Publications

May 2020 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Gavi and COVID-19: Pandemic of the Century

By: Tarun Khanna and Sid Misra

Gavi has helped immunize over 760 million children in the world's poorest countries over the past 20 years saving 13 million lives. How should Gavi respond to the need for a vaccine for the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic? View Details

Keywords: Vaccine; Pandemics; Healthcare; COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Emerging Markets; Crisis Management; Alliances

February 2016 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Neurotrack and the Alzheimer's Puzzle

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Liz Kind and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Elli Kaplan founded Neurotrack in 2012 with a breakthrough noninvasive cognitive diagnostics test that will detect Alzheimer's disease in its earliest pre-symptomatic stages. While the company has gained great traction in the three years since it was started, with no... View Details

Keywords: Alzheimer's Disease; Diagnostics; Healthcare; Entrepreneurship; Health Disorders; Science-Based Business; Business Model; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

August 2013
Case

Contempo Technologies, Inc. and Betty Sievers: A Clash of Interests in an Uncertain Time

By: Srikant M. Datar, Michael R. Jaff D.O. and Caitlin N. Bowler

In an era of rapidly evolving systems of health care delivery, the impact on patients, physicians, hospitals, medical device manufacturers and small business owners are often conflicting. This case highlights these conflicts and stressors from all perspectives,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Industry; Healthcare; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

October 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Case

RedBrick Health: How to Fatten the Company That Slims...

By: Robert F. Higgins and Robert M. Greenglass

The case describes this health and wellness service company and poses the question: should RedBrick stay on the path of building out its product platform, or should the RedBrick platform be launched directly to health insurers, ACOs, or directly to customers? View Details

Keywords: ACOs; Accountable Care Organization; Healthcare; Health Services; Healthcare Industry; Health Engagement Company; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; United States

July 2019
Article

Challenges and Opportunities in Software-Driven Medical Devices

By: William J. Gordon and Ariel Dora Stern

The safety and security of medical devices driven by software, the software-development processes, and the need for data collection and privacy, all offer challenges and opportunities for device regulation and clinical care. View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices; Healthcare; Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Applications and Software; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Find at Harvard

July 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Course Overview Note

Building Life Science Businesses Spring Term 2017: Course Outline and Syllabus

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

This Course Outline and Syllabus gives an overview of the Spring 2016 class Building Life Science Businesses.7 View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Ventures; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurs; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Medical Specialties; Health Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Asia; North America; Europe

Article

Surgeons and Administrators Co-Creating Value

By: Michael Nurok, Thoralf Sundt, Robert S. Kaplan and Bruce Gewertz

Most hospitals have arms-length relationships with physicians, viewing them as people they must ‘‘manage,’’ not as potentially valuable strategic partners. But surgeons make clinical decisions every day that have great influence on both patient outcomes and hospital... View Details

Keywords: Value-based Health Care; Collaboration; Healthcare Administration; Health Care and Treatment; Management; Strategy; Value Creation

Read Now

August 2013
Course Overview Note

Building Life Science Businesses Fall 2013: Course Outline and Syllabus

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

This Course Outline and Syllabus gives an overview of the Fall 2013 class Building Life Science Businesses. View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Ventures; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurs; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Medical Specialties; Health Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Asia; North America; Europe

September 2012
Case

SCMS: Battling HIV/AIDS in Africa

By: Ananth Raman, Noel Watson, Santiago Kraiselburd and Emmanuel Akili

In 2005, USAID and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), created the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) to procure and distribute essential medicines and supplies; provide technical assistance to transform existing supply chains; and... View Details

March 2023
Teaching Note

Afrigen Biologics: Vaccines for the Global South

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia Comeau

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 323-030. View Details

Keywords: Vaccination; Healthcare; Hub And Spoke; Health Industry; South Africa; Africa

April 2021
Article

Utilizing Time-driven Activity-based Costing to Determine Open Radical Cystectomy and Ileal Conduit Surgical Episode Cost Drivers

By: Janet Baack Kukreja, Mohamed A. Seif, Marissa W. Merry, James R. Incalcaterra, Ashish M. Kamat, Colin P. Dinney, Jay B. Shah, Thomas W. Feeley and Neema Navai

Objectives
Patients undergoing radical cystectomy represent a particularly resource-intensive patient population. Time-driven activity based costing (TDABC) assigns time to events and then costs are based on the people involved in providing care for specific... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Value-based Healthcare; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Cost vs Benefits; Analysis

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

November 8, 2018
Article

Transitioning Payment Models: Fee-for-Service to Value-Based Care

By: Thomas W. Feeley and Namita Seth Mohta

In a survey of the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council in July 2018, 42% of respondents say they think value-based reimbursement models will be the primary revenue model for U.S. health care. Indeed, this transition is already happening. Respondents report that a quarter of... View Details

Keywords: Payment Methods; Value-based Healthcare Reimbursements; Health Care and Treatment; Value; Transformation

Read Now

June 2013
Teaching Note

Rock Health

By: Robert Higgins and Ian McKown Cornell

This is the teaching note associated with HBS Case #813035. The case should enable students to identify emerging challenges, evaluate Rock Health's funding model, debate the effectiveness of its incubation service and assess its long-term viability. View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Incubation; Healthcare Technology; Startups; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Health Industry; San Francisco; California; United States

Article

Value-based Healthcare: Implications for Thyroid Cancer

By: A.K. Ying, T.W. Feeley and M. E. Porter

Today's delivery of care to thyroid cancer patients is complex, and costly, with uneven outcomes that can be improved. The incidence of thyroid cancer is rising and requires coordinated, multidisciplinary care with high volume centers that is not always available in... View Details

Keywords: Bundled Reimbursement; Healthcare Reform; Integrated Practice Units; Outcomes; Patient-reported Outcomes; Thyroid Cancer; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Information Technology; Value

Register to Read

01 Sep 2020
News

Turning Point: Change, Stat

The silver lining in all of this is that people have realized the emperor has no clothes. For decades, we’ve recognized that healthcare innovates dramatically slower than other industries. Some of that is for good reason, because people’s... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; healthcare; medicine; innovation; interpersonal communication; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

June 2014 (Revised May 2017)
Teaching Note

Vision 2020: Takeda and the Vaccine Business

By: John A. Quelch

Keywords: Asia; Healthcare; Pharmaceuticals; Innovation And Management; Health; Innovation and Invention; Strategy; Leadership; Growth and Development; Change; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Asia