Polaris Medical Group was founded by Rakesh Malhotra, MD and Abhay Padgaonkar, MBA with the vision of creating a unique, professionally-managed hospitalist service provider that is nimble, responsive, and flexible yet with the requisite infrastructure, processes, technology, and expertise necessary to succeed in a demanding business.
The principals of Polaris Medical bring a wealth of knowledge, experience, and leadership skills. Both Dr. Malhotra and Mr. Padgaonkar bring 20+ years of valuable knowledge, skills, experience, innovation, and expertise to Polaris Medical in the medical field, hospitalist program management, business administration, management consulting, and leadership. They also bring a high level of demonstrated competency in the day-to-day management of the hospitalist program. The breadth and depth of their experience allows Polaris Medical to make sure that all the critical elements are in place for hospitalists to work in an efficient and effective program.
Oftentimes, hospitalists are left on auto-pilot without leadership presence, feedback, and guidance. This “out of sight, out of mind” approach backfires and leads to miscommunication, lack of trust, and disengagement. The principals of Polaris Medical Group develop, implement, maintain and improve systems, procedures, and policies. They also investigate and respond to complaints, incidents, and claims and coordinate staff selection, education, and training. Most importantly, they believe that there is simply no substitute for active involvement and hands-on management by the principals.
Rakesh Malhotra, MD is the President and Chief Medical Officer of Polaris Medical Group. Previously, he was the CEO and Founder of a physician practice dedicated to providing hospital-based services in Phoenix and Flagstaff. Dr. Malhotra has been a pioneer in providing dedicated hospitalist services by working with managed care companies and PCPs to endorse the concept. He has served as a Physician Advisor to various managed care companies, as the Chief, Medicine Department, and as a Member of the Medical Executive Committee at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Arizona. Dr. Malhotra received his Bachelor in Medicine & Bachelor in Surgery, from Delhi University. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at VA Brockton-Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Brockton, MA/Harvard Affiliate and St. Agnes Hospital/Johns Hopkins Affiliate, Baltimore, MD.
Abhay Padgaonkar, MBA is the CEO of Polaris Medical Group. He is also a management consultant, author, and speaker and a two-time winner of an Excellence in Practice honor by the American Society for Training & Development. He has published popular articles on leadership and management in many reputable print and online publications. Mr. Padgaonkar has routinely shared his views on today's management challenges with audiences representing various organizations and with journalists from many publications such as The Wall Street Journal, HR Magazine, MSNBC.com, and The Business Journal. He has earned an M.B.A. from Rice University, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky, and B. Tech. from IIT Bombay.
