Publications

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May 1993
Case

Patient Transfusion Services Lab of Central Blood Bank

By: James L. Heskett

The vice president of the Lab and Clinical Services at Central Blood Bank is faced with the challenge of convincing a hospital to use economical shared patient transfusion testing services. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Quality; Service Operations; Mathematical Methods; Customer Satisfaction; Health Industry

October 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Background Note

Plavix: Drugs in the Age of Personalized Medicine

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Mara G. Aspinall and Rachel Gordon

PIavix, one of the world's best selling drugs in 2010, appears to have a limited future. Its patent was due to expire soon, and recently new data had been discovered that indicated that a small subset of the population would be at risk for stroke, heart attack, or even... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Product Positioning; Business and Government Relations; Genetics; Competitive Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

August 2014
Case

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Inc.

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Meng Li

Keywords: Health; Health Care Industry; Health Insurance; United States; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States; Florida

31 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

Can a ‘Basic Bundle’ of Health Insurance Cure Coverage Gaps and Spur Innovation?

Professor of Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, conducted the research with Katherine Baicker of the University of... View Details

Keywords: by Kasandra Brabaw; Insurance; Health

2020
Working Paper

Mission-Oriented Research in a National Emergency: Lessons from the Office of Scientific Research and Development in World War II

By: Daniel P. Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat

Since the beginning of the present COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers, researchers, and journalists have made repeated comparisons to World War II. In ongoing research, we have been studying the effects of the World War II research effort, which included a major medical... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Research and Development; Problems and Challenges; War; History; Government Administration; United States

15 Aug 2015
News

Victoria Tsai: Skin Secrets of a Geisha

Keywords: beauty products; Health and Personal Care Stores; Retail Trade; Chemical Manufacturing; Manufacturing

23 Feb 2021
Cold Call Podcast

Examining Race and Mass Incarceration in the United States

Keywords: Re: Reshmaan N. Hussam

2025
Working Paper

Expert Patients’ Use of Avoidable Health Care

By: Amitabh Chandra, Pragya Kakani and Simone Matecna

We measure whether expert patients – those trained as physicians and nurses – have fewer emergency department visits and the reasons for these differences. Relative to similar patients physicians and nurses had 19.8% and 5.1% fewer ED visits, principally due to fewer... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Health Industry

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July 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Alliant Health System: A Vision of Total Quality

Alliant has been a leader in the health care industry in implementing total quality management. After five years, however, they do not have much to show for their efforts except a "foundation" of quality attitudes and processes. The case discusses their plans to "jump... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Management Practices and Processes; Information Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

2024
Working Paper

Cephalosporins—Fighting Hospital Infections: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant Datar and Katherine Stebbins

This case history describes the development of three generations of cephalosporins – antibiotics that have significantly reduced hospital infections. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) Early (pre-cephalosporin) antibiotics were developed in the first half of the 20th... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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November 2009
Case

The Explosion of Genetic Testing: Opportunities and Challenges

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Mara G. Aspinall and Rachel Gordon

This case study invites the reader to consider genetic testing in several different lights. First, can the business of genetic testing be considered a disruptive innovation to the current drug therapy model as defined by Harvard Business School Professor Clay... View Details

Keywords: Genetics; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Disruptive Innovation; Business Model; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry

29 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations of the Future

Additionally, the need to balance creative thinking with accountability and responsibility was emphasized. This was a novel twist to the usually laudatory treatment that creativity gets, exposing the darker side View Details

Keywords: by Teresa M. Amabile & Mukti Khaire

Article

The Implications of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act on Cancer Care Delivery

By: Heidi W. Albright, Mark Moreno, Thomas W. Feeley, Ronald Walters, Marc Samuels, Alissa Pereira and Thomas W. Burke

In March 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. This legislation attempts to address cost control and improve the quality of healthcare in the United States. Cancer is a... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Policy; Health Care; Cancer Care In The U.S.; Cancer Care Services; Health; Law; Quality; Health Industry; North and Central America

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16 Jul 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Selection, Reallocation, and Spillover: Identifying the Sources of Gains from Multinational Production

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro & Maggie X. Chen

October 2013
Article

Barriers to Completion of Patient Reported Outcome Measures

By: Elizabeth H. Schamber, Steven K. Takemoto, Kate Eresian Chenek and Kevin J. Bozic

Patient Reported Outcomes Measures (PROMs) are commonly used in total joint arthroplasty (TJA) to assess surgical outcomes. However certain patient populations may be underrepresented due to lower survey completion rates. The purpose of this study is to evaluate... View Details

Keywords: Patient Reported Outcome Measures; PROM; Total Joint Arthroplasty; Hip; Knee; Electronic Survey; Equality and Inequality; Demographics; Surveys; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

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September–October 2023
Article

Prospective Evaluation of the Cost of Performing Breast Imaging Examinations Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing Method: A Single Center Study

By: Aamir Ali, Jordana Phillips, Damir Ljuboja, Syed S. Shehab, Etta D. Pisano, Robert S. Kaplan and Ammar Sarwar

We use time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) to measure the cost of performing breast imaging using different modalities: full-field digital mammography (FFDM), digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM), US and MRI exams, and... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Health Care; Breast Cancer; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Cost Accounting; Health Industry

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08 Mar 2019
Blog Post

Reclaiming Feminism: A Celebration of International Women’s Day

but I stand as 10,000." We stand on the shoulders of giants and are reaching back for those who come behind us. Lieutenant Commander Alison Wagner (MBA '19) To me, feminism is synonymous with advocacy—advocating for equal rights and... View Details

January 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Supplement

The Case of the Unidentified Healthcare Companies2010 (CW)

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Ethan S Bernstein, Margarita Krivitski and Srinidhi Reddy

This case presents financial statements and selected rations for 14 unidentified healthcare organizations and asks that each set of financial information be matched with one of the following healthcare companies: a biotechnology firm, a community nursing company, a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Financial Management; Health Care and Treatment; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry