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August 2020
Article

Do Physician Incentives Increase Patient Medication Adherence?

By: Edward Kong, John Beshears, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, Kevin Volpp, George Loewenstein, Jonathan Kolstad and James J. Choi

We conducted a randomized experiment (911 primary care practices and 8,935 nonadherent patients) to test the effect of paying physicians for increasing patient medication adherence in three drug classes: diabetes medication, antihypertensives, and statins. We measured... View Details

Keywords: Health Economics; Medication Adherence; Physician Payment Incentives; Primary Care; Quality Improvement; Health Care and Treatment; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior

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April 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Market Dynamics and Moral Dilemmas: Novo Nordisk’s Weight-Loss Drugs

By: Joseph L. Badaracco, Tom Quinn and John Schultz

Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk was owned by a charitable foundation, and since its founding in the 1920s had focused on producing insulin to treat diabetes. In 2017, however, it released Ozempic, a diabetes treatment with the revolutionary side effect of... View Details

January 2018 (Revised June 2018)
Case

Medtronic: Navigating a Shifting Healthcare Landscape

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Michael E. Porter, Thomas W. Feeley and Alee Hernandez

Medtronic is adapting its strategy to changes in healthcare competition and payments. It has decided to develop new relationships with payers, hospitals, and physicians to become more accountable for patient outcomes and total costs. The case describes new forms of... View Details

Keywords: Value Based Health Care; Bundled Payments; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Value Creation; Supply Chain Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Netherlands

April 1989 (Revised January 1994)
Case

Novo Industri

By: Michael E. Porter and Michael J. Enright

Describes the structure of the insulin industry, a treatment for diabetes and Novo's strategy and competitive position in early 1982. The industry is undergoing significant change and Novo must decide how to defend and build its international position. Designed as an... View Details

Keywords: Change; Global Strategy; Industry Structures; Alliances; Competitive Strategy; Health Disorders; Pharmaceutical Industry

Research Summary

Behavioral Hazard and Public Policy

By: Joshua R. Schwartzstein

It is well recognized that people overuse low-value medical care due to moral hazard—because copays are lower than costs. Now Professor Schwartzstein has introduced the concept of “behavioral hazard” to explain the opposite: people underuse high-value care because... View Details

November 2012
Supplement

Amylin Pharmaceuticals (B)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Amylin Pharmaceuticals brought two first-in-class diabetes drugs to market, Byetta and Symlin, in 2005, which were sold in over 80 countries with $650.7 million in sales by 2011. However, the company remained unprofitable as sales plateaued. The small pharmaceutical... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

January 2021
Case

Value-Based Insurance Design at Onex

By: Joshua Schwartzstein, Amitabh Chandra and Amram Migdal

The operating executives of Health and Benefits for Onex Partners, Megan Jackson Frye and Sam Camens, faced a challenge: Healthcare costs for employees of Onex’s portfolio companies were continuing to rise above the consumer price index, reflecting broader trends... View Details

July 2023
Case

DayTwo: Going to Market with Gut Microbiome (Abridged)

By: Ayelet Israeli

DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals. After a first year of trial rollout in... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Nutrition; Market Entry and Exit; Product Marketing; Distribution Channels

April 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Background Note

Note on Mobile Healthcare

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

Delivering health care to the global population was a challenge. Health care costs accounted for ten percent of world GDP by 2013. In the U.S., health care costs were expected to top $3.1 trillion in 2014. New technologies, shortages of trained personnel and... View Details

November 2020
Teaching Note

DayTwo: Going to Market with Gut Microbiome

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-010. DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals.... View Details

August 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

MannKind Corporation: Take a Deep Breath, This Time Afrezza Will Work

By: Elie Ofek and Amanda Dai

In June 2014, MannKind Corporation announced that after years of development and billions of dollars in expenses, the FDA had finally approved its drug, Afrezza. MannKind would thus be the only company with an inhalable insulin on the market. As an alternative to... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Adoption; Pharmaceutical Industry

October 2023
Case

Vida Health: Transforming Chronic Disease Treatment

By: William Sahlman and Nicole Tempest Keller

San Francisco based Vida Health, founded by Stephanie Tilenius, former vice president of Commerce and Payments at Google, was a B2B digital health startup focused on the treatment of cardiometabolic conditions, such as diabetes and obesity. Its innovative digital... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Health Care and Treatment; Product Marketing; Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Health Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

09 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 9, 2019

After a first year of trial rollout in Israel, CEO Lihi Segal and her team are devising a global go-to-market plan for the firm. The team is considering several target markets, ranging from people with diabetes to professional athletes,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Article

Navy Medicine Introduces Value-Based Health Care

By: Alee Hernandez, Robert S. Kaplan, Mary L. Witkowski, C. Forrest Faison III and Michael E. Porter

In 2016 the newly appointed surgeon general of the Navy launched a value-based health care pilot project at Naval Hospital Jacksonville to explore whether multidisciplinary care teams (known as integrated practice units, or IPUs) and measurement of outcomes could... View Details

Keywords: Military Health System; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Projects