Publications

Summer 2019
Article

The Price Effects of Cross-Market Mergers: Theory and Evidence from the Hospital Industry

By: Leemore S. Dafny, Katherine Ho and Robin S. Lee

We consider the effect of mergers between firms whose products are not viewed as direct substitutes for the same good or service but are bundled by a common intermediary. Focusing on hospital mergers across distinct geographic markets, we show that such combinations... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Markets; Geographic Scope; Price; Outcome or Result; Insurance; Health Industry

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November 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

athenahealth's More Disruption Please Program

By: Robert F. Higgins and Erin Trimble

Keywords: Health Care Entrepreneurship; Health Care; Healthcare; Healthcare Industry; Healthcare Innovation; Healthcare IT; Disruptive Innovation; Disruptive Change; Health Industry; Boston

September 2014 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Marketing Marijuana in Colorado

By: John A. Quelch and David Lane

Colorado's 2014 legalization of marijuana for adult recreational (not just medical) use created a new market that entrepreneurs rushed to enter, channeled by regulations that aimed to minimize marijuana's access to minors while not stifling the emergent new industry.... View Details

Keywords: Public Health; Regulation; Marijuana; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Colorado

June 2012
Case

Reconfiguring Stroke Care in North Central London

By: Michael E. Porter, James Mountford, Kamalini Ramdas and Samuel Takvorian

In 2006, surgeon Ara Darzi identified several key areas, including acute stroke care, for improving health care across London. In response to his seminal call to action, stroke care was reorganized around eight hyper-acute stroke units covering London's five sectors,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Improvement; Performance Efficiency; Integration; Health Industry; London

26 Jan 2021
News

Clubs See Wealth in FemTech; Health Care Alumni Look at COVID Response

FemTech, the segment of the health care and life sciences industry focused on women’s health. A combined 175 alumni attended the discussions which featured alumni panelists who are investing in, or leading,... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

2021
Working Paper

The Luck of the Draw: The Causal Effect of Physicians on Birth Outcomes

By: Arlen Guarin, Christian Posso, Estefania Saravia and Jorge Tamayo

Identifying the effect of physicians’ skills on health outcomes is a challenging task due to the nonrandom sorting between physicians and hospitals. We overcome this challenge by exploiting a Colombian government program that randomly assigned 2,126 physicians to 618... View Details

Keywords: Physicians' Health Skills; Health Birth Outcomes; Birthing Outcomes; Experimental Evidence; Health Care and Treatment; Competency and Skills; Outcome or Result; Health Industry; Colombia

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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April 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Background Note

Note on Healthcare in Ghana

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo

This note provides an overview of the healthcare system in Ghana. It discusses the public and private sector as well as traditional medical practice. It also discusses the country’s pharmaceutical industry. It is recommended as a companion to Professor Regina... View Details

Keywords: Africa; Pharmaceutical Companies; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Entrepreneurship; Telehealth; Health Equity; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Health Industry; Ghana

November 2020 (Revised February 2022)
Case

CommonSpirit Health: Integrating a Merger of Equals

By: Robert S. Huckman, Hise Gibson and Nicole Gilmore

Soon after closing the 2019 merger of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Dignity Health to create CommonSpirit Health, Lloyd Dean and Kevin Lofton-–jointly appointed to the role of CEO—must make several operational and strategic decisions related to the integration... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Delivery; Hospital; Merger; Merger Integration; Hospital Mergers; Health Information Technology; CEOs; Health Care and Treatment; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Leadership; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governance; Information Technology; Health Industry; United States

August 2022
Article

Regulatory Considerations to Keep Pace with Innovation in Digital Health Products

By: John Torous, Ariel Dora Stern and Florence T. Bourgeois

Rapid innovation and proliferation of software as a medical device have accelerated the clinical use of digital technologies across a wide array of medical conditions. Current regulatory pathways were developed for traditional (hardware) medical devices and offer a... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Technologies; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Invention; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

October 2024
Article

Greater Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake among enrollees Offered Health and Social Needs Case Management: Results from a Randomized Trial

By: Margae Knox, Elizabeth A. Hernandez, Daniel M. Brown, Jennifer Ahern, Mark D. Fleming, Crystal Guo and Amanda L. Brewster

The CommunityConnect case management program for Medicaid beneficiaries is run by Contra Costa Health, a county safety net health system in California. Case management infrastructure modestly improved Covid-19 vaccine uptake in a population of Medicaid beneficiaries... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Medical Specialties; Programs; Human Needs; Welfare; Health Industry; California

November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

CVS Health: Redefining the Value Proposition

By: Michael E. Porter, Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo and Alexandra Houghtalin

This case explores how a company can use shared value as a lens to think about competition and strategy choices in a challenging and evolving industry. The case takes a historical look at the structure of the retail pharmacy industry and the changing nature of rivalry... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Pharmacy; Health Care; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

January–February 2014
Other Article

Barriers to Health Care Innovation: Regina Herzlinger Warns That Innovators Need to Know What Obstacles They Face and How to Overcome Them

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Health care in the United States and in most other developed countries is ailing, says Regina E. Herzlinger. A chaired professor of business administration specializing in health care at Harvard Business School, Herzlinger says that although the world has witnessed... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Healthcare IT; Innovation; Health Care and Treatment; Health; Information Technology; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States

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September 2013 (Revised May 2014)
Case

OdontoPrev

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Matthew Lingenbrink, Joshua Turnbull and Ricardo Reisen De Pinho

Brazil's largest dental insurer, a successful and innovative firm, has saturated the corporate market and faces stiffer competition. It must decide whether to enter a new market in Brazil or to expand into other parts of Central and South America. View Details

Keywords: Health; Business or Company Management; Market Entry and Exit; Insurance; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; North and Central America; Brazil

March 2018
Case

Sandra Brown Goes Digital (A): The Promise and Perils of Social Movements in a Healthcare Company

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

As a middle manager at a biotechnology company, Sandra Brown harnessed digital tools and social media to engage others and build campaigns for change in the company. This case follows her career at the company and describes the challenges she faced as a change agent,... View Details

Keywords: Digital; Engagement; Stakeholder Engagement; Grassroots Movement; Organization Change And Adaptation; Quality; Health Care; Health Care Industry; Career Path; Leading Change; Management; Innovation and Management; Personal Development and Career; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

October 2023
Article

Health System Perspective on Cost for Delivering a Decision Aid for Prostate Cancer Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing

By: David R. Ho, Robert S. Kaplan, Jonathan Bergman, David F. Penson, Benjamin Waterman, Kristin C. Williams, Jefersson Villatoro, Lorna Kwan and Christopher S. Saigal

Previsit decision aids (DAs) have been shown to improve decisional quality. But the cost to deploy a DA has not been previously estimated. We interviewed or observed relevant personnel at three institutions that had implemented DA programs for men with prostate cancer.... View Details

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

Article

Healthy Buildings in 2070

By: John D. Macomber and Joseph G. Allen

Fifty years seems a very long time in the future for most industries. Not so in buildings and real estate; built structures routinely last decades if not hundreds of years, as long as they are economically competitive. Any discussion of the 50-year future has to... View Details

Keywords: Health ＆ Wellness; Real Estate; Architectural Innovation; Public Health; Health; Buildings and Facilities; Well-being