Publications

October 2002
Book Review

Book Review of Beatrix Hoffman's The Wages of Sickness: The Politics of Health Insurance in Progressive America

By: David A. Moss

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Health Industry; United States

winter 1971
Article

Patient Incentives and Hospital Insurance

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Lester Lave

Keywords: Health; Insurance; Motivation and Incentives; Health Industry

Article

Overturning the ACA's Medicaid Expansion Would Likely Decrease Low-Income, Reproductive-Age Women's Healthcare Spending and Utilization

By: Lucy Chen, Richard G. Frank and Haiden A. Huskamp

In late 2020, the Supreme Court began hearing a case challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which led to coverage gains for many low-income, reproductive-age women. To explore potential implications of a full ACA repeal for this population, we examined gains... View Details

Keywords: Medicaid; Women's Health; Health Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Gender; Insurance; Poverty; Health Industry; United States

March 2021
Case

Humana (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ashley Ifeadike

To implement a bold new strategy, Humana needed to decide how to prioritize the pillars; where to own and where to partner; how much risk is acceptable; and how to continue to deliver strong operational performance while implementing a new strategy. Had the firm made... View Details

Keywords: Health ＆ Wellness; Health Care Industry; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Health Insurance Marketplaces; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Strategy; Health Industry; United States

March 1999 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Tufts Health Plan

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Nancy D. Beaulieu

Describes the introduction of capitation by a managed care company and the challenges of managing financial risk in the Medicare population. Focuses on the relationship between the health plan and physicians. View Details

Keywords: Health; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Risk and Uncertainty; Insurance; Health Industry; Health Industry

22 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

Can Amazon Remake Health Care?

First, the supply chain in health care is a mess. There are so many intermediaries selling to other people, and Amazon has done extremely well by streamlining the supply chain. So they must be thinking that the current View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Health

February 2018
Case

Aetna and the Transformation of Health Care

By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Russell Eisenstat and Matthew Preble

Mark Bertolini, chairman and CEO of the health insurer Aetna, faces a number of questions as he seeks to transform Aetna from a classic insurance company into a business that will engage much more deeply with its members around their personal health goals. His strategy... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Transformation; Behavior; Leading Change; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Connecticut

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

August 1975 (Revised August 1991)
Case

University Hospital

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

February 2013
Article

Let them Have Choice: Gains from Shifting Away from Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance and Toward an Individual Exchange

By: Leemore S. Dafny, Katherine Ho and Mauricio Varela

March 2018
Case

University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center: Managing Capacity in Neurology

By: Joel Goh, Robert S. Huckman and Nikhil Sahni

In December 2014, Dr. Anthony Furlan, chair of the Department of Neurology at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center (UH), faced a mandate from the hospital’s executive leadership team. Specifically, all UH departments were directed to take steps within six... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Hospitals; Capacity Planning; Scheduling; Health Care and Treatment; Service Operations; Performance Capacity; Health Industry; North America; United States; Ohio; Cleveland

May 21, 2020
Editorial

Primary Care Is Hurting: Why Aren't Private Insurers Pitching In?

By: Leemore S. Dafny and J. Michael McWilliams

Primary care clinicians are the front line for patients with suspected infection. We rely on them to diagnose, triage, and manage patients with potential or confirmed COVID infections. They are also responsible for keeping non-COVID medical conditions under control... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Primary Care; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Financial Condition; Insurance

Article

Do We Spend Too Much on Health Care?

By: Katherine Baicker and Amitabh Chandra

Health system reforms—such as changes in insurance design, patient cost sharing, payment reform, or price regulation—should be judged by whether they move us toward higher-value use of resources, rather than by whether they reduce spending. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Value Creation

Register to Read

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

16 Jul 2008
Op-Ed

What Should Employers Do about Health Care?

In the United States, employers have often treated health benefits as a necessary evil. They have focused on the rising cost of providing health insurance benefits and taken... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Elizabeth O. Teisberg & Scott Wallace; Health

05 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

Are Consumers the Cure for Broken Health Insurance?

The health insurance system in the United States is broken, and business is paying the price. Employers' insurance premiums reached an estimated $450 billion in 2000, and then... View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger

November 2012 (Revised February 2009)
Teaching Note

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Interdisciplinary Cancer Care (TN)

By: Michael E. Porter and Sachin H Jain

Teaching Note for [708487]. View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Industry; Texas

15 Nov 2004
Research & Ideas

Solving the Health Care Conundrum

policy changes are not essential for these changes to happen. Key policy areas to be addressed are: Access: Ultimately, access to care must be addressed through mandatory health insurance with subsidies for... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

April 24, 2023
Article

In the COVID Era, Why Corporate Benefits Demand CEO/CFO Leadership

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

The expectation that employers provide their employees’ health benefits has been around since World War II. Unfortunately, although today’s employees expect employers to treat them as individuals, ease their experiences, prioritize their wellbeing, and control cost,... View Details

Keywords: COVID; COVID-19 Pandemic; CEO; Leadership; Health Insurance; Benefits; CFO; Compensation and Benefits