Publications

Educators

July 31, 2017
Article

A Commitment Contract to Achieve Virologic Suppression in Poorly Adherent Patients with HIV/AIDS

By: Marcella Alsan, John Beshears, Wendy S. Armstrong, James J. Choi, Brigitte C. Madrian, Minh Ly T. Nguyen, Carlos Del Rio, David Laibson and Vincent C. Marconi

Objective: Assess whether a commitment contract informed by behavioral economics leads to persistent virologic suppression among HIV-positive patients with poor antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence. Design: Single-center pilot randomized clinical trial and a... View Details

Keywords: Adherence; Antiretroviral Therapy; Behavioral Economics; Commitment Contract; Financial Incentives; HIV-1 Virologic Suppression; Health Disorders; Motivation and Incentives

22 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 22

improving resource efficiency, optimizing care over the complete care cycle, and planning and budgeting of resource capacity. It also mentions that TDABC enhances quality of care and clinical outcomes while... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2021
Article

Choice Architecture in Physician–patient Communication: A Mixed-methods Assessment of Physicians' Competency

By: J. Hart, K. Yadav, S. Szymanski, A. Summer, A. Tannenbaum, J. Zlatev, D. Daniels and S.D. Halpern

Background: Clinicians’ use of choice architecture, or how they present options, systematically influences the choices made by patients and their surrogate decision makers. However, clinicians may incompletely understand this influence.... View Details

Keywords: Choice Architecture; Health Care and Treatment; Interpersonal Communication; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competency and Skills

December 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

IBM Watson at MD Anderson Cancer Center

By: Shane Greenstein, Mel Martin and Sarkis Agaian

After discovering that their cancer diagnostic tool, designed to leverage the cloud computing power of IBM Watson, needed greater integration into the clinical processes at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the development team had difficult choices to make. The Oncology... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Operations; Failure; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Health Care and Treatment; Product Development; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Houston; Texas

Educators

June 28, 2011
Article

Using Implementation Intentions Prompts to Enhance Influenza Vaccination Rates

By: Katherine L Milkman, John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

We evaluate the results of a field experiment designed to measure the effect of prompts to form implementation intentions on realized behavioral outcomes. The outcome of interest is influenza vaccination receipt at free on-site clinics offered by a large firm to its... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Nudge; Libertarian Paternalism; Public Health; Flu Shot; Behavior; Consumer Behavior; Health Care and Treatment; Cognition and Thinking

Article

National Trends in the Safety Performance of Electronic Health Record Systems From 2009 to 2018

By: David Classen, A Jay Holmgren, Zoe Co, Lisa Newmark, Diane Seger, Melissa Danforth and David Bates

Importance Despite the broad adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems across the continuum of care, safety problems persist. Objective To measure the safety performance of operational EHRs in hospitals across the country during a 10-year period. Design,... View Details

Keywords: Electronic Health Record Systems; Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Performance; Safety; Measurement and Metrics; United States

2023
Working Paper

Design-Based Inference for Multi-arm Bandits

By: Dae Woong Ham, Iavor I. Bojinov, Michael Lindon and Martin Tingley

Multi-arm bandits are gaining popularity as they enable real-world sequential decision-making across application areas, including clinical trials, recommender systems, and online decision-making. Consequently, there is an increased desire to use the available... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Mathematical Methods

September 2009
Article

A Detailed Analysis of the Reduction Mammaplasty Learning Curve: A Statistical Process Model for Approaching Surgical Performance Improvement

By: Matthew Carty MD, Rodney Chan, Robert S. Huckman, Daniel C. Snow and Dennis Orgill

Background: The increased focus on quality and efficiency improvement within academic surgery has met with variable success among plastic surgeons. Traditional surgical performance metrics, such as morbidity and mortality, are insufficient to improve the... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Outcome or Result; Performance Efficiency; Performance Improvement

2024
Working Paper

The Cram Method for Efficient Simultaneous Learning and Evaluation

By: Zeyang Jia, Kosuke Imai and Michael Lingzhi Li

We introduce the "cram" method, a general and efficient approach to simultaneous learning and evaluation using a generic machine learning (ML) algorithm. In a single pass of batched data, the proposed method repeatedly trains an ML algorithm and tests its empirical... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning

