Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)

Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)


Baxter CIO Rusty Patel on Connected Care, Resilience, and AI Value

September 04, 2025

 Resilience is earned, not given. In this episode of Technovation, host Peter High speaks with Rusty Patel, Chief Information Officer at Baxter, about leading IT through one of the most consequential 13-month periods in the company’s history.

Rusty reflects on Baxter’s mission to save and sustain lives, the resilience required to restore operations after natural disasters, and the CIO’s role in both enabling innovation and enforcing enterprise discipline. He shares insights into simplifying a complex IT ecosystem, building financial acumen across the org, and advancing connected care and AI across Baxter’s portfolio of 1.5 million devices and 350 million patients served annually.

Key topics include:

  • How Baxter IT responded to floods and cyber incidents without a playbook
  • Rationalizing thousands of systems to reduce IT cost-to-serve
  • Creating segment-aligned tech leadership and shared services
  • Applying AI to connected care and enterprise transformation