Publications

04 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Attention Medical Shoppers: What Health Care Can Learn from Walmart and Amazon

and counting, according to research—that the human body can fail. "The delivery of health care is arguably the delivery of 13,360 different service lines, town by town, of anyone who needs care," Gawande said. He then told the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

20 Aug 2016
News

The Business of Improving Health Care Delivery

Josue Zapata (MD/MBA 2012) is chief resident in internal medicine at the University of California in San Francisco. In this interview he discusses how he is utilizing his business training to make a difference in patient treatment and... View Details

March 2023 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Close Concerns: Diabetes Research and Advocacy

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Brian L. Walker

Diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 18, Kelly Close understood the importance of balancing consistency and iteration. This principle had also informed her professional work, which started with a rapid promotion from financial analyst at Goldman Sachs to an analyst... View Details

Keywords: Diabetes; Health; Health Care; Health Care And Treatment; Health Care Outcomes; Health Care Industry; Knowledge Dissemination; Outcome or Result; Equality and Inequality; Business Model; Entrepreneurship

2023
Article

Comparison of COVID-19 Hospitalization Costs across Care Pathways: A Patient-level Time-driven Activity-based Costing Analysis in a Brazilian Hospital

By: Ricardo Bertoglio Cardoso, Miriam Allein Zago Marcolino, Milena Soriano Marcolino, Camila Felix Fortis, Leila Beltrami Moreira, Ana Paula Coutinho, Nadine Oliveira Clausell, Junaid Nabi, Robert S. Kaplan, Ana Paula Beck da Silva Etges and Carisi Anne Polanczyk

The COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness of the need to better understand where and how patient-level costs are incurred in health care organizations. This study used time-driven activity-based costing to estimate COVID-19 patient-level hospital costs in a Brazilian... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Health Industry; Brazil

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Research Summary

Integrated Care for Total Knee Replacement: Quality of Life, Quality of Movement, User Acceptability

This study provides an opportunity to focus on the challenge of cross-organizational coordination in the healthcare setting. It is structured as a randomized clinical trial involving seven European hospitals (in seven different countries). It is focused specifically... View Details

September 2016
Case

Health Leads: Reaching for Impact (Abridged)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

A nonprofit in the healthcare arena explores strategies to achieve system-level impact. Founded in 1996 with a volunteer-staffed help desk at Boston Medical Center connecting low-income patients with basic resources like heating assistance, job training, and childcare... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Social Enterprise; Scaling Social Impact; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Outcomes; Health Care Reform; Nonprofit; Nonprofit Scaling; Social Enterprise; Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; United States

November 2021
Article

Determining Variable Costs in the Acute Urolithiasis Cycle of Care Through Time-driven Activity-based Costing

By: Tyler R. McClintock, David F. Friedlander, Aiden Y. Feng, Mahek A. Shah, Daniel J. Pallin, Steven L. Chang, Angela M. Bader, Thomas W. Feeley, Robert S. Kaplan and George E. Haleblian

Objective. To characterize full cycle of care costs for managing an acute ureteral stone using time-driven activity-based costing.
Methods. We defined all phases of care for patients presenting with an acute ureteral stone and built an... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Activity Based Costing and Management

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September 2016
Case

Health Leads: Reaching for Impact (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

Explores strategies to achieve system-level impact for a nonprofit focused on addressing patients' basic social needs through healthcare institutions. Founded in 1996 with a volunteer-staffed help desk at Boston Medical Center connecting low-income patients with basic... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Social Impact; Nonprofit; Healthcare; Health Care Outcomes; Health Care Reform; Health Care Delivery; Scaling Social Enterprise; Social Enterprise; Health; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States

Web

Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship - Health Care

support patients and providers across women’s health settings by delivering virtual lifestyle medicine interventions. Christina’s drive to improve women’s health care delivery stems from experience... View Details

12 Jul 2019
News

Study: Doctor burnout costs health care system $4.6 billion a year

October 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Supplement

Michael Ku and Global Clinical Supply at Pfizer Inc.: Bringing Hope to Patients (C)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

This case is the third installment in a series about the 10-year cultural and digital transformation of Pfizer’s Global Clinical Supply organization. In 2011, Michael Ku became Pfizer’s Vice President of Global Clinical Supply (GCS) after the company had undergone... View Details

Keywords: Clinical Supply Chain; COVID-19; Vaccine; Agile; Innovation and Invention; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Transformation; Leadership; Corporate Strategy; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Mission and Purpose; Health Care and Treatment; Supply Chain Management; Digital Transformation

January 28, 2021
Other Article

Lessons from the U.S.'s Rocky Vaccine Rollout

By: Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

The rocky rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines is emblematic of many of the problems with the U.S. health care system. The United States is blessed with highly trained, excellent, and compassionate care providers and terrific research and development that has led to novel... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; COVID-19; Vaccines; Operations Improvement; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Operations; Performance Improvement; Health; Health Industry; United States

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01 Feb 2000
News

Executives Convene to Discuss Consumer-Driven Health Care

A mid-November conference on consumer-driven health care attracted nearly two hundred providers of health-care services, technology, and information; government professionals; and insurance executives to the HBS campus for a two-day... View Details

Web

Transforming Health Care Delivery - Course Catalog

change. It will draw upon a range of approaches for improving value in health care delivery, including continuous improvement, organizational redesign, population health management, precision medicine, View Details

November 1980
Article

Patient Perspective on the Curative Process: A Comparison of Day Treatment and Outpatient Psychotherapy Groups

By: Timothy Butler and Adelaide Fuhriman

Keywords: Health; Groups and Teams; Health Care and Treatment; Perspective

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July 2018
Case

Ce Soir-Là, Ils n'Arrivent Plus Un par Un, Mais par Vagues: Coping with the Surge of Trauma Patients at L'Hôpital Universitaire La Pitié Salpêtrière—Friday, November 13, 2015

By: Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard, Emilie Billaud and Arnold M. Howitt

On November 13, 2015, Dr. Marie Borel, Dr. Emmanuelle Dolla, Dr. Frédéric Le Saché, and Professor Mathieu Raux were the doctors in charge of the trauma center at L’Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière in Paris, where dozens of wounded and dying patients, most with severe... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Crisis Management; Performance Capacity; Decision Making; Leadership; Health Industry; Europe; France; Paris

Web

Organize Care Around Medical Conditions - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

Measure Outcomes & Cost for Every Patient Aligning Reimbursement with Value Systems Integration Geography of Care Information Technology Organize Care Around Med... Organize... View Details

2015
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Mike Critelli and Dossia Service Corporation

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Patricia Bissett Higgins

In 2010, Mark Critelli was a well-seasoned corporate executive who had recently transitioned from being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to that of a startup called Dossia. As an AL Fellow, he knew that despite believing in Dossia’s mission to empower individuals with... View Details