June 2021
Article

Developing a Value Framework: Utilizing Administrative Data to Assess an Enhanced Care Initiative

By: Casey J. Allen, Jarrod S. Eska, Nikhil G. Thaker, Thomas W. Feeley, Robert S. Kaplan, Ryan W. Huey, Ching-Wei D. Tzeng, Jeffrey E. Lee, Steven J. Frank, Thomas A. Aloia, Vijaya Gottumukkala and Matthew H.G. Katz

We used national administrative data to assess multiple domains of value associated with enhanced recovery pathways for patients undergoing pancreatic surgery. Value metrics included in-hospital mortality, complication rates, length of stay (LOS), 30-day readmission... View Details

Keywords: Value-based Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Analytics and Data Science; Outcome or Result; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Improvement

2023
Article

Evidence from the First Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs) Randomised Controlled Trial in India: SMAs Increase the Satisfaction, Knowledge, and Medication Compliance of Patients with Glaucoma

By: Nazlı Sönmez, Kavitha Srinivasan, Rengaraj Venkatesh, Ryan W. Buell and Kamalini Ramdas

In Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs), patients with similar conditions meet the physician together and each receives one-on-one attention. SMAs can improve outcomes and physician productivity. Yet privacy concerns have stymied adoption. In physician-deprived nations,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Customer Satisfaction; Outcome or Result; India

June 2014
Article

Informal Peer Interaction and Practice Type as Predictors of Physician Performance on Maintenance of Certification Examinations

By: Melissa A. Valentine, S. Barsade, Amy C. Edmondson, A. Gal and R. Rhodes

Context: Physicians can demonstrate mastery of the knowledge that supports continued clinical competence by passing a Maintenance of Certification exam. Exam performance depends on professional learning and development, which may be enhanced by informal routine... View Details

Keywords: Training; Health Care and Treatment; Performance; Social and Collaborative Networks; Learning; Health Industry

13 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Diagnosing the Public Health Care Alternative

to innovate the products that people want at a price they can afford. For example, while public-sector organizations are hardly renowned for convenience—think about the location of your Division of Motor Vehicles—entrepreneurs created medical View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

September 2017 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Intermountain Healthcare: Pursuing Precision Medicine

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Kathy E. Giusti, Robert S. Huckman and Julia Kelley

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Intermountain Healthcare operates 23 hospitals and hundreds of clinics in Utah and Idaho and provides insurance to approximately 850,000 patients through its insurance arm, SelectHealth. In 2013, Intermountain, known for its commitment... View Details

Keywords: Precision Medicine; Healthcare; Innovation; Cancer; Cancer Research; Health Care; Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Leadership; Disruptive Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Utah; United States; North America

Educators

05 Sep 2023
Book

Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full Potential

turns out, Eli Lilly’s initial failure with Alimta led the drugmaker to a solution. By carefully examining the data from the clinical trials, scientists found that the drug worked for some patients, but not others—and those patients that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2022
Working Paper

Causal Inference During A Pandemic: Evidence on the Effectiveness of Nebulized Ibuprofen as an Unproven Treatment for COVID-19 in Argentina

By: Sebastian Calonico, Rafael Di Tella and Juan Cruz Lopez Del Valle

Many medical decisions during the pandemic were made without the support of causal evidence obtained in clinical trials. We study the case of nebulized ibuprofen (NaIHS), a drug that was extensively used on COVID-19 patients in Argentina amidst wild claims about its... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Drug Treatment; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Decision Making; Outcome or Result; Argentina

May 2025
Teaching Note

The VideaHealth AI Factory: CEO Florian Hillen on Speed, Scale, and Innovation

By: Tsedal Neeley

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 425-720. Florian Hillen, co-founder and CEO of VideaHealth, a startup using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect dental conditions on x-rays, spent the early years of his company laying the groundwork for an AI factory. This AI factory,... View Details

Keywords: Diagnostics; Organization Design; Change Management; Disruption; Transformation; Health Care and Treatment; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Technology Adoption; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Success; Technology Industry; Health Industry; United States