Dr. Josefina Bascuñan Arellano
Senior Strategic Advisor – Healthcare Delivery & Integrated Care
Senior healthcare strategy and delivery professional with more than ten years of experience operating at the intersection of healthcare delivery, integrated care, provider network transformation, clinical governance, healthcare quality, and health system implementation. Recognized for translating complex healthcare policy, operational, and organizational challenges into practical strategies that strengthen healthcare systems, improve care delivery, and enhance patient access and outcomes across public and private healthcare environments.
Thera Contribution
As Senior Strategic Advisor at Thera Health Policy & Access, Josefina leads the firm’s Healthcare Delivery & Integrated Care pillar, helping clients navigate the operational, organizational, and system-level challenges that shape the implementation of healthcare strategies, models of care, and health system transformation initiatives.
She plays a critical role in Thera’s Diagnosis → Design → Deliver phases, ensuring that policy, access, and healthcare transformation strategies are grounded in a deep understanding of healthcare delivery systems, provider networks, clinical operations, quality management, integrated care pathways, and real-world implementation dynamics.
Her expertise enables Thera to bridge strategic vision and operational execution, helping organizations transform healthcare policies, access initiatives, and system reforms into practical, scalable, and sustainable solutions that improve healthcare performance, patient experience, and health outcomes. She also brings a provider-system perspective that helps organizations understand how healthcare providers assess value, operational feasibility, organizational readiness, and implementation requirements when adopting new medicines, medical devices, diagnostics, and models of care.
Executive Profile
Josefina is a physician and public health specialist with extensive experience leading healthcare transformation initiatives across provider organizations, government institutions, and international organizations. Throughout her career, she has worked on the design, implementation, and evaluation of healthcare delivery models, integrated care programs, clinical governance frameworks, quality improvement initiatives, and health system modernization efforts.
A defining feature of her profile is her ability to connect policy design, organizational strategy, clinical operations, and healthcare delivery realities, ensuring that complex healthcare initiatives are not only strategically sound but also operationally feasible and capable of generating measurable impact at the point of care.
Another defining characteristic of her work is her deep understanding of how healthcare providers evaluate value, prioritize investments, and incorporate innovation into routine clinical practice. Her experience across provider organizations, public institutions, and health system reform efforts allows her to help organizations understand the clinical, operational, organizational, and implementation factors that influence the adoption of medicines, medical devices, diagnostics, and healthcare innovations.
Her experience spans multiple stakeholder environments, including:
- Governments and public health institutions
- Healthcare provider organizations and integrated delivery networks
- Health insurers and healthcare purchasers
- International organizations and development institutions
- Academic and healthcare quality institutions
This multidisciplinary perspective allows her to bridge the worlds of health policy, healthcare delivery, clinical operations, and system transformation, helping organizations navigate increasingly complex healthcare environments while ensuring that strategic initiatives translate into real-world improvements for patients and healthcare systems.
Areas of Strategic Impact
Healthcare Delivery & Integrated Care
Supports organizations in designing, evaluating, and transforming healthcare delivery models, integrated care pathways, and provider network strategies that improve healthcare access, coordination, efficiency, and patient outcomes.
Provider Network Transformation & Clinical Operations
Advises healthcare organizations on provider network development, operational excellence, care model redesign, ambulatory care expansion, and healthcare service transformation initiatives.
Clinical Governance, Quality & Patient Safety
Provides strategic guidance on clinical governance frameworks, accreditation processes, healthcare quality systems, patient safety initiatives, and organizational performance improvement.
Health System Implementation & Performance
Supports governments, healthcare organizations, and industry stakeholders in translating policy objectives into operationally viable programs, implementation strategies, and measurable healthcare outcomes.
Healthcare Innovation Adoption & Provider Value Assessment
Supports life sciences companies, healthcare providers, and policy stakeholders in understanding how healthcare organizations assess clinical, operational, organizational, and system-level value when adopting medicines, medical devices, diagnostics, and healthcare innovations. Helps translate innovation into implementation-ready solutions that align with provider priorities, care delivery realities, resource constraints, and patient needs.
Primary Care & Health System Transformation
Brings extensive experience in primary healthcare strengthening, integrated service delivery, waiting list management, and large-scale healthcare transformation programs focused on improving system effectiveness and equity.
Multi-Stakeholder Healthcare Collaboration
Facilitates collaboration among healthcare providers, government institutions, industry stakeholders, and international organizations to support the successful implementation of healthcare initiatives and system-wide reforms.
Professional Background
Josefina has held leadership, advisory, and implementation roles across organizations involved in healthcare delivery, provider network management, clinical governance, and health system transformation in Chile. Throughout her career, she has worked at the intersection of healthcare operations, public policy, integrated care, and organizational performance, helping healthcare institutions translate strategic objectives into measurable improvements in care delivery and patient outcomes.
Most recently, she served as Medical Manager for Providers at Bupa Chile, after being promoted from Deputy Manager, where she led initiatives related to provider network development, ambulatory care transformation, clinical governance, accreditation, healthcare quality, and healthcare performance. Her responsibilities included the medical direction of a network of 35 ambulatory centers, leadership of the accreditation project for 20 IntegraMédica medical centers, coordination with three Bupa clinics on corporate clinical governance, the launch of ambulatory major surgery operating rooms in La Serena, and a public-private collaboration with the Chilean Ministry of Health to address ophthalmology waiting lists.
Previously, Josefina served as Advisor to the Ministerial Cabinet of the Ministry of Health of Chile, where she contributed to major healthcare reform initiatives, including the implementation of the Universalization of Primary Healthcare Strategy and the design and implementation of a World Bank Program-for-Results operation. Her work involved coordinating ministerial teams, municipalities, international organizations, and technical stakeholders around complex system-transformation initiatives.
She also worked as a Short-Term Consultant for the World Bank Group, supporting the evaluation of an integrated primary care strategy and contributing to the design of a USD 200 million results-based financing program. Her work included defining impact indicators and disbursement-linked targets to strengthen implementation capacity and health system performance.
Earlier in her career, Josefina held leadership positions at the Asociación Chilena de Seguridad (ACHS) and Hospital del Trabajador, where she led projects related to healthcare quality, accreditation, medical education, institutional research, innovation, and strategic partnerships. She contributed to the design of the ACHS non-occupational health program, strengthened institutional research capacity, and supported international accreditation and organizational development initiatives.
Her professional background also includes clinical practice in adult emergency care, undergraduate teaching in public health at the University of Chile, consulting work with Deloitte UK on digital workforce solutions for the National Health Service, and research at Imperial College London’s Centre for Health Economics and Policy Innovation.
A defining aspect of her professional experience is her ability to understand how healthcare providers assess value, prioritize investments, and operationalize innovation within real-world care environments. This perspective enables her to help pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, healthcare organizations, and policymakers understand the clinical, operational, and organizational factors that influence the adoption of medicines, diagnostics, medical technologies, and new models of care.
Academic & Professional Credentials
- Master of Science in International Health Management (Distinction) – Imperial College London, United Kingdom
- Master in Public Health, Health Economics and Policy (Highest Distinction) – University of Chile
- Diploma in Health Research Methodology – University of Chile
- Diploma in Management and Organization of Public and Private Health Institutions – University of Los Andes
- Medical Doctor (Highest Distinction) – University of Chile
- IE University Bupa Leadership program– Selected as the Chilean representative for the 2025 cohort in Madrid
- People Pulse Award (2025) – Recognized for leading the management team with the strongest improvement in employee engagement at Bupa
- Imperial College London Business Plan Competition (2019) – Winning project
