Publications

Educators

Article

Managing Healthcare Costs and Value

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Michael E. Porter and Mark L. Frigo

Rising health care costs are a major global challenge. A number of factors contribute to this trend, including aging populations and medical technology. But an underlying and misunderstood source of health care’s escalating costs has been the inability of health care... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Cost Management; Cost Accounting; Health Industry

2009
Working Paper

Input Constraints and the Efficiency of Entry: Lessons from Cardiac Surgery

By: David M. Cutler, Robert S. Huckman and Jonathan T. Kolstad

Prior studies suggest that, with elastically supplied inputs, free entry may lead to an inefficiently high number of firms in equilibrium. Under input scarcity, however, the welfare loss from free entry is reduced. Further, free entry may increase use of high-quality... View Details

Keywords: Government Legislation; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Market Entry and Exit; Welfare; Health Industry; Pennsylvania

June 2008
Case

Brigham and Women's Hospital: Shapiro Cardiovascular Center

By: Michael E. Porter, Robert S. Huckman and Jeremy Lance Friese

Considers the situation facing Gary Gottlieb, president of Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), prior to the opening of BWH's integrated cardiovascular center. This case allows students to develop an appreciation of the strategic, financial, organizational, clinical,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Service Delivery; Organizational Design; Integration; Health Industry

Educators

January 2009
Article

Team Familiarity, Role Experience, and Performance: Evidence from Indian Software Services

By: Robert S. Huckman, Bradley R. Staats and David M. Upton

Much of the literature on team learning views experience as a unidimensional concept captured by the cumulative production volume of, or the number of projects completed by, a team. Implicit in this approach is the assumption that teams are stable in their membership... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Learning; Performance Improvement; Projects; Groups and Teams; Familiarity; Information Technology Industry; India

summer 2007
Article

Fast-Track Profit Models: Creating the New Due-Diligence Process for Mergers and Acquisitions

By: Steven R. Anderson, Kevin J. Prokop and Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Profit; Mergers and Acquisitions

July 2006
Article

The Effects of Cardiac Specialty Hospitals on the Cost and Quality of Medical Care

By: Jason R. Barro, Robert S. Huckman and Daniel P. Kessler

Keywords: Health; Cost; Quality; Health Industry

February 1974
Journal Article

Natural Selection of Life History Attibutes: An Analytical Approach

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Howard M. Taylor, Robert Gourley and Charles Lawrence

01 Aug 1998
News

A Roaring Success in the Windy City

H. Stevenson, for instance, discussed the evolution of the field of entrepreneurship at HBS and beyond. Professor Malcolm S. Salter addressed "Facing the Modern Industrial Revolution," focusing on the tools established companies can use... View Details

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

Web

Tools & Resources | Institute for Business in Global Society

mining industries: Decarbonizing the supply chain By Shirley Lu and Robert S. Kaplan Monsters in the machine? Tackling the challenge of responsible AI By Paul M. Healy and Debora L. Spar 'Care in every... View Details

Article

Toward a Corporate Culture of Health: Results of a National Survey

By: Michael Anne Kyle, Lumumba Seegars, John M. Benson, Robert J. Blendon, Robert S. Huckman and Sara J. Singer

Context: The private sector has a large potential role in advancing health and well-being, but attention to corporate practices around health tends to focus on a narrow range of issues and on large businesses. Systematically describing private sector engagement in... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Health; Social Determinants Of Health; Health Policy; Public Health; Organizations; Health; Policy; Surveys

14 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

Deflategate and the Sustained Success of the New England Patriots

angle, you get a full understanding of the problem,” Iansiti says. Iansiti and colleagues Michael Toffel, Ariel Stern, Joel Goh, Kris Ferreira, Shane Greenstein, Robert S. Huckman, and Willy Shih taught the... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Sports

27 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

The Most Popular Stories and Research Papers of 2015

entrepreneurs and business experts can predict their subsequent commercialization. How Should We Pay for Health Care? (536) Michael E. Porter and Robert S. Kaplan argue that reimbursement for medical... View Details

25 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 25

http://www.people.hbs.edu/amusacchio/Leviathan/toc.htm 2006 pub Inflated Applicants: Attribution Errors in Performance Evaluation by Professionals By: Swift, S. A., D. Moore, Z. Sharek, and F. Gino Abstract—When explaining others'... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

March 2018
Supplement

Improving Access at VA

By: Ryan W. Buell and Robert S. Huckman

In 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ran the largest healthcare system in the United States, with over 1,700 sites of care that served nearly 9 million veterans. One year earlier, a scandal had erupted over a cover-up of the excessive wait times veterans... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Service Delivery; Social Issues; Health Care and Treatment; Government Administration; Performance Improvement; Public Administration Industry; Health Industry; United States

March 2018
Teaching Note

Twine Health

By: Robert S. Huckman and Ariel D. Stern

In late 2014, Dr. John Moore (CEO), Frank Moss (chairman), and Scott Gilroy (CTO) of Twine Health (Twine) had to resolve several challenges that threatened to restrict the widespread dissemination of its sole product, Twine. Twine was a cloud-based platform that... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Chronic Disease; Digital Health; Health Acceleration Challenge; Strategy; Disease Management; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Adoption; Health Industry; United States; Massachusetts

April 1997
Case

Peoria Engine Plant (A): (Abridged)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton

Describes the cost control system used at an automobile engine plant for labor and overhead costs. The finance staff prepares daily, weekly, and monthly variance reports against budgets. Department supervisors, finance staff, and the plant manager discuss the use and... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Cost Management; Financial Reporting; Performance Improvement; Budgets and Budgeting; Auto Industry

Educators

Article

How Not to Cut Health Care Costs

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Derek A. Haas

Health care providers in much of the world are trying to respond to the tremendous pressure to reduce costs—but evidence suggests that many of their attempts are counterproductive, raising costs and sometimes decreasing the quality of care. Using evidence from field... View Details