Publications

November 2022
Case

The Battle Among Channels for Marketing Pharmaceuticals: UpScript, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and Direct-to-Consumer Sales

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Tiffany Farrell

Can an online, direct-to-consumer pharmacy both improve the quality and speed of care for patients who need branded drugs and stabilize profits for pharmaceutical manufacturers? UpScript, after years spent achieving legal and regulatory compliance and simultaneous... View Details

Keywords: DTC; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Customer Value and Value Chain; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competitive Strategy; Service Delivery; Growth and Development Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Retail Industry

Article

Ten Year Sunset Rule for Healthcare Regulation Is a Nonstarter and Discouragement to Post-COVID-19 Investment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Eugene Schneller

U.S. healthcare delivery has not benefitted from the same productivity growth as many other service industries, such as bricks and mortar retailing, a loss that has gravely diminished cost control and access. Regulatory capture, which creates barriers to venture... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; COVID-19; Regulation; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Investment

Article

Europe's Alternative to Medicare for All: Swiss and Dutch Private Insurance Provide Better Coverage Than Canada's Single-Payer System

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Bacchus Barua

An analysis of Canada’s single-payer healthcare system shows the dangers of the proposed Medicare for All model. In fact, the Canadian healthcare system is costly and drives poor outcomes when compared to objective performance measures. Alternatively, the Swiss and... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Systems; Universal Health Coverage; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Canada; Switzerland; Netherlands

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2020
Working Paper

Cutting the Gordian Knot of Employee Health Care Benefits and Costs: A Corporate Model Built on Employee Choice

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Barak D. Richman

The U.S. employer-based health insurance tax exclusion created a system of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) with limited insurance choices and transparency that may lock employed households into health plans that are costlier or different from those they prefer to... View Details

Keywords: After-tax Income; Consumer-driven Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Income Inequality; Tax Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Employees; Income; Taxation; Policy; United States

SSRN

22 May 2020
In Practice

Post-COVID Health Care: More Screens, Less Red Tape?

service centers, which are primarily owned by physicians. Regina E. Herzlinger is the Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

January 2024
Background Note

Evaluating Innovations in the Organization of Primary Care: What Type of Innovation Is It and How Well Does It Align with the Six Factors?

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace

How can we evaluate if innovative health care ventures can do good—benefit society—and do well—become financially viable? This question is the topic of the first module in the Innovating in Health Care course book.

This note and "Health Stop (A): What Type... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Mission and Purpose; Alignment; Health Industry

19 Jan 2021
In Practice

Leadership Advice for Biden: Restore a Sense of Calm

manner. But pleasant personality can go only so far. Joseph Biden must deliver a strong economy and effectively address the powerful divides among various American groups. Regina View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

15 Aug 2005
HBS Case

Classic Cases Live On at HBS

quality service, attention to patients, and an attractive work environment for doctors and staff—must be taken into account. By showing the positive impact of making health... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

November 2022
Case

Ajax Health: A New Model for Medical Technology Innovation

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo

This case teaches key success factors for both startup and established MedTech firms. It examines how to structure a firm to maximize innovation and financial returns with organizational structures that better align the incentives for the different skill sets... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Success; Innovation Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Market Entry and Exit; Financial Strategy; Business Model; Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

January 2023
Exercise

Identify the Health Care Venture

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace

This case enables rapid learning of the key financial characteristics of many types of health care organizations and to diagnose their financial status. It is a surprisingly fun exercise (see the Teaching Note) accomplished by organizing groups of students that compete... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Spending; Health Care Financing; Health Care Industry; Health Care Operations; Health Care Delivery; Health Care and Treatment; Financial Condition; Health Industry

June 30, 2020
Article

Bipartisan Tax-Free Solution to Health Care Financing: Coupling HRAs With a Public Option

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Richard Boxer and James Wallace

A combination of health insurance initiatives by the presumptive 2020 Democratic and Republican presidential nominees could expand health care coverage and significantly reduce costs, without raising taxes. Along the way, the combination could revitalize private... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Financing; Public Option; Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA); Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Cost Management

August 1995 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Health Stop (B): Starting Up

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Describes the long waiting time experienced by customers in Health Stops and asks students to specify the changes in its business model which could help solve the problem. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Health Industry; Retail Industry

19 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 19

Navalny the right figure for business leaders in Russia to organize around? What were the risks of getting involved with a politically volatile activist? Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/112033-PDF-ENG McKesson View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2014
Case

Health Care Accountability: Examples in Cancer Treatment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Natalie Kindred

This case is designed to support a discussion of the importance of outcomes evidence in empowering the public to make better health care decisions, the desired level of transparency and accountability for health care providers, and the issues with current measuring and... View Details

Keywords: Accountability; Health Care; Cancer; Cancer Treatment; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Cancer Treatment Centers Of America; Vantage Oncology; Radiology; Risk Adjustment; Treatment Outcomes; Health Care Outcomes; Prostate Cancer; Transparency; Health Care and Treatment; Risk Management; Outcome or Result; Health Industry; United States

March 2014 (Revised September 2014)
Supplement

Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (B)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Natalie Kindred

This case, a follow-up to Cancer Treatment Centers of America (A), HBS No. 313-012, begins with the debate over New Hampshire's certificate-of-need (CON) law, which restricts hospital expansion. This debate ignited significant public criticism of Cancer Treatment... View Details

Keywords: Cancer; Cancer Treatment; Accountability; Outcomes; Outcomes Reporting; Outcomes Measurement; Survival; For-profit Hospitals; Health Care; Healthcare; Hospital; Certificate Of Need; Health Care and Treatment; Outcome or Result; Corporate Accountability; Policy; Health Industry; United States

December 9, 2020
Article

Give Employees Cash to Purchase Their Own Insurance

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Barak D. Richman

Employers’ and employees’ health care costs continue to skyrocket. A solution is to allow employers to give employees pre-tax cash to purchase their own health insurance. This move, enabled by a newly enacted federal rule, would put competitive pressure on insurers,... View Details

Keywords: Health Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Employees; Government Legislation

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Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Course Requirements

Students are required to prepare a business plan, which employs the framework of this course, to explore an entrepreneurial opportunity in health care, and to evaluate their classmates' plans.

Career Focus

For... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Healthcare Industry; Healthcare Innovation; Healthcare Costs; Healthcare Operations; Healthcare Organizations; Healthcare Startups; Healthcare Technology; Healthcare Ventures

February 24, 2022
Article

Want to Prevent the Next Hospital Bed Crisis? Enlist the SEC

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer

During the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. hospitals could not provide enough beds to meet demand. Solving the problem of inadequate capacity is of utmost importance in the “new normal,” which requires recognizing the ongoing need for hospital-based... View Details

Keywords: COVID; COVID-19 Pandemic; Hospital Capacity; SEC Regulation; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Performance Capacity; Planning