Publications

May 2007 (Revised July 2011)
Case

The West German Headache Center: Integrated Migraine Care

By: Michael E. Porter, Clemens Guth and Elisa M. Dannemiller

Describes the joint efforts of the German health plan KKH and Essen University Hospital to develop an integrated practice unit (IPU), and the West German Headache Center's efforts to improve the quality of migraine care. Provides an overview of the German health care... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Industry Structures; Service Delivery; Integration; Health Industry; Germany

January 2009 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Pitney Bowes: Employer Health Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter and Jennifer F Baron

Pitney Bowes, a Fortune 500 mail and document management firm, offered its first health plans in the years following World War II. Over the ensuing decades, Pitney Bowes adapted its approach to employee health amid rising health care costs, shifting employer attitudes... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Insurance; Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Corporate Strategy

September 2013
Supplement

The Abraaj Group and the Acibadem Healthcare Investment (B)

By: Paul A. Gompers, Bora Uluduz and Firdevs Abacioglu

This case provides an update on the ultimate outcome of the transaction presented in The Abraaj Group and the Acibadem Healthcare Investment (A). View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Health Care and Treatment; Europe

11 Mar 2010
News

Health Care: The Simple Solution

Keywords: Prof. Clay Christensen; Hospitals; Health, Social Assistance; Management

October 2016 (Revised January 2017)
Background Note

The U.S. Health Club Industry, 2005–2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2015, the U.S. health-club industry generated revenues of $25.8 billion, up from $14.8 billion in 2004. Members of health clubs accounted for 17% of the population, up from 14%. The number of clubs had grown from 26,830 in 2004 to 36,180. In the process, the list of... View Details

December 2014 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Discovery Limited

By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer and Aldo Sesia

Discovery Ltd. is a South Africa-based insurance company. Started in the early 1990s, Discovery used behavioral economics and data collection to innovate in the health care insurance industry. Its founder Adrian Gore believed that the company's products needed to not... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Health Care; Financial Services; Strategy; Value Creation; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; South Africa

This ambitious volume sets out to understand how every company impacts public health and introduces a robust model, rooted in organizational and scientific knowledge, for companies committed to making positive contributions to health and wellness. Focusing on four... View Details

July 2022
Teaching Plan

Wellthy: The Economics of Caring

By: Brian Trelstad

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 320-028. In 2014, Lindsay Jurist-Rosner (MBA ’09) founded Wellthy, a B2C business that coordinates care for working professionals seeking help to support loved ones with chronic diseases or aging parents. With personal experience as a... View Details

Keywords: B2B Vs. B2C; Future Of Work; Health; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Recruitment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Industry; United States

February 8, 2022
Article

Time-Driven Activity-Based Cost Comparison of Treating Five Acute, Low-Severity Conditions

By: Alan Yang, Andy Hung-Yi Lee, Joseph W. Kopp, Katherine D. Rose, Adam M. Licurse, Philip D. Anderson and Robert S. Kaplan

In 2017, patients made 145 million visits to emergency departments (EDs), generating $76.3 billion in charges. About a third of ED visits, however, were for conditions that were treatable in lower-resourced settings. We used time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC)... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven ABC; Health Care Costs; Activity Based Costing and Management; Health Care and Treatment

Read Now

2014
Other Unpublished Work

Nudging Physicians to Pursue Careers in Underserved Areas: A Case for Behavioral Economics

By: Joseph Lopez, Mona Singh, Nava Ashraf and Joel Weissman

Currently, more than 60 million Americans live in "Health Professional Shortage Areas." Unless policymakers can encourage more physicians to practice in medically under-resourced areas, an increased number of uninsured individuals newly able to obtain health insurance... View Details

Keywords: Access To Care; Health Economics; Health Reform; Minority Health; Disparities; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

20 Apr 2017
News

Making Health Insurance That Consumers Actually Like

September 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Discovery Health (A)

A South African health insurance company undertakes a redesign of its prescription drug coverage policy in light of its experiences with Prozac. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Service Delivery; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance Industry; South Africa

Find at Harvard

31 Jan 2018
News

Regi’s ‘Innovating in Health Care’ Case Corner

05 Sep 2012
What Do You Think?

Will Business Management Save US Health Care?

Summing Up What Role Will Management Play in Saving US Health Care? The verdict is in, according to respondents of this month's column: Problems confronting health care in the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Health

20 Apr 2017
Cold Call Podcast

Making Health Insurance That Consumers Actually Like

Keywords: Re: Regina E. Herzlinger; Health; Health

September 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil and Mala Kaul

The Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System case presents one home healthcare organization's efforts to use telemonitoring to improve the quality of care provided to at-risk patients who were discharged from hospitals and needed home care. After two years of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Risk Management; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; Health Industry

July 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Turnaround at the Veterans Health Administration (A)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Brian R. Golden and Gary J. Young

Investigates the challenges that Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer confronted in seeking to create organizational change at the largest integrated health care system in North America, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Kizer was appointed as the Under Secretary of Health, to... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Leadership; Consolidation; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Health Industry; Health Industry; North and Central America

March 2015
Case

Bloodbuy

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Michael Norris

In 2015, Chris Godfrey, founder and CEO of Bloodbuy, has to consider the best path to growth for his young company, which is attempting to disrupt the blood donation industry. View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Entrepreneurship; Blood Donation; Health Care and Treatment; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry; United States