing. Consortia The Rural Doctors Workforce Agency, Research Centre for Nursing Practice, University of Canberra and Canberra Hospital; The Department of General Practice, Flinders University of SA; and Zeitz Enterprises. 2004.
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